Creating Valuable Content With the

Agile Marketing FrameworkVersion 1: March 2016

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The Agile Marketing Framework was developed by Centerline to help the world’s most

progressive enterprises better connect with their target audiences.

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Brand Goals

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StorylinesChannels

Contributors

Feedback Loops

The Ability To Rapidly Act

With Valuable Content

Agile Marketing FrameworkThe marketplace for marketing services (as

meta as that sounds) changes faster than any

other. Communication trends and channels

come and go in a weeks time, yet thought

leaders and “known” marketing innovators

must constantly be in front of how those trends

will affect awareness, engagement, lead

generation and sales.

Journalistic Process

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244

Brand Goals

Open

-End

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StorylinesChannels

Contributors

Feedback Loops

The Ability To Rapidly Act

With Valuable Content

Agile Marketing FrameworkSo while foundational elements of marketing

solutions—like brand goals, audience

understanding and measurement—will remain,

the mediums, channels, contributors and pace

must be constantly adjusted and optimized to

reach audiences with valuable content.

Journalistic Process

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Brand GoalsThe starting point of nearly any business endeavor is clearly

articulating the goals for the company, the brand, the product

and the communication. That statement becomes the guiding

principle for the business and all who communicate the

mission of the business.

The starting point for an Agile Marketing Framework should

be no different. The brand goal becomes the ultimate touch

stone for content creators.

Through research and workshops, we’ll become as steeped in

those goals as you are, so that we are partners with you in

publicly articulating and achieving those goals.

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Open-Ended PersonasPersonas (profiles, etc.) are a necessary starting point in

understanding your audience. The problem, though, is that once

personas look nice on a PowerPoint slide, organizations tend to

think they’re done. Not to be disturbed.

We believe those personas must constantly be revisited,

questioned, added to, subtracted from or outright changed based

on information gained through action and measurement. Every

engagement around a piece of content created or placed should

be seen as both marketing and market research.

If you’re going to be agile (and more successful) with your

content, you must be agile in your audience understanding.

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StorylinesMost marketing plans detail things to be made (like a whitepaper or

infographic) and activities to do (like what to show and say at an

event). But only thinking about things to make and do is shortsighted

when you consider the amount and rate of change in people’s needs

and mindsets, and in the context around their conversations.

Focusing on storylines that are of interest to our audience—rather

than specific campaigns, taglines or content types—allows us to be

more agile with marketing, to go where the story takes us.

Storylines allow us to create content and contribute to conversations

over time, rather than in singular instances of “big reveals.” It puts

us in the mindset of answering questions your audience is asking

right now, rather than trying to own keywords that may (or may not)

lead to selling your product.

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ChannelsThe channels through which you connect with your audience and

tell stories of relevance are defined by the audience’s preferences.

You have to meet them where they are, not where we wish they were.

And the channels define the mediums. That may sound obvious, but

time and again, it proves to be overlooked. Companies create

whitepapers, when their audience is getting their deep information

from specific LinkedIn groups. Businesses invest in three-minute

customer testimonial videos, when their audience is primarily

connecting on Instagram.

By thinking about audience propensities (and storylines) before

channels, you'll be more successful in connecting with your

audience. And the responses within those channels will continue to

feed your need for new angles of the story to chase.

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ContributorsBrand communication is important. But people want to talk

to other people, not to faceless brands. And the people

your audience is most interested in accessing are the

experts within your organization, or, more so, the experts in

your industry that are outside your organization.

The job of marketing is to empower and support those

expert representatives – in content creation and ad hoc

conversation. Identifying those internal and external experts

(influencers!) that you’re going to ask to regularly

contribute, and detailing how you’ll give them continually

updated information to do so, is imperative.

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Feedback LoopsMeasurement (and monitoring) has been alluded to many times

within the other tenets of this framework, but it’s important enough

to stand on its own. As a feedback loop—a defined process and

means to collect data around content and engagements—it’s critical

for agile marketing. A capability to immediately put that data to use

in improving content and engagements is just as critical.

The data should be both quantitative (how many people engaged

with this story versus that one) and qualitative (what additional

questions were people asking after engaging). The first is essential

in testing channels, mediums and storylines; the second is

instrumental in sparking new facets to storylines.

It’s becoming possible to track and connect nearly everything.

Having a plan for what you’re tracking, why, and what you’ll do with

it, will make your content marketing more agile.

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Journalistic ProcessContent marketing is a long-term investment. So it’s imperative to

define the process by which you’ll consistently produce great

stories of value and constantly be filling the queue with new story

ideas and revised storylines.

Traditional “marketing plan” driven editorial calendars tend to be

overly programed and rigid. They don’t provide for understanding

the context of “right now” and adding in new actions and content

on the fly. A journalistic mindset to content creation allows for

such contextual relevance.

An editorial calendar that supports an agile, journalistic process is

one that defines premier content at specific intervals that take

longer to create, and constantly add ideas for related ad-hoc

content that can be rapidly made and placed.

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Journalistic Process

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Want to learn more?

Centerline Digital 509 W. North St. Raleigh, NC 27603

919.821.2921

digitalmarketing@centerline.net

Twitter: @Centerline

LinkedIn: company/center-line-productions

John Lane Chief Strategy Officer

john@centerline.net

Twitter: @johnvlane

LinkedIn: in/JohnVLane

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About Centerline

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We approach marketing challenges from a

holistic perspective…

…With the knowledge that strategy, process, people, content and

technology needs are all intertwined.

…With the perspective that unique challenges require unique

approaches and that one-size-fits-all solutions don't work.

…With the understanding that valuable information—not catchy

taglines—is what people crave.

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We help our clients connect with their audiences through value-

driven marketing. That includes:

Digital Strategy, at the intersection of business goals and audience

understanding, content planning and measurement frameworks.

Creative Storytelling, through video, animation, interactive

experiences, event content and long-form written content.

Content Activation, through owned channels, social media

integration and community management, PR and paid media.

Centerline is built to continually evolve, to always have the talent,

understanding, and capabilities to solve the most complex

marketing challenges of “today.”

Our clients include: