> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.cmoalliance.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How to adopt agility in an increasingly volatile market - URL: https://www.cmoalliance.com/how-to-adopt-agility-in-an-increasingly-volatile-market/ - Published: 2026-10-29T09:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-29T08:59:59.000Z - Description: Volatile markets demand fast decisions. Learn the agile frameworks and leadership tactics that help marketing teams adapt, grow, and outpace competitors. - Author: Lottie Sandford - Tags: Leadership, Content Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Articles Markets are more volatile than ever. In this blog post, I’ll take you through the tried-and-tested agility methods I’ve used for clients to help them not only hold steady, but continue to grow in difficult markets. ## **What does it mean to be agile?** Rooted in software development, agility has evolved from the values and principles cited in the Agile Manifesto in 2001 to a multi-dimensional framework used by businesses all over the world. In short, it’s a flexible way of working that puts your people front and centre, favouring [team collaboration](https://www.cmoalliance.com/scale-your-brand-across-teams/) over outdated hierarchies and approval processes. According to a [2025 study](https://www.academia.edu/144503857/The%5FEvolution%5Fof%5FAgile%5FLeadership%5FFrom%5FSoftware%5FDevelopment%5FManifesto%5Fto%5Fa%5FMainstream%5FManagement%5FParadigm), there are three core dimensions to consider: 1. Cognitive Agility (flexible thinking and reframing). 2. Emotional Agility (resilience and psychological safety). 3. Relational Agility (collaboration and empowerment). With an agile structure in place, you can adapt quickly and mitigate potential risks when operating in a changing market. ## **How to be more agile** ### **1\. Master the content ecosystem** In my opinion, content ecosystems are the most valuable tools for your marketing team. Mapping out all the content channels you’re currently working with allows key stakeholders to understand where resources are being distributed, where there might be gaps, and where it’s feasible to pull back if needed. It’s also really important to understand what each channel does for you. For example, Instagram might be a reliable channel for growing your audience, paid ads might consistently generate hits to your website, and email might reliably improve retention rates. Focus on the single top-performing [metric](https://www.cmoalliance.com/connect-marketing-brand-metrics-to-p-l-impact/) for each channel, so if budgets reduce but performance expectations remain high, you can quickly refine the strategy to keep hitting your most important KPIs. You can then apply that thinking to each content type. Be obsessive about the content you’re sharing. Know what your audience resonates with and what results each type of content achieves, so you can fall back on the formats that move the needle and pause or scale back the rest. 💡 Don’t be afraid to stop something if it isn’t getting the results you want, too. Try it a few times to give it a chance, but then if it’s not performing, pivot to what you know works and stop investing time and money into what doesn’t. ## **2\. Atomise your content** Make the most of every piece of content you produce. A long-form article can be split up into email content, carousels on Instagram, quotes or nuggets of wisdom for single image assets, and more. This will make your content go much further than just one channel, substantiating the value of investing in longer-form assets. ## **3\. Analyse what’s working** In a volatile market, it’s essential to stay close to what works for your target audience, and quickly pivot to focusing on that content. Often, marketing teams don’t have the time to regularly review what content is working, because their hours are taken up elsewhere. There might be a competitor review session that happens once or twice a year, but things move so quickly that you need a constant eye on what’s resonating. Make sure your team has set hours to scroll through [social media](https://www.cmoalliance.com/plan-it-post-it-prove-it-live-session/) platforms, review recent newsletters, spend time on competitor websites, etc. It’s important to analyze what has worked for your own channels each week, too. Don’t just look at overall CTR or views for each platform. Review the data for each piece of content to really understand what’s getting results. Sometimes, on the surface, it looks like a piece of content might not have performed well. For example, it’s reached a smaller audience than usual, but if you look at the conversion rate or how much revenue has been generated off the back of it, it might be working in a different way that’s equally, if not more, valuable. Knowing what content helps with what metric will enable you to hone in on the most effective activity. Having this data to share with the board is really valuable. It will help to get their buy-in when you need to be agile in a [volatile market](https://www.cmoalliance.com/the-modern-cmo/). You can prove that by investing more in a certain channel/content type and less in others, you’re likely to achieve the best results. [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ff/09/ff09ec2c-5937-45c2-bd7e-bcc809b43924/content/images/2026/10/CMO_Future_Marketing_2026_Assets3.png)](https://www.cmoalliance.com/future-of-marketing-report-2026-2027/) ## **4\. Keep a lean team** The larger a company is, the more difficult it is for them to adapt when revenue drops. We’ve seen multiple examples of this during the 2008 crash and the 2020 pandemic, such as Arcadia Group, a staple of the UK high street that were too slow to invest in the digital shift during COVID-19 and subsequently [went into administration](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55099374) in November 2020. A key component to ensuring a company is able to successfully adapt is to improve the decision-making process through agile leadership. There are two ways you can do this: keeping a core leadership team and then hiring freelancers for sprint-style work, or if you have a larger team of employees in place, empowering them to make their own decisions. The bottleneck of approvals being the responsibility of top management can cause significant issues, so implementing more flexible solutions will be a big win for your department as well as the business as a whole. A solid strategy and streamlined content ecosystems won’t make a real impact if you aren’t able to make changes fast enough. This is where freelancers could be a great addition to your core team. Working with experts in their field ensures efficient, high-quality marketing that you can flex up and down when you need extra support. This set-up allows you to respond quickly to periods of disruption, without negatively impacting the business. Adopting short phases of work focused on specific projects or tasks with frequent reviews (AKA sprints) is easy to implement with experienced freelancers. They'll be familiar with working toward a deadline, focusing on the one task, and having the skill set and autonomy to work at pace. ## **5\. Empower your team to make decisions** If you already have a number of employees in your team and you’re unable to hire freelancers, then there’s huge value in improving the approvals process to make it as quick and efficient as possible. Empower the team to make their own decisions with these steps: - Start providing feedback when you wouldn’t usually, and give context so they can understand your decision-making process. - Share the big picture with them: what are the wider company goals, and how does the work they’re doing feed into that, so they can understand the ‘why’. - Rather than delegating tasks to individuals, share a challenge for the team to solve collectively. - Make it clear which decisions can be made independently and which need approval from other team members. - Once you’ve set the boundaries, try not to micromanage. Start with small tasks and cultivate a safe environment where mistakes are seen as learnings rather than failures. If team members ask questions or feel unsure, respond with guiding questions to help them reach the right decision rather than stepping in. These are a few ways you can start to implement the agile solutions that have significantly improved results and led to positive change with clients.