Marketing Effectiveness

Get more value from Agentic AI

Get more value from Agentic AI

Want to make AI work for your B2B marketing team and not just add more tools to your tech stack?


This ebook is your practical playbook for doing exactly that.

Whether you’re under pressure to do more with less, or just looking to future-proof your marketing function, this guide will show you how to embed AI in your ways of working without the overwhelm.

Inside, you’ll discover:

  • What agentic AI really is (and how it goes beyond generative AI)

  • Real-world use cases across the marketing funnel – from personalising content and qualifying leads 24/7, to automating campaign reporting and improving ROI.

  • A 5-step agile framework to adopt AI in a smart, scalable way with tools to assess your readiness, pilot quickly, and track what’s working.

  • Metrics that matter – clearly explained KPIs to help you measure AI’s impact on engagement, conversion, operational efficiency, and ROI.

  • Expert guidance from Bright – leaders in agile marketing, offering tried-and-tested methods to help your team confidently test, adopt, and scale AI.

Download now to take your first (or next) confident step into AI-powered, agile B2B marketing.

Alaina RobertsGet more value from Agentic AI
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Webinar: From metrics to meaning: Showing the value of brand and demand in B2B

Webinar: From metrics to meaning: Showing the value of brand and demand in B2B

Let’s be honest – we’ve all heard it before. Brand and demand need to work together. It’s not a revelation, it’s common sense.

And yet… senior B2B marketers are still stuck trying to prove the value of long-term brand investment. Still battling short-termism. Still explaining – again – why awareness and trust are just as important as leads and pipeline value.

This session isn’t about rehashing what we already know. It’s about how to make it stick—with the board, the wider business, and across your marketing teams.

There were some great insights shared by our B2B marketing expert panel, including:

  • 95% of buyers aren’t in-market, so marketers need ‘always-on’ brand activity
  • The role of storytelling to help justify brand investment to leadership
  • The importance of social listening to provide real-time insight and improve campaign relevance
  • B2B search behaviour is shifting with buyers now searching via social and AI platform.

Plus, we reveal the biggest growth opportunity in B2B.

If you’re trying to educate the business, prove marketing’s value, and deliver consistent performance across brand and demand – this is your session.

Meet the panel

Zoë Merchant

Managing Director,
Bright

Zoe Merchant is the founder and managing director of Bright, a strategic B2B marketing consultancy that gives marketers the power to do great work and deliver business results. With over 20 years of experience in agile marketing, she helps clients reinvent their marketing operations, align with business goals, and deliver tangible value.

As a leader and innovator in her field, Zoe has been recognised as a top 10 women leader of 2020, a 3x #40overforty advertising and marketing leader, and a #CannesLions70 Creative B2B juror in 2023. She is also a certified Agility in Marketing professional.

Zoe is passionate about investing and reinventing marketing teams, promoting diversity and inclusion, and championing marketing’s role in business transformation.

Christina Minshull

CEO
The Brand Audit

Christina Minshull is the CEO of The Brand Audit, helping CEOs, Founders & Execs transform influence to impact through personal brand strategy.

A storyteller with a spreadsheet mindset, she has nearly two decades of experience leading high-performance Brand, Social, and Digital Marketing teams at global enterprise corporations like EY, LinkedIn & WestJet. Christina is passionate about helping others turn potential into reality with the visibility that comes from social media.

A Top LinkedIn Voice in Brand Strategy & Social Media, Christina is a sought-after global speaker and creator, with 25K+ followers across LinkedIn (@ChristinaMinshull) and TikTok (@thelinkedinguru). Her human-centric approach to social media has attracted high-profile clients from EY, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, and more across the UK, EMEA, US, and Canada.

Emma Moorman

Senior Director, Demand Generation
Informa

An experienced and commercially driven leader with global experience in driving growth in marketing and product management roles; a strong product background in building solutions to empower and solve problems for marketing professionals.

Alaina RobertsWebinar: From metrics to meaning: Showing the value of brand and demand in B2B
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Reading list: Showing the value of brand and demand in B2B

Reading list: Showing the value of brand and demand in B2B

Welcome to a curated collection of inspiring and insightful reads and podcasts to help you align brand marketing and demand generation to drive commercial growth.

1. How can B2B marketing leaders close the space between brand and demand to increase impact

Why it’s useful: Actionable advice for B2B marketers on bridging the often-siloed investment in brand and demand, helping them better justify brand spend by tying it directly to commercial outcomes.

2. Unifying brand to demand: Unlocking sustainable growth in B2B

Why it’s useful: This whitepaper provides a comprehensive, research-backed framework for how to operationalise brand-to-demand integration, supported by real-world B2B case studies and data-driven insights.

3. The brand vs. demand quandary: What wins in B2B?

Why it’s useful: This panel-style video explores how B2B marketers can move beyond tactical channel execution and build strategic brand-to-demand engines that deliver sustained performance.

4.The future of B2B – Brand-to-demand – the key to unlocking growth

Why it’s useful: Featuring global leaders, this session emphasises brand-to-demand as the cornerstone of future-ready B2B marketing, tying brand equity to pipeline performance and growth.

5. Insights into balancing brand and demand gen

Why it’s useful: This episode dives into how revenue-focused B2B marketers can harmonise brand-building with demand gen programs through unified measurement and audience-centric planning.

Don’t forget, if you want some support to strategically align your brand marketing and lead gen, please get in touch

Alaina RobertsReading list: Showing the value of brand and demand in B2B
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Cut the fat, not the impact: how smart CMOs are squeezing more from less in 2025 

Cut the fat, not the impact: how smart CMOs are squeezing more from less in 2025 

Let’s not sugar-coat it: This year is a pressure cooker for B2B marketers. 

Budgets are under strain. Teams are stretched. The ask? Deliver more commercial impact with fewer resources. And no, you can’t hire. 

But the best CMOs aren’t flinching, they’re pivoting. They’re treating constraint as a catalyst. Getting lean. Getting sharp. And crucially, getting agile. 

Here’s how high-performing marketing teams are turning challenge into competitive advantage: 

Ruthless prioritisation, not polite compromises 

Top marketing leaders aren’t hedging their bets across 10 campaigns, they’re backing three that actually drive results. That means trimming the fluff, shelving the vanity projects, and focusing on what aligns with commercial strategy. 

Agile isn’t a theory, it’s a working style 

Agile ways of working aren’t new, but they’re becoming non-negotiable. The teams leading the pack have baked in agile rhythms: sprint planning, backlog prioritisation, iterative testing, and regular retros. 

They’re not just reacting faster, they’re learning faster, and delivering faster. 

It’s not about doing more work. It’s about doing the right work. In the right order. With the right people in the room. 

Collaboration over control 

Marketing doesn’t sit in a silo anymore (and if it does in your org — fix that). Smart CMOs are forging stronger ties across sales, product and finance, aligning on outcomes, not just outputs. 

It’s a team sport now. And marketers are the ones keeping the scoreboard. 

Data is your proof point and your power play 

Marketing has to justify its seat at the revenue table. That means mastering the numbers such as CLV, CAC, pipeline velocity, engagement-to-conversion rates, and using them to steer investment. 

Gut feel isn’t good enough. Real-time insight is how you earn (and defend) your budget. 

Content that cuts through (not just fills the funnel) 

Paid is plateauing. Content is climbing. But the bar is higher. Mediocre messaging gets ignored, especially in a market flooded with AI-generated ‘meh’. 

It’s not about more content. It’s about braver content. Useful, opinionated, and properly distributed. 

Fractional, flexible, and faster to value 

Permanent headcount is harder to come by, so leaders are tapping into a more elastic talent model such as outsourced experts, fractional CMOs, freelance specialists, to fill gaps fast and keep momentum high. 

It’s smart. It’s scalable. And it’s how high-growth teams are staying agile without overloading their core. 

This is agile leadership in practice 

Constraint doesn’t kill marketing. Complacency does. The CMOs thriving in 2025 are the ones embracing agile principles, making bold decisions, and embedding experimentation deep into their team’s DNA. 

Where are you doubling down this year?

How are you embedding agility into your strategy and operations? 

Would love to hear what’s working…and what’s not. 

 

Zoe MerchantCut the fat, not the impact: how smart CMOs are squeezing more from less in 2025 
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Driving greater impact: Insights from the B2B marketing leaders dinner

Driving greater impact: Insights from the B2B marketing leaders dinner

How agile marketing operations unlock focus, faster impact & smarter decisions 

At the latest Bright B2B Marketing Leaders Dinner, senior marketing leaders gathered to discuss how agile marketing operations are helping teams sharpen focus, drive efficiency, and make smarter decisions in an environment where budgets are tight, AI adoption is accelerating, and commercial impact is under scrutiny. 

The discussion reinforced that marketing effectiveness isn’t just about running better campaigns—it’s about operational excellence. Agile methodologies are helping teams prioritise work more effectively, improve cross-functional collaboration, and ensure marketing is driving real business outcomes. 

Key themes & takeaways from the discussion 

1.Agile Marketing drives operational efficiency & data-driven decisions

For teams that have fully embraced agile marketing, the biggest benefits have been: 

  • Greater focus on high-impact activities and faster execution 
  • More efficient workflows using sprints, iterative planning, and test-and-learn approaches 
  • Smarter decision-making based on data rather than reactive execution 

A key theme was the importance of data-driven prioritisation. Many teams are implementing a tiered KPI framework to align reporting with different audiences: 

  • Leadership KPIs focused on business impact, including revenue contribution, customer lifetime value (CLV), and marketing efficiency gains 
  • Operational KPIs measuring marketing performance, campaign effectiveness, audience engagement, and pipeline acceleration 
  • Sales & Marketing Alignment KPIs tracking conversion rates, deal velocity, and marketing-sourced revenue 

Despite progress, many teams struggle with poor data hygiene, fragmented reporting systems, and inconsistent attribution models. This is not just a technical challenge; it’s an operational issue that limits agility. 

With reporting being time-intensive, many marketing leaders are turning to agentic AI to streamline data collection, automate insights, and generate reports faster. 

Key takeaway: Agile marketing provides the governance and structure needed to improve marketing operations, ensuring teams can optimise resources, refine attribution models, and use data to drive strategic decision-making. 

2. The reality of reporting: What’s the point?

Marketing leaders agreed that reporting often feels like a box-ticking exercise rather than a strategic tool for decision-making. The key to simplifying reporting and driving action is: 

  • Defining the right metrics for the right audience – not overwhelming leadership with too much detail 
  • Finding internal advocates – ensuring senior stakeholders understand and champion marketing’s impact 
  • Moving beyond spreadsheets and PowerPoint decks – using storytelling techniques, impact reports, and video sizzle reels to showcase marketing’s contributions 

AI is already playing a critical role in improving reporting efficiency, with many teams using AI-powered tools to: 

  • Automate data extraction and analysis – reducing manual reporting time 
  • Generate first drafts of insights and reports following meetings or campaign reviews 
  • Improve attribution accuracy and forecast performance trends 

However, marketing leaders noted a challenge: efficiency gains from AI are often met with budget reduction pressures rather than being reinvested into higher-value initiatives. 

Key takeaway: Agile marketing and AI are natural partners. Agile methodologies enable teams to rapidly test, deploy, and refine AI-driven workflows, ensuring AI supports strategic decision-making rather than just automating processes. 

3. Brand vs Demand: Making the case for long-term investment

A recurring challenge is educating stakeholders on the role of brand marketing. Many leaders reported ongoing friction between brand-building efforts and demand generation priorities – with leadership often prioritising short-term pipeline impact over long-term brand equity. 

 The most effective marketing teams are: 

  • Integrating brand and performance KPIs – demonstrating how brand awareness contributes to demand efficiency 
  • Educating leadership on why brand investment must be always-on, rather than a discretionary spend 
  • Using data to prove impact – leveraging brand tracking studies and share-of-voice metrics to reinforce marketing’s contribution 

Marketing leaders agreed that without brand investment, demand campaigns become less effective over time – yet many still find themselves having to re-justify spend that was already approved. 

Key takeaway: Agile marketing can help bridge the gap by embedding brand and demand within iterative planning cycles, ensuring both are continuously optimised and aligned with commercial outcomes. 

 4. Budgeting battles: More agility, Less justification

Budgeting continues to be a major frustration for marketing leaders, with teams facing pressure to deliver more with less while constantly justifying spend. 

Key challenges include: 

  • Incremental budget approvals – even when performance is on track, marketing leaders often need to re-justify their spend 
  • Lack of budget autonomy – teams are slowed down by needing approval for even minor adjustments 
  • Rigid annual budget cycles – preventing marketing from shifting investment based on real-time performance insights 

To address these challenges, marketing leaders are advocating for: 

  • Agile budgeting cycles – where financial planning is reviewed quarterly rather than locked in annually 
  • Incremental budget releases – aligning spending with performance milestones rather than requiring constant approvals 
  • More flexibility in spend allocation – enabling marketing teams to shift investment based on data rather than fixed plans 

Key takeaway: Applying agile methodologies to budgeting ensures that financial resources are allocated dynamically, based on measurable business impact rather than arbitrary planning cycles.

5. The one change marketing leaders would make tomorrow

When asked what single change would have the greatest impact, responses highlighted three major frustrations: 

  • Marketing should be recognised as a strategic function, not just a cost centre. Many teams still spend too much time justifying their existence rather than being trusted as a commercial growth driver. 
  • Breaking down silos is essential. Too often, marketing leaders still fight for a seat at the table, rather than being included in strategic discussions from the outset. 
  • More budget autonomy would unlock impact. Having to secure approvals for small spend adjustments slows down execution and limits agility. 

Key takeaway: Agile marketing is not just about process – it is a strategic enabler that allows marketing teams to lead business transformation, drive AI adoption, and operate as a core commercial function. 

Final thoughts: The future of marketing ops in B2B 

The discussions reinforced that agile marketing is not just a methodology – it is an operational model that enables marketing teams to drive efficiency, improve alignment, and deliver measurable business impact. 

As organisations continue to explore AI-driven transformation, the next frontier for marketing leaders is ensuring AI adoption is integrated using agile frameworks, balancing automation with strategic oversight.  

Our next Marketing Leaders Dinner will explore Agentic AI in B2B Marketing, focusing on how AI can support autonomous decision-making and dynamic marketing execution.

If you’d like to be part of the conversation – get in touch and request an invite here. 

 

Alaina RobertsDriving greater impact: Insights from the B2B marketing leaders dinner
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Reading list: Grow your audiences and drive engagement

Reading list: Grow your audiences and drive engagement

Welcome to a curated collection of inspiring and insightful reads and podcasts to help you grow your audiences and drive engagement.

1. The Audience Architect Podcast

Why it’s useful: This podcast provides practical insights into how media brands and event organisers can build, engage, and monetise their audiences effectively. It explores strategies for increasing audience retention, leveraging data, and adapting to changing content consumption habits.

Key takeaways: Expert discussions on audience development, data-driven marketing, and sustainable engagement strategies.

2. How Can AI Help Build Audience Engagement and Loyalty – LSE Report

Why it’s useful: AI is transforming how publishers and event organisers understand and connect with their audiences. This report explores how AI-driven tools can enhance content personalisation, automate audience interactions, and improve loyalty metrics—critical for businesses looking to sustain engagement in a competitive digital landscape.

Key takeaways: AI can improve audience retention by offering personalised content recommendations, predicting user behaviour, and automating engagement processes.

 

3. The Power of Marketing Agility to Scale Virtual Events – Bright Innovation

Why it’s useful: The event industry is rapidly evolving, and virtual and hybrid events have become an essential part of audience engagement strategies. This resource explains how agile marketing methods help teams quickly adapt their event strategies, optimise performance in real-time, and drive higher engagement.

Key takeaways: Agile marketing enables continuous testing and iteration, improving virtual event outcomes through data-driven decision-making and audience responsiveness.

4. Minisode: Alyssa Peltier on Cutting Through Digital Noise with Event Marketing – Cvent

Why it’s useful: With the rise of digital events and online content saturation, it’s harder than ever to capture audience attention. This episode shares actionable strategies for event marketers to craft compelling campaigns, differentiate their events, and ensure their messaging stands out.

Key takeaways: Effective event marketing requires clear messaging, differentiated positioning, and strategic use of digital channels to maximise audience engagement.

5. The Global State Of B2B Events – Forrester

Why it’s useful: Understanding emerging trends in B2B events is crucial for staying competitive. This report highlights data-backed insights on how event formats, attendee expectations, and marketing strategies are shifting, helping businesses refine their event planning and investment decisions.

Key takeaways: Hybrid event strategies, personalisation, and ROI measurement are central to the future of B2B events, shaping how companies allocate budgets and resources.

6. Agile Marketing Training Drives 123% Revenue Increase for Informa Pharma Showcase Event – Bright 

Why it’s useful: This case study demonstrates how agile marketing can drive significant business impact, making it particularly relevant for event marketers looking to improve efficiency, audience engagement, and commercial outcomes. It provides a real-world example of how agile methodologies can be applied to enhance marketing performance for large-scale events.

Key takeaways: Agile marketing helped the Informa Pharma team rapidly test and refine their event strategy, leading to a 123% year-on-year revenue increase. The approach focused on continuous learning, real-time adjustments, and cross-team collaboration.

 

Alaina RobertsReading list: Grow your audiences and drive engagement
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Why traditional marketing fails – and how agility future-proofs your team

Why traditional marketing fails – and how agility future-proofs your team

Markets shift. Budgets tighten. Stakeholder expectations change overnight. And just when you think you’ve nailed your strategy, something new disrupts your plan. Sound familiar?

For B2B senior marketing leaders with good sized teams, the challenge isn’t just about keeping up; it’s about staying ahead. The ability to pivot quickly, effectively, and with minimal waste is no longer a nice-to-have—it’s a commercial imperative. And that’s where agile marketing skills make all the difference.

Why traditional marketing models fail under pressure

The problem with traditional marketing approaches is that they rely on long-term planning, rigid execution, and an often-siloed structure. That’s fine when the world is predictable. But in today’s climate? Not so much. When a competitor makes an unexpected move, a customer need shifts, or a campaign underperforms, legacy processes don’t allow for quick shifts without major disruption.

Agile marketing: your built-in pivot system

Agile marketing flips the script. It’s not about having a set plan and sticking to it no matter what. It’s about creating a framework that allows your team to move fast, test ideas, and adapt based on data and insights.

Here’s how agile marketing enables your team to pivot effectively and efficiently:

  • Sprints keep the team focused and adaptable – Instead of rigid annual plans, agile teams work in short cycles (sprints) with clear goals. If a market shift happens mid-sprint, you assess, adjust, and course-correct without derailing everything.
  • Data-driven decision-making – No more ‘gut feel’ marketing. Agile marketing prioritises experimentation, with continuous A/B testing, real-time performance tracking, and data-informed tweaks that help teams respond to what’s actually working (or not).
  • Collaboration breaks down silos – When cross-functional teams work together in agile marketing hubs, communication improves, and pivots happen smoothly. No waiting for a ‘sign-off process’ that takes weeks. The right people are in the room, making decisions in real-time.
  • Fail fast, learn faster – One of the biggest mindset shifts with agile marketing is that failure isn’t the enemy—stagnation is. By rapidly testing small-scale experiments, teams get insights quickly, double down on what works, and ditch what doesn’t before major budget is wasted.
  • Flexibility without chaos – Some worry that agility equals disorder. In reality, agile marketing operates within a structured framework of prioritisation, backlog refinement, and sprint planning. This means you can pivot without panic and adapt without losing sight of business goals.

The commercial impact of agility

For senior marketers leading teams in complex B2B organisations, agile marketing isn’t just about ‘working differently’—it’s about delivering better business outcomes. When done right, it results in:

  • Faster go-to-market – Marketing teams get campaigns out the door in weeks, not months.
  • Higher ROI – More frequent testing means budget is spent where it has the most impact.
  • Stronger alignment with sales & product teams – Agile structures foster collaboration between marketing, sales, and product, ensuring alignment on commercial priorities.
  • Increased team engagement – Marketers feel empowered and energised, with clearer visibility of impact.

Are you ready to pivot?

If your team still operates with lengthy campaign cycles, rigid plans, and a fear of failure, it’s time to rethink your approach. Agile marketing gives you the tools to navigate uncertainty with confidence—and drive better results while doing it.

So, how agile is your marketing team right now? Are you set up to pivot, or are you stuck in a structure that slows you down? Let’s discuss how to make marketing agility your competitive advantage.

Alaina RobertsWhy traditional marketing fails – and how agility future-proofs your team
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The big 6: How agile marketing drives operational success

The big 6: How agile marketing drives operational success

Our panel discussion with industry leaders uncovered six actionable ways marketing ops teams can deliver efficient, effective, and engaging campaigns

Driving operational efficiency while creating marketing that engages your audiences is no small feat. Marketing operations are the backbone of high-performing teams that drive efficiency, improve workflows, and boost effectiveness. Agile marketing is now crucial in transforming marketing operations, helping teams streamline processes, and enabling a culture of continuous improvement.

In our recent panel discussion hosted by Zoe Merchant, MD of Bright and agile marketing expert, Amanda Green, Marketing Operations Director at Stenn, and Lisa Sutton, CRO and marketing ops specialist, we focused on how agile marketing is transforming marketing operations. We’ve summarised the six key drivers for success here in this briefing note.

  1. Remove operational bottlenecks: Quick wins

To tackle bottlenecks Amanda, Lisa and Zoe recommended remaining agile and adaptable by establishing consistent and repeatable workflows and templates including:

  • Briefing templates: Standardise templates to ensure all necessary information is available at the start of a project, helping avoid delays and miscommunication.
  • Approval workflows: Simplify approval processes and use workflow management tools like Monday.com, Jira or Asana to automate and track them
  • Kanban boards: Visual tools like Trello, Miro or Microsoft Planner can help manage and prioritise tasks, providing a clear view of tasks in progress and those needing attention.
  1. Build a culture focused on growth and experimentation

For agile marketing to thrive, a culture that encourages experimentation is vital.

  • Education on experimentation: Zoe stressed the importance of educating teams on the benefits of experimentation to reduce fear of failure
  • Data-driven decisions: Without data and insights, experimentation is ineffective. Setting clear hypothesis, KPI and investing in reporting and tracking tools is essential to robustly test and learn from experiments, allowing your teams to iterate to drive continual improvement
  • Risk-managed experimentation: Zoe emphasised using experimentation frameworks to manage risk effectively and ensure experiments are valuable without exposing the organisation to unnecessary risks.
  1. Effective metrics for high-performing marketing ops

Data-driven decisions hinge on choosing the right metrics. Amanda and Lisa suggested focusing on:

  • Efficiency gains: Measure productivity improvements in marketing workflows and campaign delivery
  • Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Understanding CLV in B2B marketing is key and tracking CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) can help marketing operations teams make informed decisions that drive long-term value
  • Data quality: Accurate and reliable data is the backbone of successful marketing operations, as it ensures other metrics are dependable.
  1. Fostering collaboration and breaking down silos

Clear, open communication and cross-functional collaboration is essential in breaking down silos that hinder marketing effectiveness.

  • Regular cross-functional meetings: Amanda recommended clinics, forums, and collaborative meetings to facilitate better communication and understanding between teams
  • Knowledge hubs: Lisa suggested creating accessible knowledge hubs with key information, enabling teams to self-serve and access essential data without formal meetings. Bright frequently help clients establish centres of excellence to facilitate knowledge sharing to underpin marketing effectiveness.
  • Reward and recognition: Celebrating cross-functional successes can build trust and foster teamwork, breaking down organisational silos.
  1. AI and automation in marketing operations

The role of AI in marketing is growing, but it’s essential to approach it with clarity, including:

  • Targeted use cases: Rather than viewing AI as a catch-all solution, focus on specific use cases, such as data insights, campaign personalisation, and process automation and set out small scale tests to understand the value, before scaling
  • AI as an enabler: Lisa emphasised the importance of understanding the value AI can add rather than introducing it as just another tool and expecting marketers to figure out how to make best use of it
  • The AI sandwich approach: Zoe introduced the concept of the “AI Sandwich,” where the process begins and ends with human input (the bread!), ensuring that the AI outputs (the filling!) are curated, relevant and accurate.
  1. Preparing for future technologies in marketing operations

To make the most of new technologies, Lisa and Amanda advised:

  • Starting small: Implement small, low-risk pilot programs, using a tool such as the Bright AI activation framework to allow teams to familiarise themselves with new technology without disrupting operations
  • Stealth AI adoption: Both leaders acknowledged the need to manage “stealth AI” (AI tools adopted by individuals without formal approval) by setting guardrails, creating guidelines and offering training to maximise adoption benefits.

Ready to transform your marketing operations?

Agile marketing isn’t just a process—it’s a mindset that drives efficiency, collaboration, and customer-focused results. Start by fostering a growth mindset, tackling one workflow bottleneck, and piloting a small agile initiative.

With data-driven insights, collaboration, and smart use of AI, your marketing ops can thrive in today’s fast-changing environment.

Ready to secure greater marketing agility? Explore our Agile Marketing training and pilot campaigns. Get in touch to transform your operations.

 

Zoe MerchantThe big 6: How agile marketing drives operational success
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Adapt or fall behind: How Agile Marketing powers marketing operations

Adapt or fall behind: How Agile Marketing powers marketing operations

Marketing operations are the powerhouse behind every successful marketing strategy. Our dynamic panel discussion features experts Lisa Sutton, CRO and marketing operations specialist and Amanda Green, experienced marketing operations leader.

During the session we explored how agile marketing drives operational improvement, creates a culture of continual learning, and boosts overall marketing effectiveness.

Watch the vide to gain insights and advice on:

  • Boosting effectiveness:  Real examples of how a test-and-learn mindset drives results
  • Agile marketing in action:  Quick wins to boost operational flow and remove bottlenecks
  • Measure what matters:  The key metrics driving high-performance marketing ops
  • Culture hacks:  Break silos and get your team collaborating and adapting to change
  • Future-proof ops:  AI, automation, and adopting what’s next in marketing innovation.

Lisa Sutton

CRO and marketing operations specialist

Lisa is an experienced leader with a proven track record in growing businesses across multiple industries. She always focuses on a customer-centric approach and has a talent for identifying opportunities, removing barriers, and leading teams with strong adaptability and resilience.

Amanda Green

Director of Marketing Operations and Analytics, Stenn

Accomplished Operations senior leader with 22 years’ experience working with Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, Finance, legal and IT teams cross Media, SaaS and Event industries.

Zoë Merchant

Managing Director, Bright

Zoë is an agile marketing aficionado — a passionate believer in staying ahead of the competition with resilience, adaptability, and pace. After 20 years of delivering B2B marketing strategies. Using agile marketing to test, learn and build on success. Zoë leads the team in delivering results through continual and focused improvements to support clients’ business goals.

Alaina RobertsAdapt or fall behind: How Agile Marketing powers marketing operations
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Adapt or fall behind: How Agile Marketing powers marketing operations – Reading list

Adapt or fall behind: How Agile Marketing powers marketing operations – Reading list

Welcome to a curated collection of inspiring and insightful reads and podcasts to help you boost the effectiveness of the marketing operations within your organisation.

Books:

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Why it is useful: Emphasises the value of small, incremental changes that compound over time. It is ideal for those looking to build high-performing teams by embedding productive, habit-based routines into daily workflows.

Key Takeaways
: Readers will learn how to foster a culture of continuous improvement through habit formation, helping their teams to stay consistent, disciplined, and focused on meaningful goals that support sustained growth.

Hacking Growth by Sean Ellis & Morgan Brown

Why it is useful: Perfect for marketers focused on data-driven strategies, this book dives into growth hacking, a method of rapid experimentation across marketing channels. It is ideal for companies wanting to drive quick, scalable growth through continuous testing.

Key Takeaways
: Readers will learn how to implement growth hacking tactics within their marketing teams, focusing on optimisation, customer acquisition, and scaling results. 

Transforming the B2B Buyer Journey By Antonia Wade

Why it is useful: This book offers offers a new way of thinking that accommodates the many nuances in B2B buyer behaviour. It provides a step-by-step guide to mapping the buyer journey, aligning channels, metrics and tactics according to their needs at each stage.The framework shows how to get more value out of brand investments, choosing and using technology and how to gauge return on investment. It also shows how to develop marketing as a real lever for business growth and how to reengineer marketing’s relationship with sales.

Marketing Artificial Intelligence: AI, Marketing, and the Future of Business by Paul Roetzer 

Why it is useful: This book provides a roadmap for integrating AI into marketing operations, including how to use AI to streamline workflows and personalise marketing efforts at scale. 

Articles:

Using Data to Drive Your Marketing Strategy by McKinsey & CompanyLINK 

This resource discusses how data can be leveraged to make marketing strategies more effective. It explains how businesses can gather insights from customer behaviour, optimise campaigns, and continuously improve performance through data-driven decisions.  

Why it is useful: In an age of big data, this guide is essential for businesses looking to make informed marketing decisions that directly impact ROI. 

The Future of Marketing Automation by Smart InsightsLink 
Why it is useful: Discusses emerging trends in marketing automation and how businesses can leverage AI and machine learning to create more efficient and future-proof marketing strategies. 

 

Bright’s Marketing Effectiveness blogs

Whitepaper:

Marketing ATOM (Agile Target Operating Model) whitepaper by Bright

Why it is useful: The Marketing ATOM (Agile Target Operating Model) whitepaper helps B2B teams to adapt and deliver and includes:

  • A blueprint to build your own Marketing ATOM
  • How to create a strong business case
  • A checklist for seamless set up
  • Tips to measure your ATOM’s impact

Podcasts:

The Global Agile Marketing Podcast by John Cass 

Why it is useful:This podcast dives into various agile marketing tactics, including practical steps that can remove roadblocks and improve efficiency. It is a go-to for marketing professionals seeking quick wins. 

Building High-Performing Teams by The Modern Manager Podcast

Why it is useful: This episode discusses strategies to build cross-functional teams that collaborate effectively, breaking silos and improving marketing operations in the process. 

Videos:

How AI is Revolutionizing Marketing by Salesforce

Why it is useful: This video explains how AI is being used to personalize marketing efforts, automate workflows, and predict customer behaviour, making it crucial for businesses looking to future-proof their operations. 

Alaina RobertsAdapt or fall behind: How Agile Marketing powers marketing operations – Reading list
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