• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, May 2, 2022

One out of four companies has achieved consistent growth over the past five years, despite the fact that most claim alignment of their growth strategy, according to The Great Debate: Marketing Growth Frameworks, a study released last week by MMA Global.  

What this means for email teams is more pressure to perform even as they face conditions over which they have little control.  

The claim of alignment depends on the executive level. Among very senior executives, 83% claim they have clear alignment on their growth strategy. But only 50% of all others do.  

For another, 78% of marketers believe that going broad is the way to drive growth, as opposed to media targeting. 

Then there is the split between the “go long and broad purists,” reportedly 50% of marketers and the pragmatic balancers who believe in targeting “and choose to balance different approaches without always having one unifying theory.” 

What this could mean is that the first-party database you’ve been demanding may not be getting approved this year. And the ability to field dynamic 1-to-1 emails? 

Let’s drill down a little. The "go long and broad" purists tend to be very senior — 43% are in this category.

Surprisingly, 59% of marketers believe it’s a fallacy that some customers are more valuable than others. How do such people get hired? Targeting customers by value is one of the central tenets of direct marketing. 

Also, 42% of this group has clear gaps in martech capabilities. 

Here are some more depressing stats:

• All customers have same value — 45%
• Higher value but too much effort — 22%
• MUCH higher value, worth the effort — 33% 

In general, marketers do prioritize marketing methods, using an average of 3.1, although few analyze the stage in the customer journey or ad responsiveness propensity. They use:

• Digital context — 44$
• Product usage — 42%
• Loyalty group — 40% 
• Demographics — 31%
• Key life moments — 28%
• Physical context/location — 20%
• Needs state — 22%
• Recency of purchase — 20%
• Stage in the customer journey — 19% 
• Ad responsiveness propensity — 18%
• Heaviness of usage or LTV — 17%

Meanwhile, marketers claim to allocate 80% of their budget to build long-term customers. Here are their shares:

• Building & maintaining brand equity — 26% 
• Balancing customer loyalty — 21%
• Driving immediate performance — 20% 
• Improving experience and convenience across the customer journey — 19%
• Developing new products and services — 15%