Growth Marketing is redundant

I am giving you advance warning..... this post is no safe haven for growth marketers without actual experience. I am absolutely certain - in fact it is blatantly obvious - that direct confrontation is the only possible end result.

OK - how many redundant phrases did I include in that ridiculous opening paragraph? I say 8, and include the phrase growth marketer in that count. Yes I know it is a very popular term right now - 34k+ US jobs on LinkedIn with the phrase 'growth marketing' - but before you rush off to update your resume, let me ask a question: isn't all marketing supposed to be growth marketing?

How did plain old Marketing get disintermediated as a growth function? Or is this just an update of a name to reflect relevancy and strength of purpose? If so, I am all good with that and would take it even a step (or three) further. I believe that Marketing is the function most responsible for growth in any organization and should have responsibility for the other two legs of the growth go-to-market stool - Product & Sales. That moves the CMO to CGO - and centralizes commercial success accountability to the executive chair who has the strongest ability to deliver it.

Marketing is evolving, but so is every other function in the digital economy. So is this just a passing fad? I don't think so, growth has always been the objective of good marketing teams, we are just finally getting around to calling it out.