Marketing Misfires: Why Your Team’s Not Delivering, and How to Fix It

  • Tanya Thorne
  • Nov 11, 2024
Marketing Misfires: Why Your Team’s Not Delivering, and How to Fix It

“”Underperformance in marketing is rarely just about skill – it’s usually more about the strategy that guides it.”

– Tanya Thorne, The Troubleshooter

Is your marketing team stuck in neutral while your competitors are speeding ahead? Many businesses face the frustrating reality that, despite talented individuals and resources, their marketing teams aren’t delivering the results they should. The costs of underperformance aren’t just financial. They impact growth, morale, and the overall direction of the business.

But how can a team of skilled marketers, full of creativity and drive, still miss the mark? Isn’t marketing the cornerstone of business growth, the lifeblood of every successful company?

Yes, but there’s more to the story.

Even the most talented marketing teams can find themselves struggling if they’re not properly aligned with the business goals. You can have all the right ingredients, creative campaigns, cutting-edge tools, and dedicated people, but if those efforts aren’t pulling in the same direction, your team will stall. Marketing, after all, is only as effective as the strategy and structure supporting it.

And here’s the truth: Underperformance in a marketing team isn’t always due to a lack of skill. Often, it’s the result of misalignment, outdated strategies, or weak leadership that leaves a team adrift. And when marketing falls short, the ripple effect can be felt across the entire business, from missed sales targets to stunted growth.

In this article, we’ll break down the hidden reasons why your marketing team might be underperforming, and more importantly, how to fix it before it costs your business more than just revenue.

Common Causes of Marketing Team Underperformance

Misalignment with business goals

One of the most significant barriers to marketing success is misalignment with the business’s broader objectives. When a marketing team operates in isolation, crafting creative campaigns that aren’t connected to core business goals, whether that’s driving revenue, customer acquisition, or retention, their efforts are destined to fall flat. Without a clear line of sight to how marketing feeds into the company’s growth strategy, even the most creative initiatives can lack the necessary impact.

Teams need to be more than just a creative engine; they need to be a strategic function that drives business outcomes.

Actionable tip: Ensure your marketing team understands the company’s long-term vision and knows how their work directly influences business objectives.

How to: Schedule regular cross-departmental meetings that bring marketing into the heart of business strategy discussions. Set shared performance metrics like customer lifetime value (CLV) and cost per acquisition (CPA) to create a direct link between marketing efforts and growth targets.

How The Troubleshooter helps: We ensure that marketing teams are not working in a vacuum but are strategically aligned with your company’s growth objectives. By structuring campaigns around clear business goals and tying marketing performance to tangible outcomes, we make sure your marketing efforts are not just building awareness but driving real, measurable growth.

Lack of Strategic Leadership

Even the most talented teams need strong leadership to develop their full potential and when leadership lacks vision or fails to communicate effectively, it creates confusion and stagnation. Strategic leadership goes beyond setting targets; it’s about giving the team direction, motivating them to push boundaries, and ensuring every effort is aligned with broader business objectives. Without a clear strategy and empowered leadership, even high-potential teams will struggle to deliver.

Leadership that understands both the creative and analytical sides of marketing is essential to ensuring that every campaign not only looks good but performs well.

Actionable tip: Regularly assess the effectiveness of your leadership. Are they providing clear, actionable guidance, and are they removing obstacles that block progress?

How to: Conduct leadership assessments to evaluate whether managers are equipped to handle both the strategic and operational needs of the team. Offer ongoing professional development to build leaders who can inspire creativity and drive results simultaneously.

How The Troubleshooter helps: We strengthen your leadership’s strategic focus, ensuring they’re not just managing day-to-day operations but driving long-term marketing success. By equipping leaders with the skills to guide, motivate, and strategise, we help them turn your marketing team into a high-performing unit that consistently delivers results.

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