10
Spring 2015
MARKETING TRENDS
MARKETING HACKATHONS FRESH THINKING, FAST
Want to quickly generate content marketing ideas, develop a product launch, or plan a lead-gen campaign? Try a “marketing hackathon.”
n the tech world, these energetic events combine creativity and coding to produce a lot of work in a short time. Now, the idea is catching on in
marketing departments. Big brands like Honda and Kraft and Home Depot have used this tool, but it’s a technique any-size business can try. One of your first steps is to decide what
your hackers will work on. Prepare a brief and organize one or more teams in advance.
The hackathon can be as long or short as you need it to be. The intense schedule helps teams prioritize and push harder to reach goals. HubSpot gathered 40 volunteers for a
marketing-hack night to plan a campaign. Teams had from 5:00 p.m. to midnight to produce emails, landing pages, tests, and promotions. This demonstrates the power of hackathons to quickly plow through many man-hours of work.
TEAMS BRING DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES A hackathon thrives on diverse perspectives and an interdisciplinary approach. For cross-pollination, pull people from across your company. By tapping into other departments and possibly outside consultants, even small companies can come up with a good mix of players. Sales, marketing, web and IT, customer service, R & D, or even your ad agency—mix it up. This encourages results that play across your organization. You’ll want at least six to eight people if only
using one group, or a minimum of three teams consisting of three to five members each. Good qualities for team members include knowledge of your customers and business, willingness to share ideas and the limelight, and flexibility to move quickly in uncharted territory.
PLAY NICE Successful hackathons let groups do some work ahead of time so they hit the ground running and deliver more complete projects and solutions at the end. The prework can include research or talking to colleagues or customers. Publish a few ground rules to encourage positive team dynamics. For example, “Be respectful of other ideas,” and, “No idea is out of bounds.” If you are assigning teams, try to balance the leaders and the doers. As Babe Ruth put it, “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” And neither will your hackathon.
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