Content is the fuel that keeps a marketing engine humming. Like the gas that keeps a car on the road, an enterprise isn’t getting very far without it.
But marketing leaders continually tell us that they struggle to keep up with this constant demand for output. One big reason is that many content agencies or departments simply aren’t designed to keep pace. They’re stiff, slow, or stuck in archaic processes that simply aren’t nimble enough to move with the market.
To use software parlance, they’re not agile enough.
Long before agile was a buzzword, we were practicing its principles at MarketSmiths to deliver clients a steady stream of high-quality content that gets found, read, and acted on. Here are five agile content development practices we use on a daily basis to keep our clients top of mind.
Keep the pipeline flowing.
Think about how a building gets built. Can you imagine the project leader showing up on day one to get the workers started and then leaving them to their own devices, expecting everything to go as planned? Of course not! Effective leaders check in on the job site every day, monitoring progress, course correcting as necessary, and stewarding the project to a successful completion. And when the inevitable problems arise, they get nipped in the bud.
This is how we view content development. It’s progressive and iterative. For instance, if we’re developing an ebook, we’ll share sections of it on a rolling basis. Or, if we’re creating a series of assets for a campaign launch, we’ll create multiple assets in tandem so the web copy is being written at the same time as the one-pager and the video script.
This results in a steady flow of content being shipped to the client. Not only does this lead to more consistent publishing, but it also creates a sense of trust and momentum—and eliminates the delays that are so often part of the content development process.
Make it ready for prime time.
It’s happened to all of us. You buy a new gadget or piece of technology, get it home and open the packaging only to discover that terrible message: “Batteries not included.” You fee cheated and frustrated. The product is not complete; it’s unusable. Worse, it’s on YOU to fix the problem. The merchant did not set you up for success and it leaves a sour taste in your mouth.
Along the same lines, too often writers or agencies deliver work that’s simply not ready for the limelight. But content involves more than just words on a page. Over time, we’ve learned that it needs all sorts of additional touches: strategic links built in, structure for semantic SEO, the right amount of citations, AI-powered alignment checks to adhere to brand voice, and so on. The point is, there are many dimensions to producing content that’s actually ready to do its job in the world.
As part of our agile practice at MarketSmiths, we deliver content that’s deployment-ready. That means nothing half-baked. Every draft is polished and publishable—not only from a creative standpoint, but from a technical perspective as well. This way, each deliverable is immediately valuable to clients, driving measurable outcomes without requiring additional fixes.
Stay open to change.
Everybody knows the famous “Think Different” Apple ad. But what you might not know is that the original narrator was Steve Jobs himself. His ad agency had encouraged him to voice the ad, saying it would make a powerful statement about his return to leadership after being fired from the company years earlier.
Then, just before the ad aired, Jobs had an epiphany: the ad wasn’t about him. It was about Apple, and everything the brand stood for. So on the very morning of the first air date, he pulled his version and had the agency swap in an alternate version, narrated by famous actor Richard Dreyfuss. That’s the ad that ran—and made history.
The point is that, in any creative process, change is always a possibility. Pivotal decisions can be made at any stage. In terms of content, MarketSmiths has always recognized and embraced this dynamism. New insights surface; we incorporate them. Business requirements shift; we adapt to them. Market feedback changes; we respond accordingly. This is agile content development properly practiced. It’s an ongoing shaping of messaging and deliverables that never stands still—and always reflects the best knowledge and understanding we have at a given moment. One edit could change everything.
Keep all stakeholders in the loop.
The last thing you want to do is spend weeks or months on a piece of content, only for it to land on a key stakeholder’s desk and be rejected, or fail to resonate. That’s a whole lot of time and money down the drain—not to mention a huge drop in trust. The stakeholder is frustrated, the team is demoralized, and everybody (including prospects and customers) loses because the entire effort never gets off the ground, and therefore fails to generate any value or benefit.
Agile content development recognizes the need to involve key stakeholders at all critical junctures. At MarketSmiths, we insist that decision-makers have eyes on the work product as it evolves. We don’t want surprises—we want steady, strategic progress. With all the important voices having a chance to weigh in, we remove the possibility of a piece of content or a campaign getting shut down at the last minute. Everybody is bought in, which makes for a smooth and successful launch.
Flex teams as needed.
Content needs ebb and flow. One month, you’re running your blog and social media just like you did the month before—business as usual. But the next month comes along and there’s a new product launch on deck. All of a sudden, you need to create a whole bunch of additional content—a microsite, an email drip, sales assets, a pitch deck, an explainer video. But you don’t have the team to make it happen. What now?
It’s difficult to staff for these moments—you don’t want to keep content writers on the payroll that you aren’t utilizing regularly. And yet, when there is an uptick in need, what do you do? You could reach out to freelancers, but that’s always a gamble as it’s difficult to know who will be available when (plus good talent is often booked). Meanwhile, if you can’t secure those writing resources, your output is delayed, your launch could be pushed back, and ultimately it all trickles down to stifling your bottom line and growth.
To put it plainly, you need to be able to scale content production up and down as your needs change. At MarketSmiths, we follow the agile principles of self-organizing teams. That’s a fancy way of saying we constantly flex to bring the right amount of talent to table. Because we have a deep bench of writers on standby, we’re always ready to scale up or down. Our clients only pay for what they use—no more, no less. And they’re never at a loss for wordsmiths, either.
Tap into the agile advantage.
After more than a decade of practicing the art of agile content development, we can say from firsthand experience: this stuff works. Frequent delivery, polished products, adaptability to change, collaborative iteration, and flexible teams all add up to a process that saves time and money, reduces friction and frustration, and yields a steady stream of high-performing content.
For our team, this is the standard we uphold. Every project, every client, every piece of content is a chance to prove why agility is the answer—and why enterprises keep coming back to us.
Let’s keep raising the bar.
Interested in how an agile content agency can transform your enterprise’s results? Visit MarketSmiths.com to learn more about our approach and start a conversation.
