I experienced this first hand while working with a large, traditional business.

On the surface, everything looked fine.
The organisation had a strong reputation, a well-known brand, and money being spent across marketing.

PR agencies were hired. Print advertising ran regularly. Sponsorships, social media, design work, and campaigns were all in motion.

Despite this, revenue was flat and, in some years, well below agreed targets.

Teams were extremely busy.
Marketing activity was constant.
But growth was simply not happening.

When results fell short, the same issues kept appearing:

• Marketing was blamed
• Senior teams disagreed about what was working
• Decisions were driven by opinion rather than evidence
• No one could clearly explain what should be improved next

This was not due to a lack of effort or ambition.
It was due to a lack of structure.

Activity Without a System

At the time, the business believed growth would come from more people and more senior management. The organisation had a large wage bill and a heavy management structure, but very little clarity around how marketing actually contributed to sales.

Marketing spend went into activities that were difficult or impossible to track:

• PR campaigns
• Print advertising
• Sponsorships
• One-off design projects

Each activity existed on its own.

There was no system underneath connecting marketing effort to enquiries, follow-up, or revenue.

As a result, nothing improved year to year.
There was no way to see what worked, what didn’t, or what should be changed. Every discussion about marketing became subjective.

Interestingly, the one thing that did perform consistently was a very simple email newsletter. It generated significant revenue over time, yet it remained isolated and unsupported by any wider system.

That contrast made the real issue clear.

Marketing was not failing.
It had never been properly set up to succeed.

What Actually Changed When a System Was Put in Place

When a basic marketing system was introduced, the biggest change was not immediate growth.

The real change happened internally.

People finally knew what they were responsible for.
Tasks were clearer.
Ownership improved.

Instead of reacting to problems as they appeared, staff could work within a structure. Over time, they became better at their individual roles. They worked more efficiently and freed up time for themselves and others.

This made a significant difference during busy periods, particularly in summer. Instead of everything being last-minute and reactive, there was at least a framework in place to work within.

Before the system, marketing was always late.
Decisions were rushed.
Campaigns were ineffective.

Not because people didn’t care — but because there was no structure to support them.

The system did not magically fix marketing overnight.
What it did was allow people to operate properly, take responsibility, and improve over time.

That is what made marketing better.

The Lesson

Most marketing doesn’t fail because the ideas are bad or the channels are wrong.

It fails because there is no system underneath it.

Without a way to capture demand, manage follow-up, and understand what leads to revenue, more marketing simply creates more noise.

Before increasing spend, launching new campaigns, or hiring agencies, one question matters more than any other:

Is there a system in place that allows marketing to work?

If not, everything else is guesswork.

A Practical Note

If this sounds familiar, it does not mean your business is doing something wrong.

It usually means the system underneath marketing has never been properly built.

That can be fixed.

If you want to talk through what’s happening in your own setup, you can book an introductory call. It’s a practical conversation about structure, not a sales pitch.