Stop justifying marketing. Start architecting growth.

Too often, CMOs find they’re speaking a different language to the rest of the boardroom. Creativity and commerciality clash. Growth stalls. The exact opposite of what marketing leaders — and their boardroom peers — intended when investing in marketing.

There is a better way. Marketing leaders should be the architects of growth, building a marketing ecosystem that operates strategically across three dimensions: audience attention, business outcomes and growth strategy. A marketing ecosystem that shows impact, links to outcomes, and leads to recognizable revenue.

Drawing on her own boardroom experience and other real-world examples, Emma Pownall shows business leaders and marketers how to build ecosystem thinking, translate marketing strategy into business priorities, and elevate the role of marketing to be strategic, commercial and creative to drive attention that leads to action – the very reason marketing does matter to growth.

Foreword ix

Preface xi

Introduction 1

Part 1: The foundations of growth 11

1. Architect growth 13

2. The three dimensions of growth 29

3. An architect’s mindset 49

4. The toolkit for growth 63

Part 2: The five ecosystem principles 83

1. Design in 3D 85

2. Stand Out 99

3. Shape for Humans 121

4. Embed the Experience 147

5. Build a Destination 169

Part 3: From principles to practice 189

1. Master the principles 191

2. Drive performance 209

3. Nurture the ecosystem 231

Conclusion 249

Notes 257

The ecosystem approach 269

Marketers Like Me 285

Acknowledgements 287

About the author 291

FORMAT / ISBN / PUBLICATION DATE / RRP

Hardback / 9781805760207 / October 20, 2026 / £25.99

Paperback / 9781805760214 / October 20, 2026 / £15.99

Ebook / 9781805760221 / October 19, 2026 / £7.99

Emma Pownall

Emma Pownall is a strategy and marketing leader with 20 years of inhouse experience driving organic revenue growth and customer lifetime value.

For a decade, she was the only marketer in a high-performing tech boardroom, alongside leaders who didn’t understand marketing’s complexity or evolving role. With a background in engineering, Emma blends analytical and creative thinking to connect buyer needs with commercial outcomes. She champions human-first, AI-enabled approaches that preserve connection and cut through AI ‘marketing’ noise while translating strategy into business language.

Having elevated marketing from misunderstood to essential, Emma founded the Marketers Like Me community. Through her Make Marketing Matter newsletter, podcast and mentoring, she equips marketers with the frameworks and mindset to unlock marketing’s value to growth.

Emma’s leadership and innovation have been recognized through awards: Hubspot’s EMEA Impact Award (2025), Advocacy Academy’s AI Innovator finalist (2025), CRN’s Women in Channel A-List (2019), and Coaching Culture’s Authentic Leader (2022).