Welcome to the dawn of The New Marketing Economy

By Michael Friedberg, CEO

Once upon a not-so-long-ago, Marketing was just another disjointed, standalone function. But, as we all know, a lot has happened over the past few years and, amidst all the commotion, Marketing has managed to escape the silo.

Let’s cast our thoughts back to…

THE INFORMATION AGE that kicked off around the mid-20th century and saw a rapid shift from traditional industries to an economy centred around IT. Digital connectivity, information exchange, and data-driven decision making were the key trends and drivers of economic growth, innovation, and social development.

THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY marked a further post-industrial shift away from traditional production and manufacturing to a focus on knowledge-intensive activities, intellectual capital, and the efficient use of information and technology.

THE DIGITAL MARKETING REVOLUTION unfolded as businesses leveraged digital technologies, marketing automation and data to cater to the changing dynamics of the Information Age and the Knowledge Economy. It gave rise to search, content, influencer, inbound and social media marketing. On the upside, these approaches leveraged the power of digital platforms and AI to engage with customers, build brand awareness, and drive sales. However, they also gave rise to a more myopic view of marketing synonymous with platforms, tools and tactics – not a strategic force in the business. The traditional role of the Marketing Leader or CMO became fragmented, and specialist roles such as Chief Growth Officer, Chief Experience Officer, and Chief Revenue Officer are now commonplace. While this fragmentation addresses specific needs, it has also diluted the influence and impact of marketing.

Today: THE NEW MARKETING ECONOMY

The New Marketing Economy is a landscape where Marketing can't operate in a vacuum. It's mission critical to fuel growth, but only if it’s integrated across the entire business – sales, product, customer success, finance, people and culture, the list goes on. It’s the high-speed fibre that helps keep the entire organisational ecosystem running smoothly at speed. In the new marketing economy, marketing is business. And in this brave new world, marketing owns the number, alongside sales and customer success and product. But how do we make this happen?

Accomplishing this kind of integration requires a shift in attitude and culture where every employee, regardless of their role, adopts a “marketing mindset”.

In these organisations, marketing is not a department, it’s an integral part of a customer-focused company strategy. This mindset shift drives a customer-centric culture, facilitates collaboration between teams and fuels innovation. It’s the breeding ground for the convergence of strategy, vision and customer-centricity which drives growth, sales, reputation, customer loyalty and investment.

How do you move an organisation towards a “marketing mindset”?

It starts with a CEO or Founder who truly understands its power, and who is supported by a dynamic marketing talent pool infused with this new way of thinking and working.

This might sound like a pipe dream – especially considering that just 3+ years ago, the New Marketing Economy would have required an entire herd of unicorns straight out of My Little Pony. But, as we all know, the tech sector workforce has shifted away from full-time employment toward demand-based expertise. Advertised contract roles in tech have increased 36%+ vs 2% in permanent YOY to 2022.

Specifically, high-level professionals with the experience required to parachute fractional strategic leadership into the C- suite, and who are supported by senior marketers possessing the diversity of skill sets needed to execute high impact projects at scale. The future of work is flexible. Not just the hours in the office, but how and when and who you hire.

And the good news is this new way of working is uniquely suited for injecting strategic marketing experience and accountability into your business (and it’s more effective, efficient and easier than building out an old school marketing department).

If you’d like to know more about fractional marketing support for your business, or fostering a marketing mindset, don’t hesitate to get in touch.