This is something I've noticed more and more over the years.
A brand comes to you and says:
"Our marketing isn't working."
And pretty quickly, the conversation turns to campaigns.
But after talking for a while, I often find that:
Marketing is just the problem that's easiest to see.
Sometimes the product isn't quite clear yet.
Sometimes the pricing doesn't make sense.
Sometimes the team doesn't really know who they're selling to.
Sometimes HQ is saying one thing and the local team is doing another.
And sometimes everyone knows what the problem is.
They just don't want to make the decision.
So what's the easiest thing to do?
Marketing.
Because marketing feels like something you can start immediately.
Launch a campaign.
Hire an agency.
Make content.
Buy media.
Open another social account.
At least something is happening.
But starting something isn't the same as solving something.
I've seen brands spend a lot of money making an unclear proposition louder.
The result isn't necessarily growth.
Sometimes it's just more people who don't know what the brand is.
It's a little brutal.
But also fairly logical.
Marketing rarely solves a question the business itself hasn't answered.
So when someone asks me:
"What should our marketing strategy be?"
I sometimes start with questions that have very little to do with marketing.
Who is actually your customer?
Why should they choose you?
What are you genuinely better at?
Why does this price make sense?
If there were no advertising, would anyone still come looking for you?
If those questions don't have good answers, a beautiful campaign can only do so much.
I've come to think that brand work is sometimes closer to business judgement.
You need to know when to communicate.
But you also need to know when to stop and rethink the product, the price, the positioning, or the way the team is working together.
That's why I don't like calling everything a marketing problem.
Sometimes the real problem is simply:
Nobody has made the decision yet.
And that's not something a marketing team can decide for you.
