Busy marketing team, flat results

Posts go out. Emails get sent. Campaigns launch on time. And revenue looks the same as last quarter. If that sounds familiar, your team probably isn't lazy. They're working on the wrong mix of things.

Why it happens

Too many priorities. When ten things matter, none of them get enough time to work.

Output gets measured instead of results. It's easy to count posts and campaigns. It's harder to count customers, so teams drift toward what's easy to report.

Nobody connects the pieces. The ads person, the content lead and the email agency each do good work, but nobody makes sure it adds up to one story for the customer.

Three questions to ask this week

1. What are the three things marketing must get right this quarter? If your team gives different answers, start there.
2. Which work from last month brought in customers? Keep doing that. Question the rest.
3. What would we stop if we had to cut a third of the work? You probably should stop it anyway.

What usually fixes it

Fewer priorities, clear owners, and one weekly check on what's working. That's it. Teams almost always get more done when they're asked to do less. (Here's a weekly meeting format that helps.)

If you'd like an outside view of what your team should focus on, send me your plan for a free second opinion.