Sustaining a business is a tough job. Today, the only way to survive is to sustain momentum; growth is imperative.
Companies fail far more than they succeed and even the biggest players are not invincible – Kodak, Blockbuster, Myspace, Yahoo have proved that size doesn’t matter. The smallest misstep can lead to lost customers, shrinking market capitalisation and even terminal decline. A McKinsey study of 3,000 businesses found that those with annualised growth rates under 20% were unlikely to exist within a few years. So how should businesses sustain and improve growth rates?
For too long, the CMO was expected to focus solely on aspects such as advertising or lead generation, but recently, this role has adapted, making a broader impact on the business. Today, the role of the CMO is now crucial in safeguarding an organisation’s continued growth, where they are responsible for representing the voice of the customer and translating that into an actionable plan for sustained growth. However, with customer needs constantly changing and industry trends developing, attempting to strategise for the future is near impossible.
The CMO’s challenge is to keep one step ahead of both consumers and competitors. In an age where consumers have never been better informed and choice has never been greater, this is no easy feat. While lots of businesses fail, those that succeed are the ones able to understand their audience and adapt to their needs, delivering insight-driven growth by identifying trends and then leading the pack.
Growth is a mindset
It’s understandable that many CMOs are confident in their knowledge of the markets they operate in as well as their customers, but no one can be expected to know everything. Indeed, the most successful people are constantly learning and open to new opinions. These are the forward-looking leaders who will offer new perspectives on growth opportunities. To paraphrase Carol Dweck, the Stanford University psychiatrist who has popularised the importance of building a growth mindset, “it’s your openness to what you don’t know, that will define your ability to stay competitive in the future”.
Not just data, but the right data
How does the curious CMO feed their appetite for growth? By asking the right questions, and finding answers in the right data.
Data is the lifeblood of any organisation, it’s the only real way to gain insight, so it’s important that it’s acquired properly and from the right places. Obtaining data is easier now than ever before, it surrounds us. Yet, it’s fair to assume, with the sheer volume of data floating around from so many sources, some won’t be validated, some will be incorrectly interpreted, and some misleading.
In the past, people have attempted to gain insight from the media, but even the most highbrow publications have their own agenda for growth. While an article’s primary purpose may be to inform, pressure to drive pageviews and click throughs (or sell copies and memberships) can lead journalists to err on the side of hyperbole and sensationalism. Publications don’t just inform us on trends anymore, they aim to set them. Setting your strategy based on third-party media is therefore not advised. After all, they won’t have to answer to your CEO if their predictions turn out to be wrong.
Social media is another area people often turn to to collect data, but this also has its flaws. Even the most cutting-edge technology has a hard time filtering out bots and trolls, and often people take to social media with only their most extreme views. While these channels are a prominent part of modern life, the people you want to reach the most often lie in the middle of the extremes (a silent majority), unable to be reached.
CEOs are unconvinced by the integrity of this easily available data. While it’s been prominent for over 10 years, the latest PwC CEO survey shows that just 15% of CEOs believe their organisations have access to the “data about your customers’ and clients’ preferences and needs” needed to make good business decisions. This is down from 21% 10 years ago.
On a positive note, there are emerging sources of data and insight that offer viable alternatives. Behavioural data, taken from connected devices, gives a much clearer understanding of the consumer and their habits, allowing businesses to spot patterns and even identify new customers.
Meanwhile scalable intelligence platforms, which offer digital access to qualitative consumer data, are bringing traditional market research into the modern age. In the past, carrying out such research projects were costly and time consuming, but these platforms now offer ways to reach specific audiences in almost no time at all. Scalable intelligence platforms give CMOs the opportunity to ask specific questions to specific audiences any time they wish, opening doors to a deeper understanding of the ever changing attitudes of the public. They also allow greater speed, accuracy and data quality than previously possible.
For the open-minded CMO, it is important to take note of all data sources to better inform their views on the future, but be discerning about which ones offer the most reliable picture of consumers.
Rely on data driven results
If you’ve asked genuine questions using reliable data sources, the answers won’t always be what you wanted, or were expecting to hear. This can be disheartening if your findings contradict instincts that you’ve built your entire business plan around. While it’s tempting to find reasons to dismiss the data and stick to your guns, it’s worth thinking about the upside of adapting to genuine new insights. Forrester research shows that such insight driven companies typically grow eight times faster than global GDP and at an annualised rate of 27% a year.
For agile CMOs who are willing to set their strategy around consumer insights, rather than finding data to justify their strategy, insight-driven growth promises to deliver long-term returns and a larger share of the fastest-growing markets.
Inform your organisation
To the delight of everyone, the days of siloed fiefdoms in business are dying. Now, cross-functional departments are ever more networked and reliant on one another to achieve a common goal: sustained growth.
Educating your whole company about the insights you’ve discovered, allows them to understand the reasons behind decisions that are being made. Knowing why things may need to change prevents people from getting too disheartened if work they’ve done doesn’t fulfill the right audience needs.
An open dialogue about your findings can keep your team driven, motivated, and confident that they are on the right track. If you’re utilising technology that makes sharing the results easy, and offers others the chance to reach the same conclusions by interrogating the data independently, it will be far easier to build consensus and cross-organisational buy in. Sharing insights with investors also keeps them informed, reassuring them that decisions are being made for a reason.
When it comes to delivering business growth, a growth mindset and continuous access to quality consumer data are a modern CMO’s best friends.
Mark Walker, Attest
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