Agile marketing a cost-effective and efficient solution for SMEs

An agile marketing strategy can help SMEs stay relevant and prominent. A constantly changing and increasingly digital landscape means that small businesses need to be able to react quickly to marketing data. An agile approach allows businesses to minimise risk by trying multiple tactics with a relatively small spend, before putting a larger budget behind the tactics that are proven to be effective. But enacting a variety of marketing tactics efficiently and cost-effectively is a difficult and stressful task for a small team.

While helping countless businesses build their marketing strategy and strong digital presence, we have identified a few key agile marketing tips that relieve the pressure and make all the difference in your marketing success.

1. Know when to outsource, but don’t over commit

Quality marketing collateral and content requires a professional skill set. Getting the right help can not only make your marketing much more effective, it can save you hours of frustration. While hiring a marketing specialist into your team is an important step, as your business grows you are certain to need more than the abilities of one marketing grad. A truly varied and agile marketing strategy will require a wide range of specific skill sets, from graphic designers and web developers through to copywriters and video producers.

Building a trusting but flexible relationship with a creative team is essential if you are to regularly pivot your marketing spend from month to month. Avoid long lock-in contracts that restrict you to limited types of collateral and content. Think carefully before signing off on any major projects or campaigns, and be sure to test your marketing hunches with real customers before you commit.

2. Have a flexible marketing plan with a flexible budget

It is still important to plan ahead. While an agile strategy demands more wiggle room, putting some clear guidelines in place makes sure your spend never gets out of hand. Engaging in a diverse range of marketing avenues and tactics helps ensure you don’t miss any potential gold mines, but it also means that several of your marketing experiments are almost guaranteed to give you next to no returns.

Reassign your marketing budget according to the data you collect. If you are having more success through a certain medium with a particular audience, focus some extra resources there to build on that success. If a certain medium is proving less effective, reduce your spend, but use this as an opportunity to consider why your audience isn’t responding so you can avoid these issues in any future campaigns.

3. Don’t confuse agile marketing with noncommittal marketing

Trying a high quantity of marketing techniques should not mean you sacrifice on quality. While many of your mini-campaigns will have a much smaller budget, designed just to test the waters with your audience, it is imperative to maintain standards and brand continuity through your carefully constructed collateral. When the time comes to invest in a marketing approach, don’t settle for one that is sub-standard and hacked together. And when one of your mini-campaigns proves effective, be sure to capitalise while you have your audience’s attention.

Focusing on high-quality outputs ensures your multi-faceted marketing approach and digital presence brings life and authority to your brand. Focusing on quality will help to grab attention and increase conversion, whilst also associating your brand with quality products and services. Brand awareness and marketing success will come from an agile strategy that engages a multi-skilled team who can give you quality outputs with a flexible approach.

Francis Nicholls-Wunder, www.fullofcontent.com