Chief Growth Officer. They’re springing up all over the place aren’t they. From Coca-Cola and Mondelez down. What a great new job. Or is a great new job title. CMO’s are disappearing and in their place we’re seeing CGO’s. Because it’s all about growth now isn’t it. Being agile and speeding up growth is what’s important. OK, except, hasn’t growth always been important. I’m not sure how many commercial businesses there are out there that aren’t about growth.

Now I know growth isn’t always necessarily the same thing. Depending on where a business is and where it wants to go, growth could be revenue, sales, profit. But it’s growth. And it’s the objective of that business.

Marketing and growth go way back.

And, here’s the thing. Hasn’t that always been the job of marketing – to communicate with customers and potential customers and share with them how what you offer can help them in their lives, creating a preference for what you offer and, lo and behold, creating growth?

If marketers don’t believe their job is about delivering growth for the business they work in, they need to think about what they’re doing. Alison Lewis at Johnson & Johnson has already voiced her views on the role of Marketing (here).

It’s hugely important for marketing to truly understand the products or services their organisation offers. It’s hugely important for everyone within an organisation to be clear on why they offer those products or services. And it’s hugely important for marketing to understand the needs and wants of customers and potential customers.

Marketing needs to work closely with sales and with insight. It needs to interact with all parts of a business. It needs to harness knowledge and work with creative partners equally focused on delivering impactful and effective communications that represent a brand’s values, tell a clear story that resonates, build engagement and create preference through demonstrating how they add value to their customers by answering their needs and wants.

Do all this and guess what, Marketing should deliver growth.

Marketing needs to own growth, or the Chief Growth Officer will continue to, erm, grow.

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