From Adweek · Dawn Papandrea · · 1m 10s
Alignment Is Your Most Important Growth Strategy
CEOs and marketers must agree on what growth means to avoid chasing the wrong metrics.
In brief
CEOs and marketers must agree on what growth means to avoid chasing the wrong metrics. Get your leadership team in a room to define growth for your company, decide where it comes from, and commit to what you'll invest in. Originally reported by Adweek.
Growth means different things
Revenue, profit, customer count, market share. What growth means depends on your company, role, industry, and even the economy at the moment.
“The truth of the matter is the answer changes by company, role, and industry.”
Big numbers don't guarantee strength
Revenue can rise while margins fall. Customer numbers can grow while retention rates weaken. Sales can spike today while demand disappears tomorrow.
“Revenue can rise while margins fall. Customer numbers can grow while retention rates weaken.”
Redefine growth as durability
Instead of chasing numbers, think of growth as your ability to scale, the quality of what you're building, and whether your business can sustain itself long-term.
“Is the organization actually creating more value? Is it retaining that value?”
The short-term versus long-term tension
CMOs face daily pressure from quarterly reports and sales quotas. The challenge is capturing demand today while building an organization healthy enough to seize tomorrow's opportunities.
“How do you capture the demand that exists right now while ensuring you're building an organization that is healthy?”
Get aligned on three questions
Bring your leadership team together to answer: What does growth look like for us? Where will it come from? What do we need to invest in to create it?
“In order for us to be effective as a client agency team, we need to get all of those kinds of secrets out on the table.”
The short version
Get your leadership team in a room to define growth for your company, decide where it comes from, and commit to what you'll invest in.
