If you stay up to date on business news, you might have heard of a new job in town: the chief growth officer. Companies like Hershey’s and Kellog’s are integrating this role into their corporate teams, and Coca-Cola even replaced its chief marketing officer with a CGO.
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If you stay up to date on business news, you might have heard of a new job in town: the chief growth officer. Companies like Hershey’s and Kellog’s are integrating this role into their corporate teams, and Coca-Cola even replaced its chief marketing officer with a CGO.
Read on to find out whether you need a CGO for your business.
What Is a CGO?
A CGO is part of the C-suite: executives in your company including a CEO, chief financial officer, and chief marketing officer. A CGO’s goal is to create a seamless, enjoyable customer experience. She/he works with marketing, sales, product, and finance departments to make sure the customer is happy and the system runs smoothly.
How is a CGO different from a CMO?
CMOs and CGOs have some similarities, but they are different roles. A CMO is in charge of marketing efforts to build brand awareness and drive business. A CGO also wants to drive business growth, but does a lot more than deal with marketing.
Both CMOs and CGOs are in charge of:
• Marketing strategy
• Marketing analytics
• Branding
• Multi-channel marketing
• Staffing
• Leadership/team building
• Public relations
• Content creation
• Marketing technologies
• Lead generation
CGOs are also responsible for:
• Profitable growth
• Sales strategies & execution
• Product development & expansion
• Strategic business planning
What does this mean for marketing?
The days when sales and marketing departments barely spoke to each other are over. Marketers need to form and maintain healthy, bilateral relationships with members of every department, and think outside of the box for strategies involving the whole company.
When Envision Digital rebranded as InThink, we changed our title from marketing agency to growth agency. We’re not limiting ourselves to marketing anymore. We’re helping companies grow by thinking creatively.
Should your business hire a CGO?
Here are a few things to evaluate:
1. Your industry and business size. Today, most CGOs work for companies with fewer than 200 people in the marketing and IT industries.
2. Budget. About 20% of brands with $5-50 million in marketing budgets have CGOs, while only 11% of companies with an ad buy of less than $5 million have CGOs.
3. Your goals. According to a survey by Singular, (77%) of CGOs said apps are critical to delivering customer value or generating revenue.
In the end, it might not be an either/or situation. In many companies, CMOs and CGOs work closely together.
The case for a CGO-led company
CGO-led companies are outperforming CMO-led companies on a broad scale. Today, CGO-led companies are more likely to participate in mobile-focused, tech-heavy verticals.
While not every company will benefit from hiring a CGO, brands interested in driving rapid growth, implementing new tools, and investing in marketing tech will thrive under a skilled CGO.
