Have you ever been hired for growth and found yourself delivering a predecessor’s plan because that’s what the board had already signed off on?

If we thought Covid presented us with stressful fiscal challenges we now find ourselves in the perfect financial storm - something that will test both business and the consumer like no time in the last 40+ years.

What’s you’re definition of ‘growth’?

The reason to hire a CMO is usually because you’ve got a big strategic problem to solve, you need to drive growth and become more innovative, or reposition the brand. 

This is the stuff I would do and thats what the connotation would be in the CMO interview process.

What often happens in reality is ‘Deliver me a Q1 plan that drives growth of 3%’. 

The trap is that you’re hired for your thinking and strategy, but very quickly you discover what you are being asked to do is execute an existing sales and ‘growth’ plan that  is nigh on impossible.

I see lots of roles advertised for ‘Director/Head of Social Media’ but rarely include the key objective of being a ‘community growth officer’.

This is probably because the traditional marketing mindset is still based on the assumption of finding segmented cohorts who might be tempted to buy from us - this is a product led mindset and is found in mass market retailing.

For retailers and brands to maintain high relevancy and remain relatable today and tomorrow requires a laser focus on how best to go about building communities - this is a consumer led mindset and is often found in luxury retailing.

This is the direction of travel for what’s being termed Web3 and one of the key reasons luxury retail are experimenting all things ‘Metaverse’.

Here’s a not so radical thought 🚨

"If ever there was a better time for companies to think about using social media as an enterprise wide 'strategic opportunity' including upskilling the workforce for employee advocacy training I don’t know what is"

So, does this now set the scene for the C-Suite to let the CMO get back to what they're supposed to do which is to focus on growth, community building, innovation, and working side by side with product development - not just operating as the corporate bullhorn department?