Bursting the Bubble in Growth Marketing?

Experience + Skills = Salary

Not for this area of the market. If you haven’t hired for it already, you will be soon.

Growth Marketing is the number one position we’re being asked about at the moment, with brands realising the financial impact the right person can have on the business. However the alignment between what the role entails and how that is compensated is often seriously out of whack.?

Our good friend, Covid kicked life onto new technologies and platforms. We downloaded TikTok, moved meetings to Zoom and faced the catalyzation of digitization across business.?

Cue Growth Marketeers.?

“Growth marketing looks to increase sales throughout the entire funnel by creating personalised customer experiences..it also tends to rely more on data and experimentation.” Growth marketing according to Forbes.?

This emergence of disruptive businesses seizing exponential growth comes from getting directly into view of their target consumer, Millennials and Gen Z, however finding the talent to facilitate that has suddenly come at a cost.

Speaking to executives across various industries has only confirmed this bubble, a Managing Director at a leading activewear company made the apt observation:

“Merchandising and sales come up through training programmes, growth doesn’t have this rigour. It’s hard to get under the hood of someone's experience and we’re often ensure whether they have the right seniority.”?

Is that why the seniors and C-Suites are often leaving the juniors to it and generational gaps between teams become the big divide?

From our research, a Manager level salary within Growth marketing for a larger tech business has a starting salary of ￡100k plus bonuses and benefits. A far cry from the ￡40k that would normally be offered for peers in other sectors.

The market seems incredibly foggy in accurately appraising this sector of talent, and what's more is that it also demonstrates the value found in D2C structures that manipulate data to get right in the face of their target consumer.?

End to end channel management, ROAS, PPC, conversion, affiliate, acquisition, are all suddenly key cogs in the marketing funnel that in the mind of a business, can equal growth.?

Procuring talent that can deliver the goods is now deemed fundamental, and pinpointing the value of that talent is fluid.?

What can we predict for the coming months and years? Our Founder, Rachel Saywell-Burr gets out her crystal ball:

“In the immediate, we are still seeing a bun fight for talent. Whoever pays the most gets the people on board but based on previous super speedy booms on hires, this should relax over the next couple of years.”

What to do if you’re a business owner and are panicking about not getting the best people??

“We always advise you to reflect on your existing team. Who are the data-centric and analytical people within the business that might be excited to learn new skills? Focus on internal training before entering into a very competitive marketplace.?

Another consideration is bringing a brilliant consultant on board to provide strategy and mentorship to a more junior hire - this person can also give an understanding of the success that growth marketing can bring and fill any skill gaps in an existing team."

Hopefully as the position is integrated into more companies, there will be a natural trajectory that will be put in place with people being able to channel their talent into growth from a starting point in their career.

As we have visibility of what impact the position can have on a company, there should be a natural alignment of salaries levelling themselves out.

If you have thoughts about this piece then send us a comment or an email at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you.