Using Hashtags to sort Content on Professional Social Networks: Gaining Quicker Access to Agile Marketing News & Events
Tip to organize Agile Marketing Info on LinkedIn
As a Coach and Educator of Marketing at University and College I enjoy keeping up to date with the latest information provided by practitioners, researchers and fellow educators. Beyond reading World Scholar Research and Publications on Agile Marketing I use a simple Trick.
There’s a reason my LinkedIn feed, Page Suggestions, News and Events Match my Interest.
Agile Marketing Hashtags do a part of the Work
As you can observe from the image above, hashtags are sorted on the left of your profile screen and have an incidence on Feed & Page Suggestions.
Agile Marketing Page Suggestions in LinkedIn
For instance under the Followed Hashtags on my Profile you will find the following:
The Screen capture below demonstrates how Hashtags are providing additional signals to my LinkedIn Feed in order to help prioritize Agile Marketing Content. These additional signals are important whether you follow the person or not. For example, one can observe UK’s Rachel Chapman featured in the Feed (I follow her of course! See her Agile Marketing Community link below).
Agile Marketing Feed Example
Stay informed on Agile Marketing Topics
Hashtags are not the only way to stay informed, here are some Suggestions:
As professors, students and practitioners explore Agile Marketing we inevitably realize that Marketing has a legacy of eroding Consumer and Customer Trust through its actions.
Unfortunately, Modern Marketing is no exception as it fails, in its own way, to create Trust by exploiting Surveillance Technology and Tracking Tools that are often at the source of considerable Privacy concerns.
Towards a responsible use of Data and Analytics to enable and enhance Marketing Agility
The Agile Marketing Education (AME) Team had the opportunity to Discuss the Application and Use of Data in Marketing with Stéphane Hamel – a long time advocate ofDigital Analytics!
Agile Marketing Data & Analytics Interview
AME: Tech Stacks, DMPs fuelled by Programmatic and countless Tracking Tools are continually raising Privacy concerns. Allow us to Quote your recent post, what do Marketing Students need to know about the State of Data and how it is being used Today?
“We thought IP addresses were harmless… it is personal.
We thought browsing was harmless… it has been proven to be personal by Mozilla.
We thought attributes were harmless… 15 anonymous attributes are sufficient to identify you.
We thought geolocation was harmless… 4 points for a year can identify you.
Data is only anonymous because someone hasn’t figured out (or made the effort) to deanonymize it.”
Excerpt from Post by Stéphane Hamel
SH: Several years ago, I was invited to speak about digital analytics to soon to be Marketing Master graduates. Some were politely listening, but many seemed uninterested and distracted, their attention turned to Facebook or something else. At one point, the teacher stopped me and asked why they didn’t see the value of what I was presenting. It was an honest discussion: they were more interested in becoming social media marketing gurus than crunching numbers and learning about statistics…
The reality is you can not be a good marketer if you don’t obsessively measure the success of your initiatives. It doesn’t mean you need to become statisticians or data scientists, just like you don’t need to become a web developer. But you do need to understand the basics.
Marketing has always been about influencing people. But we have to be careful when we exercise this privilege. Marketing, in many ways, has become a game of manipulation and deceit where Big Data, algorithmic automation and social media now has the power to destabilize democracies – as we’ve seen with the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Because of those abuses, there are now regulations setting limits on who, what, when, where, why and how data can be collected and used.
AME: Those are great examples! Indeed regulations were created because of the way Marketing behaved and misused Data. It is all the more surprising that despite the abundance of Data, Marketers still may not always be measuring the right thing (eg. “Last Click”) in the first place? Digital Marketers are tempted to fixate solely on Conversions; what should students, as future marketers, also consider as measures of success?
SH: It is the eternal debate between brand marketing vs conversion marketing. Between upper funnel long term brand awareness and lower funnel, shorter term conversion. Both are super important, and good marketers understand these concepts. The problem is too often, self-proclaimed marketing “experts” lure people into believing Google Ads or Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/TikTok (insert trend of the moment) are magic. After all, you spend $x and you see impressions, clicks, and hopefully, conversions. It looks like the last channel (in fact, it’s “last non-direct click”) miraculously generated the conversion, while in reality, it is the result of a multi-touch journey.
So, yes, look at “last non-direct click” all you want, but don’t forget the bigger picture. And don’t forget, also, that the whole concept of attribution was presented as the next best thing since sliced bread, the marketer’s Holy Grail… but never really succeeded. Can you precisely collect data about all touch points? All digital and non-digital channels? Tied to a specific person? Most likely not… so attribution will never be perfect.
One of the most important skills of a marketer is “judgement”.
AME: How does Data help in creating better User Experiences? In Agile Marketing we encourage our students to develop a Serve vs Sell mindset. How can Marketers use Data to better Serve the Customer instead of just Selling to them?
SH: Great question. Digital analytics is about observing and understanding user behavior in their natural habitat. Yes, it sounds like a wildlife experiment – and it is. Humans, like animals, follow a (not always) logical path toward their goal. One of my former managers always told us “make it easy to do business with” – remove friction wherever possible, continuously improve rather than seeking the golden nugget that will magically double your sales. In order to optimize you need three things:
context: understand the business, its ecosystem, the problem or opportunity, but also the features and constraints of the technology
data: collect the right data – be it from digital analytics or qualitative data – all means of listening to your customers are good!
creativity: you need to be creative in order to bring solutions that are not only best practice or merely copies of your competition, but really go beyond and above those.
The beauty is if you have a “serve” mindset, you are already closer to a customer centric approach – in the longer run, you will spend less on marketing and avoid constantly trying to push your stuff down the throats of potential customers.
AME: When reviewing your presentation “The Elasticity of Analytics Ethics” – WaW Copenhagen, August 2020 and introduction of the hashtag #NoConsentNoTracking (it’s a simple yet powerful principle!). Is that the Future of Analytics or the minimum as we enter what Dr Philip Kotler describes as Marketing 5.0: Technology for Humanity?
SH: I’m not sure if it is really Marketing 5.0, but one of the first things I tell my students is to forget about “digital marketing” – it is marketing, plain and simple. There is one brand, one customer, one customer experience across multiple touch points – be it physical or digital. In the early 2000’s, it was trendy to put an “e-” in front of every role: e-marketing, e-commerce, e-whatever… and one day, someone super bright said “hey! wait a minute, it’s marketing and it’s commerce!” Keeping focused on the “digital” in digital marketing puts too much emphasis on the tactics. I see numerous people who have grown into a “digital marketing” because they manage Facebook or Instagram and such, but they often lack the broader understanding of marketing concepts.
The #NoConsentNoTracking idea stems from the fact that, for example, the GDPR and ePrivacy in Europe requires that you ask for consent before using cookies or tracking on an individual level. Thus, all those annoying cookie popups! But did you know that in most cases, even when you say “Reject”, you are still being tracked because, supposedly, it’s anonymous (back to the intro statement!)
Try to explain that to someone on the street: you ask them if they agree to be tracked. They clearly say “No!”, and yet, as a marketer, YOU decide YOU are entitled to track them anyway because it’s your legitimate interest and it’s anonymous… To me, at least, that doesn’t hold water.
In conclusion, marketing is about influencing people, but it is mostly about building trust. Today, brand equity includes things like ecological consciousness, or equality and diversity. Very soon – it has already started – brands which demonstrate they have the utmost respect for their customers’ data will win.
Image Courtesy of Stéphane Hamel #NoConsentNoTracking
AME: Thank you for your valuable contribution to the profession Stéphane!
About Stéphane Hamel
Stéphane Hamel is a seasoned independent digital marketing and analytics consultant, innovator, keynote speaker and startup & agency advisor. He is also Digital Marketing Academic Advisor for the Faculty of Business Administration at Laval University.
The following side by side comparison of Manifestos helps to clearly see some of the main differences emerging between the Agile Dev 2001 version and the Agile Marketing 2012 version.
Note: Agile Marketing Manifesto is being modified by the Sprint Two Leadership Team and hundreds of comments and results gathered during a Survey announced May 28th 2021. We will provide an Update when the new Document is Published at AgileMarketingManifesto.org
Agile offers four simple, yet highly effective, values to contribute to a high-value product or service in web development and marketing. In order to accomplish this, the methodology emphasizes these values:
Individuals and Interactions
Working Products
Customer Collaboration
Responding to Change
7 Agile Marketing Values
Agile Marketing has developed its own manifesto however this document remains at the draft stage, some of the values are proposals, which is why we sometimes see 6 instead of 7 Values of Agile Marketing:
Validated learning
Customer focused collaboration
Adaptive and iterative campaigns
Customer discovery
Flexible planning
Responding to change
Many small experiments
Agile Values
Agile Marketing Values
AgileManifesto.org
AgileMarketingManifesto.org
Manifesto for Agile Software Development
We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:
Manifesto for Agile Marketing
We are discovering better ways of creating value for our customers and for our organizations through new approaches to marketing.
Through this work, we have come to value:
1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
1. Validated learning over opinions and conventions
2. Working software over comprehensive documentation
2. Customer focused collaboration over silos and hierarchy
3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
3. Adaptive and iterative campaigns over Big-Bang campaigns
4. Responding to change over following a plan
4. The process of customer discovery over static prediction
5. Flexible vs. rigid planning
6. Responding to change over following a plan
7. Many small experiments over a few large bets
4 Agile Values and 7 Agile Marketing Values as of May 2021
Agile and Agile Marketing Principles Comparison
12 principles of Agile
Whether in web development or marketing, the 12 Agile principles provide great guidance to create a high-value product or service for a company. Here are the 12 principles based on agile development as well as the 10 agile marketing principles:
Agile Principles
Agile Marketing Principles
AgileManifesto.org
AgileMarketingManifesto.org
1. Customer satisfaction by early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of marketing that solves problems
2. Welcome changing requirements, even in late development.
2. We welcome and plan for change. We believe that our ability to quickly respond to change is a source of competitive advantage
3. Deliver working software frequently (weeks rather than months)
3. Deliver marketing programs frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale
4. Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers
4. Great marketing requires close alignment with the business people, sales and development
5. Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted
5. Build marketing programs around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done
6. Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)
6. Learning, through the build-measure-learn feedback loop, is the primary measure of progress
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress
7. Sustainable marketing requires you to keep a constant pace and pipeline
8. Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace
8. Don’t be afraid to fail; just don’t fail the same way twice
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
9. Continuous attention to marketing fundamentals and good design enhances agility
10. Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential
10. Simplicity is essential
11. Best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams
12. Regularly, the team reflects on how to become more effective, and adjusts accordingly
12 Agile Principles and 10 Agile Marketing Principles as of May 2021
Brief Reading Assignment for Agile Marketing Students
Apple Stepping Up Privacy
As we explore Agile Marketing we discover how Consumers have lost their Trust in some Corporations and Corporate Marketing due to lack of Transparency.
IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers) was a Start to provide a form of Privacy but the way it is captured, tracked and shared in App Advertising is creating growing concerns. iOS 14 is ramping up privacy protection by allowing us to choose whether or not we want to to opt into tracking.
As Apple points out, without better Privacy Rules of Engagement, at the very least you should be clearly informed that “your information is for sale, YOU have become the Product”.
There is more at stake in Privacy as can be observed from the exchanges between Facebook and Apple
Harvard sides with Apple.
We invite your to read the February edition of the Harvard Business Review:
Facebook’s Misleading Campaign Against Apple’s Privacy Policy
HR and Marketing – Commonalities through a Business Agility Mindset
As a HR Professional and Teacher of HR Management, I invite my Students to connect the dots between Functions within a Business.
To some, the word Marketing may be synonymous with advertising, tv commercials, and swag bags. Others may summarize it as the promotion and sale of a product or service.
In my classroom, we have a different definition, let alone a different vision. I have presented my Students the perspective that Marketing is like HR – it is about People! Considering our like-mindedness, we both see the connection between the two Business Functions. If the link I’m describing seems abstract at the moment, allow me to illustrate it.
Understandably, expressing feelings, dissolving fears, and creating connections do not represent typical marketing objectives or practices. The question therefore is why? Why can’t marketing invite candor, vulnerability, courage, and connection? Why does a correlation with human resources seem more plausible? When did the activities in one functional area become isolated from the other? Why can’t marketing and human resources be integrated?
The current context certainly cannot validate the segregation since the globalized economy highlights the links amongst processes and practices. The interconnectivity of it all is quite evident, yet even more necessary for its performance. Hence, a need arises for marketing and human resources to connect if they aspire to operate amidst globalization. The two must align, flow with one another, and more importantly, understand that they influence and highly impact each other. Therefore, we are discovering and beginning to witness the mutual benefits and value of a common purpose as some organizations embrace and deploy Business Agility.
Link Between HR and Marketing
Beyond Agility as a Collaboration Driver, to propose a natural connection between HR and Marketing is not that outrageous. In fact, examining humans and studying their behaviour already represents a form of marketing. It is known as consumer behaviour and can be witnessed through customer satisfaction surveys, focus groups, and brand awareness polls.
These efforts collect insight on a target audience, which allow companies to better promote their product or service and enable them to develop new, coveted products. In this scenario, the link between an attentive ear (human resources practice) is potentially leading to a product launch (marketing effort).
The breakdown occurs in unusual circumstances or uncharted territory where the link is not as visible. To elaborate, the answers aren’t available on spreadsheets, graphs, interview recordings, or polling results. These instances test companies as they force firms to search deeply for what their cherished market needs from them.
In grey zones, a firm’s obligation is to meet the needs of their consumer, not their wants. Wants were fulfilled by previous marketing campaigns, former products or services, and other tried & true practices. But now, we are in a new space, a world of possibility where the rules have not been written yet and everything is permitted.
It is this abundance of freedom and liberation from restraints and restrictions that destabilize companies, send them in a whirlwind, and leave them disconnected from their audience or market. Without their usual reference points and metrics, companies miss the opportunity to introduce their faithful client base to new marketing techniques. Techniques that are progressive, innovative, refreshing, and most importantly human.
Calling the Human Side of Marketing
For decades, marketing efforts have sold to humans without necessarily recognizing their humanity. This wasn’t problematic as sales were present, clients were seemingly happy, and representatives were meeting or surpassing objectives. Yet today, the scenery has changed and the buying market has altered. Five generations of individuals currently possess a purchasing power, which means strategies must adapt to their uniqueness. Approaches must be revisited to respond to the various ideologies, values, and wide array of realities.
In modern day, a company that does not practice what it preaches will endure significant backlash from consumers. Employees might leave their jobs if they don’t feel connected to the company’s mission or values. What a firm does or does not do will be highlighted on social media. A globalized world means more eyes on each company. It demands a higher level of performance by organizations. It requires more transparency, consideration, and ultimately more humanity.
Agile HR Meets Agile Marketing
Now more than ever, it is imperative for marketing and human resources teams to collaborate and exchange information. Each possesses insight that is extremely valuable to the other, if not crucial. Without cooperation amongst these teams, a company’s solvency and viability could be seriously compromised. Imagine the aftermath of the following scenarios if human resources and marketing do not perform any knowledge transfer:
A candidate does not have a positive interaction with a firm’s recruiter.
An organization’s recruitment process lacks integrity and rigor.
A prospective employee is discriminated against (voluntarily or involuntarily) during pre-employment examinations.
A supervisor or manager deceives, lies, or betrays their employee.
A promising and ambitious employee receives no leadership from senior management.
A news article showcases a company whose actions blatantly contradict its corporate values or mission statement.
All these examples can constitute public relation nightmares for organizations if not dealt with in an Agile Manner.
PR Considerations in Applying Agile HR
The implications of poor public relations can encompass loss of market share, plummeted sales, reduced or eliminated profits, hindered brand image, diminished social acceptance, difficulty recruiting talent, and employee retention struggles. Combine such bad publicity with the launch of an IPO, a new product or service, or an eminent merger and a perfect storm is born. In a situation of business acquisition, the negative outcome can be even more catastrophic. If the backlash from the bad press is highly severe, then the buyer could end up being the firm being purchased. With the stakes so high and the possibility of tables turning so drastically, human resources attention must be given to marketing efforts about to be deployed.
Agility Bridges the Gap
The easiest way to bridge the gap between historically distinct entities, HR and Marketing in this case, is to recognize and honour the fact that clients are people. In fact, the Agile Manifesto reminds us to focus on “Customer collaboration”[1] and we find the same sentiment in the Agile Marketing Manifesto and the Agile HR Manifesto Values & Principles.
It’s a simple concept, yet its simplicity might be the exact reason it is forgotten or ignored. Marketers know that their consumers are human beings yet with all the bad publicity seen over the years, one must conclude that this fundamental point was hiding in plain sight. Plus, with any project completion, product launch, or other important corporate reveal, it’s easy to get tied up in the nitty gritty details or be so close to the situation that the big picture is lost.
To be a thriving, sustainable, and successful marketer today, a company must appeal to its Customers through Authenticity. It must authentically warm their hearts, inspire them, and gain their trust. An effective, modern marketer will captivate its clients through its integrity, transparency, and vulnerability should they opt to be so candid. People vote with their wallet, yet they choose with their heart. Never assume or even less expect to get the sale, if you don’t appeal to your client’s values, beliefs, and needs first.
Just remember that your human resources colleagues are equipped to help you with that approach. Human Resources Professionals know people, they understand fit, they are well versed in comprehensive communication, they aren’t strangers to accommodation or adaptation, and certainly are experts in engagement. Employees and Customers are both human beings. Finally, bridging the gap comes from recognizing and embracing the commonalities and unifying sense of purpose that exist in HR and Marketing, through the ever-growing adoption of Business Agility. Bridging gaps enables the Business Disciplines to jointly overcome Organizational challenges. To be Agile, Marketers must value their customers and adapt to their changes, all the while planning with flexibility in mind. Adopting Agile HR practices, will help the marketing team achieve that level faster and more organically. After some time collaborating, Agile Marketers may discover that they are Champions of Recruitment Marketing while Agile Recruiters could transform into professionals in the Marketing of Employment Opportunities by fully leveraging and promoting the desirable as well as unique strengths inherent to their Organization and Culture. Ultimately, success comes from doing what you do because it’s who you are, it provides an authentic testimonial of your corporate culture. It doesn’t result from just doing the politically correct thing.
Learning from Practitioners and Educators of Agile Marketing
As Marketing Practitioners and Educators we not only infuse Relevant Marketing Content and Examples informed by decades of Real-Word Marketing Experience but have engineered the Material and Delivery to promote Better Learning Outcomes through the Application of effective Educational Technology Practices and proven Course Design as well as Learner Evaluation Theory.
Module Engineering to Deliver on Learning Objectives (Bloom Taxonomy)
As Educators we are mindful of the Facilitation Approach to be employed based on the Module we cover. Each Agile Marketing Module in our Course refer to a specific Acceptance Criteria and informs us of the Evaluation confirming the Learning Outcomes. We invite Fellow Educators to Read the Bloom Taxonomy and Reflect on the Language employed as we Teach our Classes. You may want to alter your Questions to ensure you both address the Type of Cognitive Process being triggered as well as the Type of Knowledge and level being solicited:
Cognitive Processes
Create
Evaluate
Analyze
Apply
Understand
Remember
Types of Knowledge
Metacognitive (Strategic Knowledge, Self-Knowledge, Student is Able to Reason with Critical Thinking “I Know that I Know Because”)
Procedural (Subject Specific Skill, Algorithms, Knowing Criteria “Know When to Use”)
Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom’s Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [February 21st, 2021] from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/
Agile Marketing Engineered for Better Learning Outcomes
Experiential Learning: -Early Concept Exposure followed by Hands-on Exercises & Simulations -Progressively Building on Key Learning
Design Planning Sequence for Effective Evaluation (Wiggins): -Exercises Individual & Group – Formative & Summative Evaluation -Rubrics to Help Situate Learner Progress
Course Sequence Optimization: -Sequence builds on prior learning concepts like scaffolding (Vygotsky)
Metacognitive: -Prior Learning Activation on New Topics; from Accessible to Complex -Time for Reflection at end during Retrospective
Relevance Increasing Engagement: -Learners can begin the Agile Marketing Journey and create their Roadmap in order to accelerate the Transfer of Learning to Real Work
Montreal Business Professor shares his Teaching Experiences with our Agile Marketing Education Community.
Agile Marketing and Project Management Education Content:
Agile Project Management Challenge
For the longest time, Project Management (PM) was not taught in the Quebec CEGEP (aka college) system. Many business programs still do not have PM included in their curriculum. It is not a surprise that students in our Marketing focused Business Administration DEC program usually struggle with the question: “Why do I need to study project management when all I want is to become a brand manager, not a PM professional?” Students fail to grasp that marketing professionals spend most of their time on managing projects.
Agile Education Benefits for Students
I was happy when I was asked to teach a PM class but as I quickly went through the curriculum, I realized that it was only the traditional PM view that was captured there. Concepts like Agile and Scrum were nowhere to be found, most likely because these PM techniques are believed to apply only in software development projects. I set a course to change this perception and teach my students about how Agile Marketing is more relevant than ever in today’s marketing profession given the increasing degree of unpredictability in the business practice.
Beneficial Agile Insights for Students:
I was delighted, therefore, when I met Thomas, a professional marketer but also a Scrum master and seasoned Agile Thinking practitioner. Inviting him as a guest speaker to my class has been one of the PM course highlights this fall (2020). Students got a lot of key insights not only from the theoretical concepts talked about but, especially, from the real business life examples that Thomas put forward. Students understood that Agile marketing and Agile PM are not nice-to-haves but rather key skills that complement traditional marketing and PM and that will help them tremendously down the road, in their future business careers.
About Sorin Voinea
Senior Business Executive who has lived and worked in several countries spanning 3 different continents (Europe, North America, and Asia). He is Business Professor at CEGEP – John Abbott College in Montreal, Quebec.
The Learning Objectives of this Agile Marketing Education Case have been specifically selected and designed (as Agile Educators we apply and use Bloom’s Taxonomy) to help your Marketing Students:
Understand by classifying Statistical Significance results in order to Determine the Validity of a Marketing Activity.
Analyse by differentiating Performance levels of a Call to Action based on Statistical Significance Data in order to enhance Decision Making for Marketing.
Prior Learning:
As you apply Agile Marketing Education you will want to ensure you tap into and build from prior learning concepts such as Statistics to provide your Students with the best Marketing Outcomes. Help Marketing Students by Getting them to Think in terms of the Pillars of Empiricism (evidence discovered in experiments and validated measurement).
GETTING STARTED – APPLYING AGILITY IN MARKETING EXPERIMENTS
Provide Marketing Learners with a Quick example of Major Discoveries that occurred as a result of Experimentation.
These Pillars are often present during Experiments:
TRANSPARENCY
INSPECTION
ADAPTATION
Challenges in Learning about Statistical Significance for Marketing:
Practicians of Agile Marketing are encouraged to engage in many small experiments over a few large bets (Reminder: this is one of the Agile Marketing Manifesto Values).
Challenges Marketing Learners face is with regards to conducting many small experiments without knowing how to apply Statistical Hypothesis Testing.
This is an area where an Agile Marketing Educator can contribute significantly on the Learner’s Marketing Experimentation Success rate and Insightful Tests by sharing practical theory and reliable Steps to ensure Marketers conduct Valid Experiments.
HYPOTHESIS TESTING STEPS
As stated above, conducting many experiments is highly valued in Agile Marketing but how can you help a Learner continuously Conduct Valid Experiments?
You may use any method you wish to conduct an A/B Test so long as it follows a Process guided by genuine Hypothesis Testing. However, for this Case we suggest the following Mnemonic-inspired Test alternative to ensure Students remember the Key Test Phases as it clearly spells out the word HOME:
H – Hypothesis that can be tested based on observable Data
O – Outcome that objectively suggests Success or Failure
M – Marketing Activity Application
E – Ensuring Statistical Significance of Observed Results
CALL TO ACTION CASE
During an Agile Stand-Up Meeting colleagues from Consumer Behaviour suggested that Product Attributes such as Fast Delivery are very powerful. The Social Media Department also indicated they received two positive Comments (out of 100) regarding Fast Delivery on Facebook. Analytics and Web Design people in the Company are more than happy to change your Call to Action in order to emphasize Fast Delivery.
Based on the above information, you decide to run an A/B Test using two nearly identical Pages on your company website but with different Call to Action.
How will you know if the results of your Test is Valid and legitimately merit to influence Changes on your Website and your Marketing Content?
TEST YOUR MARKETING HYPOTHESIS WITH HOME
H – Hypothesis
We will Test if “Fast Delivery” as a Call to Action will yield better Clickthrough Rates
O – Outcome
We will observe response between Call to Action and consider one as Better only if there is clear evidence from the Data gathered for CTA, CTR as well as Statistical Significance between the two samples.
M – Marketing Application
Create two Pages with Different Call to Action, let generic traffic run for 7 Days
E – Ensuring Statistical Significance
We will use a Statistical Significance Calculator for A/B Testing in order to analyse the two samples
THE CASE of TWO CTAs
As an Agile Marketer pondering the Results of an A/B Test, you find that the Clickthrough Rate (CTR) for one Call to Action (CTA) is 34% versus another at 33%, should you automatically conclude that the 34% is statistically better and will you Direct Marketing Activities based on that Observation alone?
Results of the Test also revealed that each Page did not get equal Traffic (observed 700 Visits on one page while the other Page received 1000), could there be another Variable that influenced the Performance and can we still Test Significance?
Clickthrough Rate (CTR) for “Fast Delivery” was better by 1%.
CTA CASE DATA
TEST +1% CTR RESULTS ARE INVALID
CTA1
Visits:1000
CTA Clicks: 325
CTA CTR: 33%
CTA2 (“Fast Delivery”)
Visits:700
CTA Clicks: 235
CTA CTR: 34%
At first glance, CTA2 (“Fast Delivery”) appears to perform 4% better than CTA1 with an Overall CTR of 34%. Since 34% is better than 33%, we therefore should choose CTA2 and redesign our website, right?
How do you determine if the CTA had a real Impact?
AGILE EDUCATION TIP FOR DETERMINING STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Use an A/B Test Calculator Online in order to correctly interpret CTR and improve Decisions based on Statistical Significance.
1) Take a Moment to go Online and Select an A/B Test Calculator
2) Input the Visits and CTA Clicks for both Samples
3) Show the Certainty Calculation Results to the Students directly from the screen
Results of CTA2 VS CTA1 Certainty Calculation: 68%
Consider what it means when Statistical Significance is 68%, how certain are we that CTA2 is better than CTA1? What would you do?
Source: A/B Test Calculator https://neilpatel.com/ab-testing-calculator/
GROUP DISCUSSION
As an Agile Marketer do you Test Further or simply make your final Marketing Decision based on the 68% Certainty you observed in the Case above?
Duration: 5 Minutes
BEYOND THE CONTROVERSY OF STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE IN MARKETING
Statistical Significance in Marketing can be controversial, some proponents of Opportunity Cost in Marketing (i.e. if Marketing waits for 90% Certainty, it makes us slow therefore we may lose Time and Opportunities) suggest that a Minimum Certainty can be established below 90% perhaps even near 70% is sufficient.
Although it may be tempting to discuss the issue solely with Marketing Management and establish your own Marketing threshold, don’t forget the Client.
The best course of action with regards to Marketing KPI level to use is to ask that Performance Question Differently – always embrace the perspective of the Client or even better, ask the them directly!
Consider the following Agile Marketing Value “Customer focused collaboration over silos and hierarchy”.
A Quick Way, and often effective way, of deciding if a Certainty of 68% is adequate would be to honestly determine if we would be comfortable revealing to a Marketing Client that we could be wrong 32% of the time.
AGILE MARKETING CASE RECAP
Hypothesis Testing is a simple way to help make Marketing Decisions.
It takes a few seconds to check and confirm Statistical Significance using an A/B Test Calculator Online!
Never forget the Client’s role in guiding your Marketing Decisions.
Are you a Marketing Educator?
Do you have Comments, Advice or Experiences to Share with regards to how you Teach Decision Making in Marketing? Contact Us!
Agile Marketing Education Community Photo: Polina Zimmerman
How this Agile Marketing Education Community Started.
Two Agile Marketing Educators Join Forces in 2020
It was early 2020 when Thomas Hormaza and Michael Seaton began planning a way to actively proclaim the Benefits of Agile Marketing Education in Canada – and possibly the World.
They regularly deliver Agile Marketing Courses, Workshops and frequent Instructional Advice as Teachers and Guest Speakers.
With the lofty ambition of uniting Agile Marketing and Agile Education in Canada’s University and College curriculum they set out to develop one of Canada’s first Agile Marketing Master Class for Marketing Instructors.
Get Involved in the Agile Marketing Education Community
Agile Marketing Educators now have a place to call Home.
We invite all Teachers, Instructors and Professors in Marketing at a College or University to reach out to us in order to share Best Practices in the Profession.
We’d love to hear from you should you have an Agile Marketing or an Agile Education Experience to Share with the Community. We will be happy to Feature your Work in our Retrospective Blog Section for Educators.
Professionals in the field of Agile Marketing Training are welcome to contact us but you will be featured in our Corporate Training Section only unless you are a Guest Speaker in College or University.
Agile Education Ethics
As Educators we can have a positive Role in helping Learners realise the importance they play and will play as Marketing Professionals.
Beyond upholding and respecting the Charter of Human Rights through our Marketing Education Careers, the three statements below should be considered as a collective Commitment to Responsible Conduct as we engage in Marketing:
Ensure equal representation such as gender and orientation, race, religion, disability in Marketing Campaigns and Creatives
Ensure equal opportunity in Marketing Hiring Practices
Act responsibly as Guardians of Consumer Data, specifically the concept of Data Dignity through our Marketing Activities
This is by no means an exhaustive list, there are many more points we should discuss and embrace of course!
Since the Marketing Profession does not yet have a commonly accepted Code of Ethics it is imperative to Teach in a manner that further prepares Individuals to be productive and respectful members in Society.
Please write to Us to share Ethics Experiences and Best Practices!
Embracing the Agile Education Manifesto
We invite all Marketing Educators to Read the Manifesto for Teaching and Learning, it stands as a Jewel in the Agile Education Profession.
“We are uncovering better ways of teaching and learning by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:
Adaptability over prescriptive teaching methods
Collaboration over individual accomplishment
Achievement of learning outcomes over student testing and assessment
Student-driven inquiry over classroom lecturing
Demonstration and application over accumulation of information
Continuous improvement over the maintenance of current practices
While we believe there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”
Agile Manifesto for Teaching and Learning The Journal of Effective Teaching, Vol. 17, No.2, 2017, 90-111
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