Business continuity: Business strategy and Marketing Agility using “Marketing Intelligence"

Business strategy agility: rapidly adapting to market changes can guarantee competitive advantages and sustain business continuity and growth by exploiting the benefits of agile principles: flexibility and adaptability. Marketing agility is part of it.

When we think traditional marketing approaches cannot cope with today’s dynamic and unpredictable market because of its complexities and uncertainties, marketing agility focuses on rapidly and effectively responding to market changes. It involves flexibility, adaptability, and quick decision-making to capitalise on emerging opportunities or mitigate risks.

Among the “requirements” to have proper agility in strategy and marketing, there is an activity: anticipating market changes. This requirement is called Market sensing. It is considered a way to look externally to anticipate the market demand. Without using a crystal ball. But using the internal data so that signals from the external side can be managed to make:

1. Informed decisions

2. Anticipate market changes,

3. identify and exploit opportunities,

4. and align them with business strategies.

This can happen only by gathering, analysing, and interpreting data about their market. (Trends. Customer behaviour changes) and other changes that occur in a period.

Considering the possible disruptive or massive changes that can happen, like customers’ needs and purchasing behaviour (COVID-19’s reasons), technology (we have already seen it with Digital and AI) and trends, the sensing should also work as a risk mitigation factor.

Marketing sensing and agility are close and complementary in driving firm performance.

Effective marketing sensing provides the foundation for Agile decision-making and action. We can also call it “market intelligence”, which serves as input for agile strategies and enables firms to make timely, informed decisions.

What else about the links between market intelligence and business strategy?

It is wise to briefly introduce the concept of Dynamic capability and its association with having a competitive advantage. And why we need to speak about Dynamism.

Dynamic capabilities refer to an organisation’s capacity for anticipating, seizing and adapting to opportunities presented in an ever-evolving environment by integrating, strengthening and restructuring both internal and external resources and competencies.

Business Agility refers to an organisation’s capacity for rapidly responding to changes in its environment - whether these involve customer demands, market conditions or technological innovations.

As a dynamic capability, marketing sensing provides the intelligence for a business strategy that emerges through the agility iterative approach and the related decision-making process. Consistently Sensing and responding to market dynamics allow companies to exploit competitive advantages in a competitive environment.

Reflections and implications

• Investing in market intelligence is a “must-have.”

• Agility concepts, including iteration and experimentation, can be highly beneficial when adopted.

• In addition to fostering a culture of flexibility and adaptability, it is mandatory to empower people with delegation, transferring ownership of their decisions and a learning mindset as a continuous process.

Sensing without agility leads to missed opportunities, as companies cannot act upon insights gained.

However, agility without “sensing” can result in ineffective efforts as companies react without understanding market changes and any implications they might bring for Business Continuity.

Together these strategies allow firms to remain competitive while guaranteeing Business Continuity.

Are you (we) ready to create marketing intelligence?