Before you ask for more marketing, ask this

Something caught my attention recently while I was reading through a couple of senior marketing leadership roles.

The businesses were very different, but the work they needed done had a lot in common. They needed someone who could bring people together, make sense of competing priorities, help the business make clearer decisions and create some structure around growth. Marketing experience mattered, but it was only part of what they were looking for.

That stayed with me, because we see the same thing in our work with businesses: a conversation begins with a website, a campaign, a need for more leads or a feeling that the brand is no longer working as well as it should.

Once we start asking questions, the issue is usually somewhere earlier. The business isn't clear on which audience matters most. The offer has become complicated over time. Different teams describe the business in different ways. There are several priorities and no shared view on which one comes first.

Eventually, the brief lands with marketing because that's often where the wider business problem shows up.

Visibility doesn't mean ownership.

This happens gradually. Businesses grow, new services are introduced, people join, customer needs change, and decisions that once felt obvious become less so.

Marketing asks a business to explain itself. Who are we helping? What are we helping them with? Why does it matter? What do we want people to understand or do?

Answering those questions usually takes the conversation well beyond marketing.

We usually begin somewhere other than activity. Before discussing channels, campaigns or content, we try to understand what the business is trying to change and what is getting in the way.