It’s the start of the month and management reports are just in. Marketing’s been busy! Website traffic’s up, email open rates are healthy, and social media engagement is looking good. But sales enquiries are thin on the ground. The CFO raises a quizzical eyebrow. It’s that uncomfortable moment when marketing looks productive – but it’s not moving the business forward.
Of course, brand awareness and engagement can take ages to monetise, especially for high-consideration purchases. But when marketing is clearly aligned with the business and speaks to buyer needs, there’s greater clarity on how current activity is building towards future performance.
Even in well-run teams, marketing can lose focus. Things can look busy but without a clear line of sight to business goals – commercial, strategic, and mission-led, momentum can stall. Staying aligned takes more than good intent – it takes discipline.
This kind of misalignment can creep in quietly. It starts with well-meaning initiatives that aren’t stress-tested against business priorities. A new campaign, a shiny platform, a push for engagement – all launched in good faith, but not always with clear strategic intent. The team ends up tracking outputs instead of outcomes. There’s plenty of reporting – but not enough clarity on what’s actually working.
And to be fair, misalignment isn’t always marketing’s fault. Shifting priorities, disconnected functions and unclear direction from leadership can all play a part. But it’s often marketing that feels the effects first – especially when results are under the spotlight.
The cost of confusion
Lack of clarity comes at a cost. Time gets wasted on low-value tasks. Budgets leak into underperforming channels. Teams lose confidence, chasing the wrong metrics or second-guessing what matters. Meanwhile, strategic opportunities slip by – because marketing effort isn’t focused where it counts. It’s not just inefficient, it’s demoralising. And it makes marketing harder to defend in the boardroom.
Yep, pretty busy, thanks for asking
Misalignment can be about incompetence, but not always. It can also result from competing priorities, internal complexity, and the natural drift that happens when strategy isn’t clearly embedded in day-to-day decisions. Over time, marketing can become a service function: reactive, overstretched, and adrift from its strategic purpose.
Instead of shaping demand and guiding the business towards its goals, the team ends up spinning plates – responding to requests, publishing content, and producing reports, without the time or headroom to explore whether it’s working.
Less noise, more purpose
It doesn’t have to be this way. Too often, marketing starts with “what should we do next?” – a natural response when the strategy isn’t clear, the team is in reactive mode, or when there’s pressure to stay visible/busy. In a sustainable marketing model, activity flows from alignment. We’re asking: “What are we trying to achieve, and what’s the most efficient way to get there?” It’s slower upfront, but sharper in execution. Fewer distractions. More direction.
Misaligned marketing isn’t just a budget issue – it’s a strategic risk. When activity isn’t clearly tied to business goals, it wastes time, drains energy, and blunts your team’s impact. Marketing can deliver real and long-term results, particularly when anchored in the triple bottom line: financial performance, environmental goals and social impact.