How to run a Marketing Sprint

Who should participate?

Marketing teams, of course. It’s also interesting to invite designers who will be the ones that will design the content for your different channels and someone from the business side or management (you need buy-in from the top) 3-6 people + facilitator is an ideal size for a team.

How long does a Marketing Sprint take?

It takes a whole workday to complete the Marketing Sprint.

What can I solve with a Marketing Sprint?

Anything from campaigns to content generation to overall marketing strategies. You can just adjust your scope accordingly.

What do you need?

If you do it remotely: Miro + Meet is a great choice. If you do it face-to-face: whiteboard, post-it notes, sharpies, sticky dots and a chronometer.‍

The Step-by-step

#1 What, how, why (30 minutes)

1. Everybody writes individually their ideas about what, how and why. (7 min)
2. Each person reads their answers aloud and the facilitator writes them on the whiteboard.
3. Each person looks at the list and quietly writes down their favorite answers. (5 min)
4. Each person reads their votes aloud and the facilitator marks the votes on the whiteboard.
5. Discuss what and how for five minutes each.
6. At the end the decider chooses her favorite answer.
7. Discuss why for about ten minutes.
8. The Decider makes the call.
9. Take a photo of the whiteboard (if you are doing a face-to-face workshop. If you are working with Miro, ignore this step).

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#2 Marketing long-term objectives (30 minutes)

1. Everybody writes individually the marketing long-term objectives. (5 min)
2. Each person reads their objectives aloud and the facilitator writes them on the whiteboard.
3. Each person looks at the list and quietly writes down their 3 top objectives.
4. Each person reads their votes aloud and the facilitator marks the votes on the whiteboard.
5. Discuss the objectives that had gotten more votes. (5 min)
6. The Decider chooses 2-3 objectives.
7. Take a photo of the whiteboard (if you are doing a face-to-face workshop. If you are working with Miro, ignore this step).

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#3 Top 3 audiences (30 minutes)

1. Each person quietly writes down their list of the company’s audiences.
2. Each person reads their list aloud and the facilitator writes the full list on the whiteboard.
3. Each person looks at the list and quietly writes down the two audiences they believe are most important.
4. Each person reads their votes aloud and the facilitator marks the votes on the whiteboard.
5. Discuss for about 5 minutes.
6. At the end, the Decider makes the call. Give her a few minutes to write down her top 3 audiences.
7. The facilitator writes the final decision on the whiteboard.
8. Take a photo of the whiteboard (if you are doing a face-to-face workshop. If you are working with Miro, ignore this step).

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BREAK (15 min)

#4 Top 5 user challenges (20 minutes)

1. Each person quietly writes down their list challenges that each individual audience is facing. (15 minutes)
2. Each person reads their list aloud and the facilitator writes the full list on the whiteboard.
3. Each person has 5 votes and votes on the challenges that the company could help their audience solve better than anyone else. (5 minutes)
4. Discuss for about 5 minutes.
5. At the end, the Decider chooses the top 5 challenges.
6. The facilitator writes the final decision on the whiteboard.
7. Take a photo of the whiteboard (if you are doing a face-to-face workshop. If you are working with Miro, ignore this step).

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#5 Turn challenges into solutions (25 minutes)

1. On the 5 most voted challenges, each person rethinks the challenge following the “How might we…” format.
2. Now everyone has 15 minutes to think of marketing solutions to those "How might we ..."
3. Each person reads their list of solutions aloud and the facilitator writes the full list on the whiteboard.
4. Each person has 3 votes and will use them to choose which of those solutions are their favorite ones.
5. At the end, the Decider chooses the best 3 solutions.
6. The facilitator writes the final decision on the whiteboard.
7. Take a photo of the whiteboard (if you are doing a face-to-face workshop. If you are working with Miro, ignore this step).

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#6 Unique value proposition (30 minutes)

1. Each person quietly writes down what they think the company’s unique value proposition is in just 1 post-it.
2. Each person reads their post-it aloud and the facilitator writes the full list on the whiteboard.
3. Discuss for about 15 minutes.
4. Each person takes 5 minutes to rewrite the unique value proposition according to what they’ve discussed.
5. Each person reads their new proposition aloud and the facilitator writes the new list on the whiteboard.
6. At the end, the Decider makes the call.
7. The facilitator writes the final decision on the whiteboard.
8. Take a photo of the whiteboard (if you are doing a face-to-face workshop. If you are working with Miro, ignore this step).

LUNCH (40 min)

#7 Channels and type of content (45 minutes)

1. Each person quietly writes down the channels where they might be able to connect with the top 3 audiences they’ve defined. (15 minutes)
2. Each person reads their list aloud and the facilitator writes the full list on the whiteboard.
3. Discuss for 10 minutes.
4. Each person has 3 votes and votes on what they think are top 3 channels. (5 minutes)
5. Each person quietly writes down the type of content that may be published through these channels and the facilitator writes the full list on the whiteboard.
6. Each person has 5 votes and votes on what they think are the best types of content.
7. Take a photo of the whiteboard (if you are doing a face-to-face workshop. If you are working with Miro, ignore this step).

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#8 Key metrics (30 minutos)

1. Each person quietly writes down one metric to track per channel taking into account the marketing goals that were defined previously. (5 minutes)
2. Each person reads their goals aloud and the facilitator writes the full list on the whiteboard beneath each channel.
3. Discuss for 10 minutes each channel.
4. The Decider defines the most appropriate metric for each channel.
5. The facilitator writes the full list on the whiteboard.
6. Take a photo of the whiteboard (if you are doing a face-to-face workshop. If you are working with Miro, ignore this step).

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#9 Turn challenges and type of content into real ideas (15 minutes)

1. The facilitator writes again the top 5 challenges, the top 3 channels and the most voted types of content.
2. Each person has 3 votes to choose which channel and which type of content you are going to start with.
3. The Decider makes the final call.
4. Once you have 1 channel and 1 type of content. Line up the challenges in the whiteboard and get the team to write as many ideas that would help our audiences with each particular challenge within the chosen channel and type of content.
5. Each person has 5 votes to choose the best ideas.
6. Take a photo of the whiteboard (if you are doing a face-to-face workshop. If you are working with Miro, ignore this step).

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Wrapping up (15 min)

After the 9 exercises you’ll have a clearer idea of what your marketing goals are, which are the channels you are going to be focusing on, the audiences you’ll be talking to, the types of content you’ll be producing, the key metrics you’ll need to pay attention to and you’ll even have some ideas to start creating content.

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