Adopting Agile Methodology in Marketing

After a sumptuous meal on a Saturday afternoon, the last thing I wanted to do was attend a lecture on agile development. As I sauntered into the hall, it was fast evident that I was swamped by seasoned agile practitioners as there was an alarming buzz around the latest on agile. As a marketer, all I could do was gawk at those around me who appeared to be speaking Greek and Latin.

The fundamentals of the subject seemed uncomplicated with those around me engaging the lecturer in relevant and contextual interactions. While the interactions were on, I would sneak in a question to my neighbor. Who is a scrum master? What do you mean by Sprint? Elucidating the concept in a tissue paper, he unexpectedly pointed out, ‘you could apply agile development in marketing also.’ I made a futile attempt, justifying how agile methodology could hamper creative and disruptive thinking. It however didn’t seem to concern him. He continued, ‘The methodology fundamentally involves breaking down of complex tasks. Agility provides speed, flexibility, continuous learning, and improvement.’ He paused and turned to me for affirmation but instantly recognized that I was completely lost. ‘Let’s discuss this during the break,’ he remarked.

As I returned home that evening, I was envisioning how the marketing function could embrace agile methodologies. After all, the job of marketers have transformed radically given today’s digital reality. With the increasing emphasis on data-crunching abilities, the function is touted more as a science than an art. Copy writing, creative illustration and client-servicing to name a few skills have a new meaning today with the infinite scope around client mandates. With the ever increasing number of digital channels and tools as well as their continuous evolution, the marketing function needs to rethink their future and should work towards becoming more agile, iterating much more quickly to adapt to rapidly changing conditions.

My mind began to unravel what my friend had explained. The marketing team could create a simple road map and plan in detail those activities that won’t change before execution. The team members could break the highest-ranked tasks into small modules, decide how much work the team will take on and how to accomplish it, develop a clear definition of “done,” and then start creating marketing collateral in short cycles. The process is transparent to everyone. Team members hold brief daily “stand-up” meetings to review progress and identify roadblocks. They resolve disagreements through experimentation and feedback rather than endless debates. They test the output with a few customers for short periods of time. If customers get excited, the collateral may be released immediately, even if some senior executive isn’t a fan, or others think it needs more bells and whistles. The team then brainstorms ways to improve future cycles and prepares to attack the next top priority.

In effect, agile methodology would help us minimize redundant meetings, repetitive planning, excessive documentation, quality issues, and low-value marketing solutions. What are the key benefits from a business perspective? According to a Forbes article on the subject, there are three key benefits:

1.Marketers who have adopted Agile are seeing increased business performance due to faster delivery, enhanced focus on the things that matter, and greater productivity from their teams.

2.The most unexpected benefit is that employees working in agile environments report a greater overall sense of satisfaction and pride in their work due to feeling more empowered, greater clarity in how their role impacts the business, and a more collaborative work environment.

3.Marketers are better equipped to handle marketplace challenges and opportunities having built flexibility into their business operations. This is positioning marketing leaders to deliver sustainable growth for their companies.

When do we change and why?

At the helm of perhaps one of tech industry’s greatest turnaround is an Indian, Satya Nadella of Microsoft. His recipe for reinvigorating the company from a Windows-centric one to that which provides a range of online services to companies and individuals is watched by other industry behemoths like HP, Cisco, and IBM to name a few. Most of these long-standing companies are either undergoing similarly wrenching changes or are attempting to reinvent themselves. Microsoft has untethered itself from the conventional windows only strategy to embracing open-source. They better. The competences and behaviours that revolved around desktops or an array of computers at the basement, which primarily fuelled growth of these companies have suddenly paved way to apps that can be activated with a tap on the mobile. The biggies seem to have been caught in a time warp. 

The thought of these biggies struggling to get a grip on the market they once ruled was a bit unsettling for me. As professionals, what if we have to confront such sudden volatility in our career?  Well, not that Microsoft didn’t know of the imminent market challenges. And, not that as professionals we don’t know about the lurking and potentially career-altering changes. What’s alarming about such a change is that even if we know about it, having firmly entrenched ourselves in a certain comfort zone, we might not be able to embrace it with the agility that it demands. Remember, Microsoft had once considered open source an anathema. Similar to how companies steer investments to initiatives that offer the most tangible and immediate returns, and shortchange investments crucial to their long-term strategies, we also have to channelize our time, talent, and energy. This however needs to be done basis one of the most fundamental requirements – a purpose in life.

While the industry and its long-standing incumbents undergo a tectonic shift, there is one thing that doesn’t change. It is the purpose of these companies. For instance, irrespective of the changes, Microsoft will continue to create technology that is accessible to everyone. And, the company will do it by even cutting deals with rivals. Example – users of online version of Office can save their files on servers of Box, a cloud-storage firm. Who can forget that Office is now available on Android and Apple mobiles? Like the companies, our purpose can be spread or fortified only when we have a humble eagerness to learn something from everybody and when we help others build or promote their purpose.

It is quite a task but as the established companies have found, it is definitely not about building individual prominence but about the manifold individuals that we have helped. 

Personal views

IBM’s Deal with Twitter should Fascinate Marketers

If you are a sports buff looking at acquiring the latest in your field from DLF Promenade shopping mall, chances are that you would have downloaded an IBM powered app on your phone.  The IBM solution, according to the company release, can identify potential customers like you and extend necessary discounts that may have a strong interest in sports. The opt-in service can be downloaded by anyone to experience renewed efficacy in shopping.

The company’s solution for DLF combines technologies like social, mobile, analytics and cloud by remotely controlling sensors on smartphones from a cloud platform, and performing real-time analytics to convert mobile data into meaningful consumable information. Through this, back-end enterprise applications can analyse and transmit contextual data to customers. Did I say mobile and contextual data? Yes. Mobile is pivotal to our online and offline life, isn’t it? Our extensive and excessive reliance on the device is a draw for marketers lurking around consumers for personalizing our experience with their businesses. In this context, the alliance between technology giant IBM and the digital social networking facilitator, Twitter should fascinate marketers. IBM will be able to harness and extract actionable insights from Twitter’s unmatched wealth of digital natives’ data and empower marketers who can in turn serve their customers in the most opportune moment using a device they will increasingly spend their digital time.

The company’s solution for DLF, divulged in January of this year, now seem to be a curtain raiser. Consider the company’s deal with Cupertino, Calif.-based consumer tech giant, Apple to build more than 100 custom-built enterprise apps for Apple's iPad and iPhone customers in retail, healthcare, and other vertical industries. Now, imagine leveraging Twitter data to power these apps? Data is indeed the new natural resource and IBM seems to be accumulating aplenty.

Is Facebook’s Acquisition of WhatsApp a Threat to Telcos

A cousin of mine, aged 22, can always be seen tapping fervently on his mobile. For someone sporadically glancing at this exercise, it might seem as a new generation rhythm. For others who are forcefully but passively involved in this so called music, it is a mobile-centric social paranoia that is seizing especially the young ones. The culprit is the ever increasing mobile messaging apps.

The recent announcement by social media firm Facebook about the acquisition of WhatsApp will only trigger the obsession towards real-time content sharing. It is soon turning into an emotional activity. And, such emotional activities are what marketers are increasingly trying to tap. It is also a great handle for customer engagement. Consider this; the 22-year old spends more time on his mobile than chatting with his family members staying with him. He is just one among the 70% of WhatsApp users that use its services every day. Facebook comparatively has only 61% hooked onto it every day. 

      

It is clear that social media gorillas are transitioning to the traditional mainstream industries ousting well entrenched and seemingly unshakable giants. Consider the case of telcos. The goings on hitherto indicates that they completely missed the social media phenomenon. Grappling with continued operating challenges, telcos’ rhetoric of continued innovation to create new revenue streams from analyzing user behavior is increasingly seen as yielding no outcomes. Communication tools like WhatsApp, WeChat, Viber to name a few are in fact overtaking telcos initiatives towards meaningful customer engagement.

The recent announcement by WhatsApp CEO is further damaging to telcos already waning significance in the communication ecosystem. Beginning Q2 2014, WhatsApp will enable voice within its app. And, like how the communication tools previously chipped away the once prominent SMS from telcos, there is likelihood of a threat on telcos’ voice revenues.   

Staying Ahead with Mobile;Losing Fun in Life

When someone doesn’t pop the question – what plans for the New Year – it might seem atypical. Well, that is what happened to me. No one cared. But that is typical of folks now. The mobile devices keep everyone engaged. So engrossed are people that most have absolutely no clue of the time passing by. What do they care of others plans? I was mulling over the clutter of mobile applications – some device resident while others in the cloud – and a way to stay away from it when some marketing to-do list for the year struck me. 

1.   Stay focused – I had been repeatedly suggesting to people I meet to stay away from mobile applications that challenge not just their stress thresholds but the tolerance of others around. What is increasingly seen is a tendency to procrastinate with the belief there will tomorrow to make up for today’s indulgences. Marketers who are relentlessly pursuing ways and means to garner consumers’ mindshare are being asked to stay away from strategies weighing down their brands. No marketer would want to commoditize a brand, right? Similarly, we ought to focus on one or two applications that keep us and others around us engaged. 

2.  Be seen – One of the advices from my boss early this year was to be seen where it matters. The connected world permits one to work from anywhere. It also implies that one can find the most convenient place to expedite work. While convenience matters, collaboration between team members should be a priority and hence regular meetings an imperative. The other day, I asked a journalist friend if she would want to walk across the road to meet a common friend. She preferred to take down the number and call instead. The conversation lasted 5 minutes; ending with the note of a possible meeting at a later date. Be it friends or relatives, whatsapp, Facebook, hangout etc are challenging the social aspects of human life. ‘Walking is no more a verb’ in my vocabulary, commented a young colleague recently. ‘Texting, pinging…etc are more frequently used,’ she continued. 

3.  Spread word that matters - In our quest to gain prominence across social media, we tend to indulge in activities that diminish the significance of matters that demand attention. A nine year old missing boy in Mumbai was fortunately traced with the help of his father’s extensive social media network. Not many are lucky though. The unedifying demeanor of our elected representatives in the Parliament should remind us of obstreperous kids and neighbors who get ostracized during community activities. Their political sagacity lies only in hoodwinking people.

Conversation is the New Advertising

Popular social media sites Facebook and Twitter enable aggregation of related conversations. Example, favorite television shows to sporting events to the latest news. One who wishes to amass data on couch potatos can now do it effortlessly. For marketers, destinations like Facebook and Twitter are gold mines with specific details - how many people on Facebook or twitter talked about a particular subject, where exactly is the buzz, popularity among males or females, and age groups – all available in a jiffy. 

I was privy to a quick but slightly lengthy conversation about the best calling cards outside India. While several of them narrated their ordeal after using a particular brand while traveling abroad, some of them passed on suggestions of other brands adding their wonderful experience having used it. For marketers, it will help if they keep in mind that such conversations can be easily recalled these days by potential customers who increasingly rely on user reviews. An airline’s alleged fascist approach to some of its select passengers; ill-treatment of guests by a renowned hotel are conversations that are unbridled in the social media. Can marketers intervene and protect or promote their brand? Yes, of course. Having complained about a new Nokia smartphone that I had bought on social media, the company’s social media custodian quickly reached out to me to resolve the issue. The immediate response put me to ease and reinforced my trust in the brand. 

According to Nielsen’s 2012 State of the Media Report, 1 in 3 social media users now prefer to contact brands using social media rather than the phone. In this increasingly transparent world, businesses would do well if they lower their center of gravity to the digital realm. And, embrace a culture that encourages continuous engagement of customers and employees rather than a one-way communication. Forward looking businesses have a top-down approach to this. In an article that appeared in Forbes, CEO of Weber Shandwick had this to say. “To give you a sense of how valued a social CEO is, our global study found that 76 percent of executives think that it is a good idea for their CEOs to be social. Among their reasons for favoring their CEO’s social participation is how it reflects internally – 52 percent feel inspired by their CEO’s sociability. Looking externally, 69 percent say that it enhances the company’s market credibility. And in general, social CEOs are much more likely to be seen as good communicators than unsocial CEOs – 55 percent vs. 38 percent, respectively.”  

Four Tenets of Social Media – Creed, Seed, Deed and Indeed

Recently a CEO was seen with a new update on LinkedIn. He had updated his skills; some technical areas mentioned for members to be aware. Not that it is a grave error. From an external stakeholders perspective, it raises a simple yet niggling concern. Why is the leader of the organization updating his profile with new skill set? Shouldn't he be focusing on factors that would drive growth for the organization?  Leaders are traditionally conditioned to walk and talk about internal as well as external factors that would influence growth - of the people and the organization. From that perspective, is it good to be positioning self above the organization?

Roy, a friend of mine who is a digital native elucidated one of the best ways to be effective in social media. He likened this now ubiquitous platform to an offline CXO conference. He also armed me with a framework to be used in the new media; created with knowledge gleaned from observing CXO interactions during conferences.

Creed - this stands for 'who you are?' In a conference, you tend to have a brief description of yourself. Generally, it's short and sweet. You shake hands with one or two other leaders and tell them who you are, ie, which company, designation, areas of business (of the company). 

Seed - while you go around, you meet someone who is inquisitive about your business. There again, a well prepared leader will have a standard response. 'What you do' as a business by emphasizing on competitive differentiators, spelt out in 2 minutes will work well. What you do (your company) in max three lines should interest your peers in an event or on social media.

Deed - In a recent event, one of the leaders was heard saying - 'yes, I too went to the same college. I was a 'ctxt' scholar batch student.' There are times when you have to stand tall or differentiate yourself. That's when it is important to throw some accomplishments worth mentioning. It is important to ensure that what you are referring to is indeed a differentiator. Not to mention, authentic.

Indeed - In these days of continuous monitoring, what others say about you matters more than what you say or write about yourself. That's why calling out industry reports about leadership or peer reviews and recommendations matter. "We have been in India for only about two years, yet, you will recall top analysts ranking us as the fastest growing in the field,” relayed the leader of a young organization. 

There should be a purpose behind what we communicate. The tenets above will guide in creating messages effectively depending on the purpose and target audience.