Frenemies no more: Sales and marketing align for B2B success
Learn how sales and marketing can collaborate on account engagement for faster outcomes and more revenue.
Growth marketing – a long-term strategy for attracting, engaging, and retaining customers that’s focused on constant experimentation – has been hailed as the next big thing for brand evangelism and a possible hedge against recession. Yet, surprisingly, most marketing teams are not on board with it.
In fact, a recent survey by 3Q/DEPT found that 76% of marketers don’t embrace growth marketing and only 41% even know what the term means.
It’s entirely possible CMOs prefer to avoid anything they perceive as potentially risky after enduring more than two years of a global pandemic that caused every brand to reassess its marketing strategies. It’s also possible that, with budgets vulnerable to economic turbulence, marketers are more concerned with tightening budgets than embarking on fresh adventures.
Let’s walk through what growth marketing is, what it’s not, and how it can benefit a brand.
Learn how sales and marketing can collaborate on account engagement for faster outcomes and more revenue.
Growth marketing takes innovative approaches to attract new customers while keeping existing ones captivated because they feel like they’re part of something fun, exciting, or rewarding. Instead of relying on standard marketing techniques, it involves relentless iteration, testing, and optimization.
Growth marketing initiatives are often called “growth hacks,” a term coined by author Sean Ellis in 2010, who said marketers needed to engage in experiments to improve specific customer metrics, such as new user sign-ups, user retention, or revenue. The approach involves A/B testing, data analysis, multiple channels, and lots of creative thinking.
According to 3Q/DEPT, growth marketing requires a full-funnel approach, marrying brand (upper-funnel) and performance (mid-to-bottom-funnel) marketing strategies and activities together for more cohesive and holistic customer experiences.
It must also involve a robust approach to data management and activation where insights are constantly collected and utilized to measure the health of the business, build engaging creative materials, and optimize marketing strategies to drive broader company goals.
Growth marketing isn’t a magic trick, according to Ellen Jantsch, founder of growth-marketing agency Tuff.
She tells TechCrunch that it’s a circular process where a team tests a range of different tactics within chosen channels, and checks in every day to gauge performance, reallocate budgets, glean insights, and prioritize quick wins. After a few weeks, the team analyzes the data to see what did or did not work as planned, and then creates a game plan for longer-term success.
In order to thrive, a brand must deliver an integrated experience that breaks down marketing barriers between customer, brand, and employee experience.
Some teams excel at growth marketing, and there are several so-called growth hackers like Ellis and Patrick Cines of Planted, who are known across the industry for being experts on it. There are also a host of growth marketing agencies, such as 3Q/DEPT, Thrive Digital, and Deviate Labs.
With companies advertising about 26,000 senior positions on LinkedIn asking for growth marketing expertise, agencies can provide an opportunity to quickly fill skills gaps many teams have been confronting for several years.
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Growth marketing won’t be right for every company, so if a CMO or other executive is thinking about trying it, it’s best to first ask the questions, “is this the right fit for us?” and “how would this help our business?”
Time will tell if growth marketing stands the test of time. In recent years, it’s become a more formalized and specific strategy that many CMOs should at least consider.
At the very least, it could help boost results for sales and marketing teams struggling to show wins amid what may end up being a prolonged economic slowdown.