1.
OlgaAndrienko
Head of Global Marketing at SEMrush
Agile Marketing: A Step-by-Step Guide
@olgandrienko
Slideshare: bit.ly/agile_brighton

2.
We ALL face the
challenge of winning
on the market that is
constantly changing.
#BrightonSEO

3.
Every minute…
#BrightonSEO

4.
Long-term planning doesn’t work
Your beautiful 1-year marketing
plan is outdated!

5.
So what helps to handle the pressure?

6.
Adapt to change and pressure the right way
Adapting to change Embracing change

7.
ADAPTING TO CHANGE
Changes your company, but not the environment
Changes the environment
EMBRACING CHANGE

8.
Agile
Marketing
Validated learning over opinions
Adaptive and iterative campaigns over Big-Bang campaigns
Customer focused collaboration over silos and hierarchy
The process of customer discovery over static prediction
Responding to change over following a plan
Many small experiments over a few large bets
Flexible planning over rigid planning

9.
Step 1: Empower your people
Push decision-making down the
hierarchy and find ways to increase
the focus on the customer.
#BrightonSEO

10.
People are the only element
of your success that your
competitors can’t replicate.

11.
What marketers love
CREATIVITY FREEDOM BUDGETS J

12.
What to give to your marketing team
CREATIVITY FREEDOM BUDGETS RESPONSIBILITY

13.
Autonomous cross-functional teams
Product owners or process leads are setting a direction, not telling how to achieve goals
10Image source: https://labs.spotify.com/2014/03/27/spotify-engineering-culture-part-1/

14.
Agile marketing doesn’t mean chaos
Leaders explain
“what” to do, but not
“how”. And all
leaders are involved
in the process
themselves.

15.
Step 2: Performance management and
workflow
10

16.
Agile frameworks to increase productivity
SCRUM KANBAN SCRUMBAN

17.
Scrum tests: 2-week vs. 3 week sprints
Marketing is distribution and promotion. 2 weeks are not enough to plan and execute
10Image source: http://chiefmartec.com/2013/10/3-myths-agile-marketing/

18.
Scrum
10
3-week sprints
(tested 3 vs. 2 weeks)
The team defines the “how”
(“what” comes from management + the team)
Backlog is created through
brainstorming sessions
Planning sessions, standups and
retrospectives

19.
Test: task management tools
Teams can use whatever tool they like best. Tools tested: Trello, Asana, Wrike, Todoist

20.
20
Next steps: Create backlog with ideas
Small campaigns and
experiments
Always listen to the
customer and check data

21.
Agile marketing cases in action
Companies that incorporated agile principles in how they market

22.
What was
changed
Switched to in-house design team
from agency
Constant feedback: Voice of the
Customer surveys (via SurveyMonkey)
Switched email client to cheaper and
easier option that would enable
teams to create content themselves
Source: https://simplehq.co/blog/saving-money-with-agile-marketing/

23.
Saved $3m
in costs in 2
years
In-house creative department alone
saved about $1.4 million
Source: https://simplehq.co/blog/saving-money-with-agile-marketing/
Marketing budget of $9 million
brings $12 million in value
NPS changed from 48 to 72 in 12
months

24.
“The understanding of our
differentiation proposition was
lower than our competitors. We’ve
dramatically improved that in the
past 12 months.”
Darren Gunton, CMO of Chemmart Pharmacy

25.
25
Transparency
culture at
Buffer
Distributed team worldwide
Transparency and happiness
culture
Customer feedback incorporated
in the roadmaps

26.
Transparent
roadmap at
Buffer
Ideas are
immediately
tested

27.
Transparent
Pricing by
Buffer
The price of the
subscription
divided by the
costs Buffer has
27

28.
28
Agile
marketing in
SEMrush
Local presence without being local:
SEMrush Pizza Time (Australia)
Reacting to trending news: Adding
Dothraki database in SEMrush
Applying strengths of the team to
marketing: #SEMrushchat (Twitter
chat)

29.
Local
approach at
SEMrush
> 90% growth for emerging
markets in 2016
500,000 new users within 8
months
Closer connections with clients
and the industry because we
really listen

30.
Challenges of agile marketing

31.
Proactive team members suffer
from the lack of involvement of
others. Hiring mistakes lead to
disfunctional teams and
communicational disasters.

32.
HIRING
Proactive + creative + responsible + flexible team players are
extremely hard to find
Equals find it hard to give negative feedback and kick out the
team members who are not performing
FIRING

33.
GIVE YOUR TEAM THE FREEDOM TO CREATE
And remember:

34.
Happy and motivated people
create awesome things.
@olgandrienko via #BrightonSEO

35.
When a team commits to
something they initiated
themselves, it's likely to be
finished, because they care
about the end result.
@olgandrienko via #BrightonSEO

36.
Natural leaders stand out
immediately. Every team
member reveals talents and
focus on what they do best.
@olgandrienko via #BrightonSEO

37.
There is a saying…
You can’t do epic sh*t
with basic people

38.
But the truth is different
All people are epic, but often there are
basic rules that block creativity.

39.
Thank you!
Olga Andrienko
Head of Global Marketing
@olgandrienko
o.andrienko@semrush.com
Slides: bit.ly/agile_brighton