For the last 15 years, agile development methodologies have come to the fore, bringing design and build cycles down from months – if not years – to weeks and even days. But agile/lean processes were primarily developed for product design and build. Can they really be adapted and used effectively in a service industry like marketing? From a marketing point of view, minimum viable techniques can be hugely valuable in helping large companies to explore the art of the possible without exposing the company to too much risk. Because MVM is low cost and quick to deploy, it can help you build a case for more investment in ideas which lie outside of the norm.
These are our five tips for implementing Minimum Viable Marketing successfully:
Think “framework,” not “campaign”
If you chart your campaign in such detail that it’s unalterable, you run the risk of being pinned down when something unexpected arises. For the perfectionists out there, this may be a frightening thought. Many marketers have built their careers on following a series of highly detailed plans based on copious amounts of data. You still can, and should, draw on research. But always leave room for growth.
“Map out your starting point in as much detail as you wish, and then roughly outline your vision for the first few milestones of your campaign, keeping your plans tenuous and easy to adjust.” (Jayson DeMers, Harvard Business Review)
Start small
It’s also good to plan modestly at the start and gradually become more ambitious as you test the waters — especially if you’re venturing into a new channel.
“For example, if you’re going to run a series of pay-per-click advertisements, begin with a budget of only a few hundred dollars. Run it for a few weeks, analyse your results, and if you’ve been successful, increase your budget.
“This way, if a more attractive medium comes along — or if an unexpected obstacle interferes with your campaign — you’ll have a chance to make adjustments, or bail out, before you’ve spent too much money.
“The same rule applies to scope. You might restrict your efforts at first and ramp up when your audience grows.” (Jayson DeMers, Harvard Business Review)
Avoid assumptions
How many times have you heard the phrase ‘we tried that before and it didn’t work’? Or, ‘that kind of thing wouldn’t work for us’? There must be a mountain of good ideas that have been discarded as soon as they were born because assumptions where made about how successful they might be. Avoiding assumptions doesn’t mean ignoring common sense but it does mean having the guts to say ‘why not? Let’s try it and see what happens’!
Test little and often
By testing small you can test lots of different aspects of any idea without wasting time or money. Not every test will be conclusive, but they will all tell you something!
Don’t fear failure
One of the greatest things about the Minimum Viable Marketing approach is that failure is something to be embraced not feared. If an idea doesn’t work, you simply drop it and move on. Simple. Every failure will tell you something you didn’t know already and will therefore help you to succeed.
“The best teams try to fail fast, often and cheaply in search of innovation,” (MIT Sloan Management Review, Winter 2015)
What does it mean for businesses?
There is no question that if marketing is going to meet the needs of modern businesses it has to evolve. Traditional linear approaches and annual planning cycles no longer fit the way businesses work. But it is about more than just that. There is a common misapprehension that ‘agile’ simply means doing things faster. But simply ramping up speed doesn’t address the issue around the need to drive better results. Marketing not only has to become more responsive and be quicker to implement, it also needs to get better at targeting and being able to demonstrate results.
Minimum Viable Marketing provides the capacity to explore and test ideas before you make big financial or time commitments. This not only gives you confidence that you are on the right track, it also helps you build the case for investment. It provides a good balance between exploring the art of the possible and managing risk.
