GSA/christopher

---
title: Applying Agile Practices - Agile Marketing
category: Agile
audiences:
  - Developers
  - Designers
  - Project Managers
---

Like software development, Marketing efforts must balance a customer-focused approach along with the ability to respond quickly, continuously improve, provide shorter delivery timeframes, capture feedback, “fail fast” and learn from mistakes early. In an effort to address this need, many marketers began experimenting with Lean and Agile practices. Through the success of these endeavors, a group of marketers compiled what is now the [Agile Marketing Manifesto](http://agilemarketingmanifesto.org/). The Agile Marketing Manifesto is composed of seven core values, which are elaborated by ten principles, and encourages marketers to focus on creating value for their customers while discovering new approaches to marketing operations. The Agile Marketing Manifesto values include:

* Validated learning over opinions and conventions
* Customer-focused collaboration over silos and hierarchy
* Adaptive and iterative campaigns over Big-Bang campaigns
* The process of customer discovery over static prediction
* Flexible versus rigid planning
* Responding to change over following a plan
* Many small experiments over a few large bets

As the [Agile Marketer](http://theagilemarketer.net/agile-marketing-manifesto-explained/) explains, there are many traditional approaches used in marketing campaigns and efforts that should be modified to avoid potential delays and/or adverse impacts. As marketers examine current practices, taking a more Agile approach can help them overcome such challenges. For example:

<img src="{{ site.baseurl }}/assets/img/guides/Agile_Marketing.png"
  alt="Agile Marketing"
  class="guide-image guide-image-three-fourths">  
*Source: The Agile Marketer*

### Good Reads
These are good references for understanding Agile practices used in Marketing:
* [6 agile principles that apply to everything](http://www.cio.com/article/2971822/agile-development/6-agile-principles-that-apply-to-everything.html)
* [Agile Alliance: Agile 101](https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/)
* [Embracing Agile](https://hbr.org/2016/05/embracing-agile)
* [How to apply Agile practices with your non-tech team or business](http://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-apply-agile-practices-with-your-non-tech-team-or-business/)
* [Organisational agility: How business can survive and thrive in turbulent times](https://www.emc.com/collateral/leadership/organisational-agility-230309.pdf)

##### Marketing
* [Agile Marketing Manifesto](http://agilemarketingmanifesto.org/)
* [Agile Marketing Manifesto Explained](http://theagilemarketer.net/agile-marketing-manifesto-explained/)