Recently, I had a conversation with the founder of a growing business that has stayed with me.
He said: “We’ve got a good marketing team, but marketing just isn’t moving the business forward.”
It’s something I’ve heard many times throughout my career.
When businesses bring me in as a Fractional CMO, they often expect me to find problems with the marketing team.
The reality is usually the opposite.
The marketing team wasn’t the problem
After spending time with the team, one thing became obvious.
Their output was excellent.
The content was engaging.
The CRM campaigns were well executed.
The creative looked professional.
Plans were underway for a new website, TikTok Shop, Meta advertising campaigns and new marketing collateral.
On paper, everything looked busy.
Everything looked productive.
But when I started asking a different set of questions, the conversation changed.
Why are we building a new website?
Why are we launching on TikTok Shop?
Why are we increasing investment in Meta?
Why are we producing another brochure?
Most importantly…
How will any of these activities help the business achieve its commercial goals?
That’s where the gap became obvious.
Activity isn’t the same as strategy
Many businesses confuse marketing activity with marketing strategy.
They’re very different things.
Activity is what your team does every day.
Strategy is deciding what deserves your team’s time, budget and attention in the first place.
Without a clear strategy, marketing quickly becomes reactive.
Priorities change every week.
The loudest voice in the business wins.
New channels are launched because competitors are doing them.
Budgets increase because revenue isn’t.
Everyone stays busy.
But the business doesn’t necessarily move forward.
Junior marketing teams often see the problem
One of the biggest misconceptions I encounter is that junior marketing teams don’t understand what’s wrong.
In many cases, they do.
They know priorities keep changing.
They know campaigns are being launched without clear objectives.
They know they’re constantly reacting instead of planning.
What they often don’t have is the commercial experience or organisational influence to challenge those decisions.
That’s not a criticism.
It’s simply the reality of being early in your career.
They’re expected to execute marketing, not define business strategy.
Where a Fractional CMO adds value
This is where experienced marketing leadership can make a significant difference.
Contrary to popular belief, a Fractional CMO isn’t there to replace your marketing team.
The role is to help the business make better marketing decisions.
That means creating alignment between leadership and marketing.
It means asking questions that often haven’t been asked.
What is the biggest commercial challenge facing the business?
Which activities will have the greatest impact over the next three, six and twelve months?
Where should marketing investment increase?
Where should it stop?
How will success actually be measured?
Only once those questions have been answered does it make sense to decide whether the answer is a new website, TikTok Shop, Meta advertising, email marketing or something else entirely.
Direction creates performance
One of the most rewarding parts of my role is seeing what happens next.
In almost every case, we don’t replace the marketing team.
We don’t suddenly hire lots of specialists.
Instead, we give the existing team something they were missing.
Direction.
Clear priorities.
Commercial objectives.
A roadmap that connects every marketing activity back to measurable business outcomes.
The result is usually the same.
The team becomes more confident.
Decision-making becomes faster.
Marketing becomes measurable.
And the business finally starts seeing marketing as a growth function rather than a cost centre.
Final thoughts
The more businesses I work with, the more convinced I become of one thing.
The problem usually isn’t capability.
It’s direction.
If your marketing team is working hard but growth has stalled, it may be worth asking a different question.
Instead of asking whether your team is doing enough…
Ask whether they’re working on the right things in the first place.
