Marketing with Agility Competency
Business Problem
Our marketing efforts struggle to keep pace with emerging requirements and changing priorities, leading to less customer impact.
Business Outcomes
- Enhanced team collaboration and communication.
- Improved alignment between marketing strategy, internal and external customer feedback, and organizational priorities.
- Streamlined processes leading to reduced delivery times and greater consistency.
- Greater innovation and creativity in marketing campaigns, leading to campaigns with greater ROI.
Why is the Marketing with Agility Competency important?
Traditional marketing processes are not built for today's rapid pace, and today's customers are not waiting around. According to McKinsey, 58% of marketing initiatives take more than 6 months to get to market, with the average at just over 8 months. This delayed delivery time is tragically out of sync with the increasing rate at which our customers are adopting new channels and interacting with new content.
Traditional, legacy approaches to marketing slow teams down, lock value behind siloes, and create misalignment between marketing activity and business strategy. Meanwhile, 9 out of 10 marketing teams using Agile methods consider themselves extremely or very successful, according to the 8th annual State of Agile Marketing Report.
The Marketing with Agility competency unlocks a new operating system for marketing, one that emphasizes adaptability, data-informed decisions, and cross-functional collaboration. Rather than simply adopting Agile practices from software, this competency helps marketing leaders and teams rewire how they plan, prioritize, and deliver outcomes.
Teams applying Agile marketing practices typically see benefits in the following five areas:
Ability to Adapt and Deliver Quickly
Agile marketing empowers leaders and teams to embrace experimentation and innovation. By promoting iterative processes and rapid feedback loops, teams can refine their strategies based on real-time data and customer feedback. This leads to more informed decision-making and the ability to test and implement new ideas swiftly.
“We’ve cut our average project production time in half, and our employee engagement metrics have all shown improvement… It didn't take long for us to see the benefits to our production time, project volume, and team morale. We continue to see those improvements over time, so we only wish we would have done it sooner.”
— Darci Helbling, Executive Director, Global Marketing Operations at Charles River
Collaboration Across Functions
Furthermore, this competency emphasizes collaboration across functions. Breaking down silos within marketing departments allows for increased transparency, improved communication, and a more cohesive approach to achieving shared goals. By encouraging cross-functional teamwork, SAFe organizations can leverage diverse skills and perspectives, enhancing the overall creativity and effectiveness of marketing efforts.
Greater Organizational Alignment
For executives and transformation leaders, mastering Agile marketing equips them with the tools to drive meaningful change throughout their organizations. It enables them to align marketing strategies with broader business objectives, ensuring that every campaign and initiative contributes to the company’s success.
More Satisfied Customers
Agile marketing teams prioritize delivering value to stakeholders and customers without just assuming they understand what their customers value. Teams consistently get feedback, either from talking with customers directly or through data. The result is happier customers whose real needs and desires are consistently met. Those happy customers can transform a business.
“Since our Agile marketing journey began, we have optimized our team structures to be able to prioritize our marketing campaigns based on the value that they truly bring to our customers.”
— Zach Meixner, Senior Digital Program Manager at M&T Bank Corporation
Continuous Improvement
Aligning marketing departments to their organization’s SAFe implementation through the Agile Marketing for Teams & Leaders competency is vital for any organization seeking to thrive in a dynamic market. It enhances marketing efficiency and customer satisfaction while building a sustainable competitive advantage. This is achieved by fostering a culture of agility, innovation, and continuous growth in a highly customer-facing area of the organization.
Which roles would benefit from mastering the Marketing with Agility Competency?
While this competency is foundational for marketing professionals, many others benefit from understanding and supporting Agile marketing principles, including Leadership, Product roles, RTEs, SPCs, and others who are supporting the implementation of Lean and Agile across the business.