Getting the C-Suite to buy in on agile marketing

While agile marketing is the norm for many marketing operations teams, the C-suite in most organizations is likely preoccupied with other concerns than trying to understand scrum versus kanban.

So how do you break down agile marketing to executives with scenarios and terms that are relevant in their world? 

Related Webinar: 4 Ways to Get Started with Agile Marketing

“With the current conditions it is very important to measure exactly what you are doing with your agile marketing processes, leading with campaign successes,” said Bonnie Crater, CEO of Full Circle Insights, a data and lead management platform. “With the C-Suite you need to focus on top-line measurements, always beginning and ending with revenue, always. How well your funnel is working is most important.”

Begin with budget

The C-Suite has to know that a key component of agile marketing is making budget adjustments to current campaigns and that marketing budgets are being optimized. Keep them current on major transfers of budget line items from inefficient campaigns to more effective ones.

“CEOs know their companies are not going to run perfectly and they appreciate budget optimization,” said Crater. “Communicate it as a win, and not a defeat. They are happy when solutions are given to inefficient campaigns.”

Relating for revenue

Most agile marketing teams have had to refocus on even more revenue-generating activities, campaigns and tasks since the COVID-19 outbreak, communicate that to all members of your C-Suite, if possible.

In presentations to the C-suite about your agile marketing campaign successes, make sure the presentation: has charts that show an impact on sales; establishes metrics related to current sales results; shows how fast leads are being followed up on; and shows the correlation to increased sales featuring a listing of campaigns with a high impact on sales.

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“If you are generating twice as much revenue in half the time then make sure that stands out,” said Crater. “As a marketer you need to think how to grow revenue and how to make the company more efficient and more profitable. If 10% of revenue is spent on marketing, show that 10% is having an even higher ROI.”

Talking tools

While effective martech tools and digital platforms are the center of life for many marketing technologists, it definitely is not for C-suite executives. So never act like they are.

Instead, be sure to explain how enhanced martech tools lead to more productive teams and more effective prioritization of work. Clearly communicate which channels, platforms and ad campaigns are working best.

“The top teams are taking a hard look at their advertising targeting, so be precise on how agile marketing is enhancing certain tools,” said Crater.

Meetings on measurement

Meetings on campaign measurement are inevitable, so it is best that agile marketers have succinct ways to directly communicate the execution of the campaign.

Communicating measurement to the C-suite should include these agile marketing milestones:

• Percentage of work generating leads;

• Continuous experiments; and

• More frequent updates with visibility into campaign adjustments.

“You should communicate the efficiency of your funnel and update regularly,” said Crater. “Equate agile marketing’s better alignment with business objectives with a more efficient and shorter sales process, that is what the C-suite likes to hear.”