As the digital world expands, marketing and its technology change rapidly. Today’s most agile practice will be old news soon.
It occurred with direct mail, and then again with email. And those are just two of the major marketing technologies that are no longer trendy in today’s world.
As marketing evolves, it’s nearly impossible to predict precisely where it will head in the future. Which is why teams need to be ready for whatever this uncertain future has in store.
Consider New Tech on a Schedule
The only way to stay relevant is to ensure that your tech stays up to date. It’s easy to fall into old patterns and only look for new technology when the old system is practically unusable.
Using outdated, unpopular platforms does your business a disservice. Often, it makes your service less valuable because you are working with something obsolete.
Especially in marketing, your prospects will trust you more if they know you are using a platform or product that makes your offering more valuable.
You must plan in time to look for and possibly onboard new technology. Keep a running list of the tech that your business uses and see if there are options out there that do more or better suit your needs.
Evaluate each vendor and see if it’s worth your money. At the same time, you should also brainstorm what challenges your team faces daily. From there, you find technology that alleviates those issues.
Keep Up With Social
I would argue that staying on top of social media trends is likely one of the most important things marketers can do.
Sure, we have all these automation platforms, but without what platform is hot and what is popular on those platforms, it’s useless implementing that sort of technology.
Keep up on what platforms are the most popular, both in general and in your space. Snapchat isn’t the best fit for most B2B marketing, but it’s good to know that it’s one of the more popular apps in general.
This information drives other things, like what medium content is most popular and what language is getting the most clicks.
The only way to stay on top of social media is to use it, so marketers must do more than blindly schedule posts on a social media management tool. Log into your company’s Twitter account and explore what the platform offers.
Do the same with LinkedIn, keeping an eye out for trends. Social promises to continue to be a primary channel for brands to get the word out, so being comfortable and familiar with it are vital to being a successful modern marketer.
Make Sure Your Team is Open to Constant Change
Easier said than done.
Humans are naturally resistant to change, which often is why teams struggle to stay agile.
As I mentioned above, keeping up with what is trendy is practically mandatory for marketing and business in general.
Making this happen requires a company culture that is excited about change.
Encourage your team to try the latest and greatest courses (there are both free and paid courses), so they have new skills that grow continuously. These courses will give them ideas on how they can improve at their jobs and keep their skills relevant. They will also keep your team inspired.
Encourage your team to ask questions to see where both they and the team can improve. Establish these practices in weekly meetings. Come up with things that you can improve upon and work on them each week.
Be Careful to Stay Stable
Don’t go jumping from platform to platform, or from tactic to tactic. Only replace a piece of software if it’s necessary or will significantly improve your team’s performance.
It’s essential to be both agile and stable.
Changing up tactics too often makes it that much harder for your workers to create a consistent and steady workflow. Allow them time to adjust and don’t switch directions too often. Agility is important, but not if you fall over the hurdles.
Make deliberate, measured changes, assess every month or two, and keep up with what’s popular. Keep up the culture of constant change, and you will find your marketing efforts will be effortlessly agile.
Let us know what you think:
- Are you planning for the future?
- Did you like this list of ways to prep?
- How else would you prepare?
