Two of the Most Important Components of Agile Marketing 

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You know that you want your company to have “agile marketing,” but what makes marketing more “agile?” 

Why does it seem that some companies have agile marketing while others are always caught flatfooted when events change? 

Of all the marketing buzzwords that rose to prominence during the pandemic, “agility” might be the one you hear the most. 

Think of how many articles you’ve read touting the virtues of “agile marketing” in the last year alone. 

When we’re creating our best SEO for attorneys, detox/rehab treatment centers, plastic surgeons, and more, we take great pride in the agility of marketing, yes. That said, it’s not like we work to make our marketing more “agile” or anything of the sort. Instead, it comes down to (more or less) two things. Luckily, these are two things that can be utilized by just about any company in any industry. 

 

A Lesson from Recent Google Changes 

 

Speaking of articles about online marketing that you may have read recently, you know that third-party cookies are being phased out. 

Soon, businesses and marketers won’t be able to use them to expand the reach of their business. 

However, it may not be as soon as we were led to believe. 

According to this article from the great Search Engine Journal, “Today, Google announced that support for third-party cookies would be extended until late 2023, giving marketers more than a year extension from the previous plan to block third-party cookies by 2022.” 

A year is practically a lifetime in online marketing. 

(Which, if we didn’t already know that, was something that became glaringly apparent over the last year.) 

A company or marketer that has put everything into swiftly transitioning into a third-party cookie-less future can be caught flat-footed by this. A company that did nothing (or was slow to begin to prepare for the transition) can breathe a sigh of relief. 

What does this have to do with agile marketing? 

Everything. 

Perhaps the most important component of agile marketing is to prepare. To be prepared. 

A company that was prepared for the death of third-party cookies is no less prepared for the future than they were yesterday. That’s true, of course, if they were prepared for things not to change as well. 

You can only be truly “agile” when you’re prepared. 

That doesn’t mean that you need to have a comprehensive business plan for every eventuality, of course. That’s impossible. To even attempt it would be a gross waste of your company’s time. 

However, having proven protocols in place can make for quick preparation. 

That’s how some companies always seem a step ahead: they know how to get something up to speed quickly. That leads to the second component of agile marketing… 

 

The Second Component 

 

Another great story from Search Engine Journal (if you don’t read them, you should) is about Google’s spam update. 

There was an update two days ago and there will be another next week. 

The key quote for me from the article was: “Google’s annual spam fighting report indicates that hacked spam is rampant. If your site suddenly drops in rankings following (the 23rd’s) update or the one next week, it would be wise to examine your site’s security and look for signs of a possible (hacked spam) attack.” 

So, when checking how your website is doing, you may see a drop. 

Then, the dilemma becomes: “what caused this?” 

Was it the new spam update? Has your SEO hit a rut? What made you drop and what can you do? 

This is where the second component of agile marketing comes in: 

Informed, experienced decision-making. 

Being able to make wise, knowledgeable decisions quickly is a critical part of what separates the companies that have agility in their marketing and those that are wracked with lethargy. 

It’s not enough to just be able to “move fast.” Rather, you have to be able to “move fast” in the right direction. 

To overreact (or underreact) to a drop in rankings can drag your marketing deeper into the mire. 

Informed, experienced decision-making and preparation can make your marketing agile enough to adapt to any future changes. 

For more help with this or anything else related to growing your business, you can reach us at (888) 477-9540.