The traditional marketing funnel is collapsing. Focusing on the bottom of the funnel is no longer sustainable, so we rolled out the Digital Growth Model in 2021. We wanted to offer our clients a more holistic way to drive growth across the entire customer journey. To accompany the release of the growth model, we coined this approach as “growth marketing.”
Performance marketing has been the traditional tactic, but only relying on performance marketing is not enough. Growth marketing is a new term, and we needed to know marketers’ understanding and perception of it compared to performance marketing. To get more insight, we surveyed 400 marketing leaders, with titles ranging from Senior Manager up to CMO, from four industries: retail, technology/Software-as-a-Service, financial services, and healthcare. This survey uncovered four key takeaways:
1. There is a lot of confusion in the marketplace around the definitions of performance marketing and growth marketing and how the two differ.
We wanted to determine whether the survey respondents truly knew the definitions of performance and growth marketing. While the overwhelming majority said they were confident in the definitions, the results indicated the opposite. Senior marketing leaders will need to understand more clearly how these approaches differ in order to engineer a sustainable and successful growth marketing strategy.
2. Most of the companies we surveyed are taking a siloed approach and do not have a growth mindset.
To achieve limitless growth, companies must adapt a growth marketing mindset. A growth marketing mindset needs to include a full-funnel approach, which only 25% of our respondents stated they used – and this is holding brands back. Businesses need to think bigger, and more creatively, for sustainable-long term growth.
3. More than half of respondents are established performance marketers but have more work to do before they can sustain a successful growth marketing program.
We created the Growth Marketing Maturity Index™ (GMMI) to rate brands on how advanced they are in their growth marketing mindset. We identified five pillars that contribute to a growth marketing mindset (strategic approach, data management and activation, management buy-in, resources and structure, and integrated customer experience) and asked respondents various questions related to these pillars. From that, we graded each respondent based on their answers. We learned that 57% were located in the middle of the pack – they have a well-established performance marketing strategy, but have been slow to incorporate a full-funnel approach.
4. Marketers must look beyond channel investments to more integrated, holistic digital marketing programs. They must implement the growth drivers to help them take the next step in their journey to larger audiences, increased market share, and more revenue.
The survey also uncovered that total revenue allocated to digital marketing is on the rise. However, a major problem we see with brands is that they continue to spend money on specific channels. By diversifying their investments and focusing on the right types of growth drivers, they can build a more successful and efficient marketing program.
Limitless growth is achievable.
In today’s complex and dynamic marketplace, brands that want to expand their audience and increase revenue need to implement growth marketing. To dive deeper into this blog’s key takeaways and see how this revolutionary new approach to digital marketing is revamping businesses, download our 2021 Growth Marketing Report. You can even take our survey to see where you fit within the GMMI and how you compare to other companies!
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