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With so much going on in the world these days, all the confusion and chaos, it’s easy for marketers to miss their moment. So let me remind you: It’s here. The pressure and potential value for marketing to deliver revenue results and lift the company out of the ashes of the pandemic has never been greater. 

Sounds dark and apocalyptic, I know. 

Let me try another metaphor: It’s the bottom of the ninth, the game on the line, and everyone hopes marketing can step up to the plate and win the game. (That’s better.) McKinsey & Co. is also using a baseball metaphor in its recent study, The Growth Triple Play: Creativity, Analytics, and Purpose.

McKinsey’s study cites the rapid adoption of digital channels as the catalyst to a decade-worth of e-commerce adoption in only a matter of months. With a quick Google search and a click of the button, the digital consumer can go anywhere in the world. Three out of four consumers have tried different stores, websites or brands. 

What can CMOs do to win this chaotic, high-stakes digital game? “Companies that bring together the growth triple play of creatives, analytics, and purpose are driving above-peer growth,” McKinsey says. “But only 7% of companies are able to do this really well.”

Related: Download BrandTotal’s Retail Report “The Greatest Comeback Ever?”

The idea behind the “triple play” is that marketers must excel at all three in a concerted way — that is, infusing creativity with analytics and deploying analytics with purpose. Marketers who can make this happen get rewarded with revenue. 

“The research shows using the full growth triple play can boost average growth rates by 2.3 times compared to companies that don’t use any of the three elements,” McKinsey says.

We have a triple play, too. 

In a CMO Council report, Getting It Done In 2021, we see a big opportunity for marketers to achieve their goals through MarTech. Seven out of 10 marketers say their MarTech spend will increase this year. MarTech will be thrown around the diamond in a triple play:

1. Filling gaps in the customer journey

2. Improving digital engagement

3. Better targeting audiences with relevant campaigns 

MarTech’s automation and insight will free up marketers to focus on the art of their craft, the relevancy of their messaging and the ROI of their investments. It simultaneously will allow them to pivot as new data emerges, thereby allowing marketers to quickly optimize their strategies.

Both the CMO Council and McKinsey have independently verified the marketing leader as the clutch player in the game today. 

McKinsey says CMO’s have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead, as 78% of CEOs are now banking on marketing to drive growth. According to another CMO Council report, C-Suite Scorecard, revenue and sales growth is the top deliverable for marketing with customer acquisition and profitability a close second.

Moreover, the CMO Council found that 69% of business executives are extremely or moderately confident in marketing’s ability to lead growth recovery in 2021.

“Business leaders are looking for marketing to step up and lead the charge in revenue-generating activities,” says the CMO Council. “They’re looking down the funnel and expect marketing to drive demand generation through impactful and relevant campaigns and a seamless, cohesive customer journey.”

Related: Check out our blog post, Will Purpose Lead To Profit?

Related: Get ahead of the disruption! Become a CMO Council Member today!