As 2022 draws to a close, the marketing industry stands at the crossroads of a fundamental shift. With consumer expectations changing, platforms multiplying, and privacy regulations tightening, the rules of growth are being rewritten, not by channels or tactics, but by a powerful trio at the heart of modern strategy: data, automation, and personalization.
In a new insight paper released this quarter, growth strategist and digital marketing leader EZEALA ADAUGO explores how the most adaptable brands are building growth strategies that integrate intelligence and empathy, and why the application of these three pillars will define marketing success in 2023.
“Growth marketing has matured. It’s no longer just about acquisition metrics or throwing money at ads,” says Adaugo. “What we’re seeing now is a shift toward building connected, intelligent systems, where data informs automation, and automation delivers personalized, value-driven experiences.”
From Big Data to Better Data
For over a decade, marketers were told the answer to their growth problems was more data. In theory, the more you knew, the better you could target and convert. In reality, what many teams ended up with was being overwhelmed with lots of data, dashboards filled with metrics, but no clear sense of action.
According to Gartner’s 2022 CMO Spend Survey, 61% of marketing leaders acknowledged that despite having more data than ever, they still struggle to translate it into actionable decisions. For many, it has become clear: more dashboards doesn’t equal more insight.
“The brands that stood out in 2022 weren’t the ones with the most data,” Adaugo explains. “They were the ones asking better questions of their data, and building smarter systems to act on it.”
The message was clear: success wasn’t about tracking every interaction, but about understanding the right ones, and designing them for action. The best-performing growth teams started asking better questions, not just generating better reports.
This change is more than technical. It represents a rebalancing of power: from rented platforms and borrowed audiences back to owned ecosystems. It’s a shift that will define competitive advantage for years to come.
Marketing Automation Moves from Efficiency to Intelligence
For many companies, marketing automation was once seen purely as a time-saving tool, a way to schedule emails, run retargeting ads, or streamline internal workflows. But 2022 marked the year automation began to mature into something more strategic.
This year saw brands embrace platforms like Klaviyo, Braze, MoEngage, and Iterable not simply to automate tasks, but to manage entire customer journeys, adapting communication across channels based on real-time behaviours.
“Marketing automation today is about orchestration, not just scheduling,” says Adaugo. “The goal isn’t to replace human touchpoints, it’s to anticipate customer needs and deliver timely, relevant experiences that feel effortless.”
It’s no longer acceptable to treat all customers the same. Today’s automation must be context-aware, channel-specific, behaviour-triggered, and outcome-aligned. Machine learning models are now assisting in segmenting users based on predicted behaviour, optimizing send times, and testing variations. As automation becomes more intelligent, marketers can now scale personalization without sacrificing precision.
Hyper-Personalization Becomes the Competitive Edge
While global players like Netflix and Amazon continued setting high standards for dynamic, personalized content, 2022 saw even resource-constrained startups begin deploying tools to tailor experiences across customer touchpoints.
What made personalization powerful this year wasn’t having complex processes, it was precision. Brands that excelled focused on small but meaningful optimizations:
- Surfacing product recommendations based on browsing history
- Tailoring headlines and call-to-actions based on user location or device
- Adjusting offers dynamically based on purchase frequency
“The most exciting thing in personalization today is how scalable it’s become,” Adaugo shares. “You no longer need a billion-dollar tech stack to deliver tailored experiences. You just need good data, an agile mindset, and the right triggers.”
According to McKinsey, brands that lead in personalization achieve up to 40% higher revenue performance compared to their peers. In 2023, this gap will only widen.
But personalization must be earned, not assumed. Respect for privacy, opt-in practices, and user transparency will shape how far brands can push their strategies. As marketers, we must remember that relevance without respect becomes manipulation.
The Growth Wheel: Where the Three Intersect
When used together properly, data, automation, and personalization don’t operate as separate functions but they form a growth engine. This engine doesn’t just convert users, it urges them to return, engage, advocate, and evolve.
Here’s how the wheel works:
- Data fuels your understanding of user behaviour and intent.
- Automation activates that data across journeys and channels.
- Personalization ensures that what users receive is relevant and high-value.
This system becomes self-reinforcing. With each new interaction, you gain better data. With better data, automation becomes smarter. With smarter automation, personalization becomes sharper. And with sharper personalization, engagement improves, creating more data.
But this only works when teams and systems are integrated. Outdated tools, disconnected departments, and misaligned goals will stall the wheel.
Looking ahead, Adaugo outlines five key traits that will separate high-performing growth organizations from the rest:
- Agility: The ability to experiment quickly and pivot based on real-time feedback will be essential as uncertainty remains high.
- First-Party Strategy: Owning your customer relationships and data will give brands a competitive edge as third-party cookies fade away.
- Journey-Led Design: Growth teams must design full-loop experiences that prioritize retention, engagement, and lifetime value.
- Ethical Personalization: Respectful and transparent personalization builds deeper trust, especially in privacy-conscious markets.
- System Thinking: Sustainable growth comes from aligning teams, tools, and data into one cohesive operating system.
“In 2023, growth marketing is a discipline,” Adaugo concludes. “It’s about building scalable engines that are intelligent, intentional, and most importantly, human. The brands that win will be those that use data to listen, automation to respond, and personalization to care.”
As the New Year approaches, one thing is clear: the future of growth will be won not by doing more, but by doing what matters, smarter, faster, and more meaningfully than ever before.
