The Experiment-Driven Growth Model brings together long term strategic oversight with data driven marketing experimentation to bridge the gap between traditional marketing agencies and in-house teams. This model is a growth engine with two central roles: the CMO (Marketing Business Operator) who has the strategic vision and decision making power and the L-Shaped Growth Operator who drives experimentation, coordination and optimisation across marketing, data and operations. It ensures growth is sustainable by aligning short term marketing tactics to long term business objectives.
Why This Model Was Built
We saw the following flaws in traditional approaches:
- Agencies focus on short term results (leads, traffic, conversions) without integration into the company’s long term strategy.
- In-house teams can’t experiment quickly or optimise across multiple channels.
- Business Operators (typically CMOs) were too busy, managing high level strategy and the granular details of marketing execution.
The Experiment-Driven Growth Model was built to fix these flaws by creating a more agile, integrated and results driven structure. It’s all about strategic alignment, rapid experimentation and operational efficiency so every marketing activity contributes to the overall business goals.
Naming Conventions & Definitions
Marketing Business Operator (CMO role): A senior leader within the company (often the CMO or similar role) who has high level marketing strategy and long term business objectives. They have the final decision making power but rely on the Growth Operator to execute and optimise.
L-Shaped Growth Operator: A marketing leader with broad cross functional knowledge (SEO, paid media, content etc) and deep specialisation in experimentation and data driven strategy. They coordinate marketing activity, optimise campaigns and drive continuous growth through testing and data analysis.
Agency Model: A traditional external service provider who focuses on executing marketing campaigns for short term results, often disconnected from the internal business strategy and operations.
Experimentation Framework: A structured approach used by Growth Operators to test marketing strategies, analyse data and scale up successful experiments to align with long term business goals.
Operator’s Mindset: A growth philosophy that takes full ownership of marketing and operational activities so everything is aligned to the company’s long term strategy, not task focused like traditional agencies.
