Strategy+Business had a great article in their summer issue by Edward Landry, Andrew Tipping, and Jay Kumar from the consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton.

The authors argue that marketers can no longer be measured by brand management, creativity, or promotional expertise – instead, they argue that "In an era of unlimited opportunities but constrained resources, the only marketing metric that matters is growth."

The authors categorize marketing departments into six basic categories:

Here’s the key point: Growth Champions have the best company performance – they are 20 percent more likely to exhibit superior revenue growth and profitability for their industry. (On the other end, Service Providers are most correlated with lackluster revenue growth and lower profitability.)

So what makes a marketing organization a Growth Champion? Two key factors pointed out by the authors are:

So, what kind of organization is your marketing department? Do you use the right metrics to measure marketing’s impact on the organization? Do you have standardized tools and methodologies that support your efforts to drive revenue?