Good morning Marketer, let’s talk about agile marketing.

If your marketing ops team is spending the bulk of their efforts putting out fires and managing new requests, it might be time to get more comfortable saying “no” to truly embrace an agile approach

“Agile systems can be immensely helpful here. The trouble is that if everything is a priority, nothing is. When we’re trying to do ten things at once, they’ll all end up taking ten times longer than if we were focusing on one thing until it’s done,” said founder of AgileSherpas Andrea Fryrear. Her team recently released its second annual State of Agile Marketing report, and found that marketers cited “current processes not working well” as a leading barrier to adopting an agile approach – second only to lack of education and training.

She recommends taking one of two approaches to enable a more agile strategy: Identify a Team Lead to manage the backlog and determine which projects take priority, or enact “short sprints” that last for one to two weeks, where marketing operations teams are allowed to put up guardrails around their work efforts.

In other news, Verizon reported it saw more than double the number of phone calls each day at the end of March. What does such a significant increase in call volumes mean for marketing technologists? That the “new normal” in terms of business communications may involve more phone call interactions between consumers and brands. To keep up with business insights, digital marketers may need to pay more attention to inbound calls as a marketing channel. 

If this is something your team is hearing more about — and you’re looking to add call analytics platforms to your martech stack — check out our Enterprise Call Analytics Marketers Guide

Take care,

Taylor Peterson
Deputy Editor

 
 
 

How Digital Transformation Empowers Brands To Deliver To Consumers With Urgency

We’re living in a world disrupted by factors out of our control. But in the wake of a pandemic, companies still need to deliver – and with urgency. As shoppers navigate their interrupted world, they are changing the way they browse and shop for products. With delivery and curbside pickup turning into the preferred, and sometimes only, option for shopping, the integration of physical and digital channels in the supply chain is now more critical than ever. Join this webinar to discuss how disruptive changes to the CPG industry during the pandemic have accelerated the need to transform the way we do business.

RSVP here »

 
Chatter
 

A call for “rapid reoptimization”

Companies can recoup revenue lost due to the pandemic by quickly shifting the media mix of their marketing spend in the coming months, a new study from Ebiquity, a UK-based marketing and media consultancy finds.

“Strategic thinking is more important now than ever. 

Our study shows that there is no one size fits all as each business and sector faces unique challenges and brands need to fundamentally know what works for them and what doesn’t and act accordingly. But two things are clear.

Firstly, inaction is not an option. Your marketing plan may have been perfectly optimised at the start of the year, but it will not be now. Rapid reoptimisation and reallocation of funds will put you in the best place to maximise profits. Second, well allocated marketing spend has a direct and positive impact on the bottom line and should continue to be seen as an investment and not a cost.” — Nic Pietersma, Business Director, Ebiquity

 

Traveling in Q4? [Survey]

For most marketers, attending in-person events is a key component to their professional development. But COVID-19 has significantly impacted the ability to travel, at least for now. How are you thinking about and planning your fourth quarter event schedule?

Take the survey »

 
 
 
What we're reading
 

We've curated our picks from across the web so you can retire your feed reader

How to engage with your audience on Reddit – CMS Wire

The common sense approach for auditing ad fraud – Forbes

Snap Says It Will No Longer Promote Trump’s Account – New York Times

Google faces $5 billion lawsuit in U.S. for tracking ‘private’ internet use – Reuters

Listening to change: Customer experience execs share insights on navigating COVID-19 – Marketing Dive

How to attract more than 10 million TikTok followers in 5 months – TechCrunch

CES will be held in-person in Las Vegas next year – The Verge

Alibaba unveils digital tools for US small businesses  – Retail Dive