More leads might look like progress, but if they’re the wrong fit they won’t convert. You get sales calls that go nowhere, interest fizzles out, and campaigns deliver numbers but not value. It’s not a volume problem – it’s a relevance problem.
No clear audience = muddled marketing
Getting product/market fit right starts with knowing who you’re trying to reach. That’s where ideal buyer personas come in. Without a clear picture of your target customer – their goals, perceived barriers and buying triggers – it’s difficult to create relevant messaging and choose the best channels. Marketing becomes guesswork.
The risk? You waste time, money, and resources attracting the wrong people – or speaking so broadly that the right ones scroll past. Sustainable marketing starts with precision – and that means being specific about the customers you’re best placed to serve.
Poor-fit leads don’t just clog the pipeline – they create friction across the business. Sales spend time on calls that don’t go anywhere. Delivery teams have to bend the offer to fit awkward client needs. Meanwhile, the marketing team is under pressure to explain why “all those leads” aren’t turning into revenue. Confidence drops and blame creeps in. It’s not obvious why, but it’s costly – in time, morale, and missed opportunities.
Ads that don’t convert still cost
When targeting and messaging are off, paid campaigns can still attract clicks, but if those visitors were never likely to convert it’s money down the drain.
Worse still, every landing page visited, video viewed, and email read sent has a carbon cost. Multiply that by thousands of wasted interactions, and it’s not just your budget taking a hit – it’s your environmental footprint too. Bad fit isn’t just inefficient. It’s unsustainable.
Fit over reach, always
The pressure to grow can push marketing to chase bigger numbers – more visibility on social media, more website traffic, more leads in the CRM. But volume doesn’t equal value. Sustainable marketing takes a different path. It focuses on fit: reaching the right people, in the right way, with the right message. That means less waste, more clarity, and better long-term results. You don’t need to shout louder – you need to engage with the people whose problems you can solve.
Poor-fit leads aren’t just frustrating – they signal a deeper problem. Fixing it doesn’t mean shouting louder or spending more. It means stepping back, getting clear on who you’re really for, and making sure your marketing reflects that. Sustainable growth starts with relevance – not reach.