Why Marketing Doesn’t Work (and What Agencies Get Wrong)

Ineffective marketing is a frustrating and embarrassing situation for CMOs, marketing directors, and brand managers. You’re supposed to be an expert, but sub-par results can make you feel like an amatuer.

If this sounds familiar, there’s good news. And bad.

First, the good news. Even the pros struggle at times to get results from marketing strategies and campaigns. So don’t feel bad if you’ve hit a wall and aren’t sure what to do next. It’s something that happens to all of us at one time or another.

Now, here’s the bad news: if you’re thinking about hiring an agency to help you break through that wall, you could be in for more disappointment.

Most agencies can fill knowledge or personnel gaps. But the agency model tends to create as many (or more) problems as it solves.

In this post, you’ll discover why marketing doesn’t work, the root causes, and how to fix them once and for all.

Common signs of ineffective marketing

Here are the most common complaints we hear from clients when they come to us because their marketing doesn’t work:

“We’re not getting the sales we expect.”

It’s frustrating to pour money into a plan that yields disappointing results. This is especially true when you invest more money to solve the problem.

This issue occurs when businesses execute tactics without having a clear strategy. Instead of relying on guesswork, each campaign must support the company’s overarching business goals.

Mismanaged resources can be another issue. For example, many companies focus on ad spend without optimizing the creative elements or targeting parameters.

A higher budget is not the answer. It’s what you do with the money that matters.

“Conversions are low.”

Poor lead quality is the number one issue we see with almost every brand audit client. It takes more than demographics to develop profitable target audiences. Businesses often lack a clear description of their customers that goes beyond basic needs and location data.

Without true clarity, campaigns end up reaching the wrong target customers who have no intention of buying.

“We think our messaging is good, but we aren’t sure.”

Disconnected messaging is a tricky problem. The perspective that business leaders and marketers have of the brand’s value does not always match the customer’s viewpoint. In other words, the brand is talking, but no one is listening.

Inconsistent or disjointed messaging repels customers.

“Some channels just aren’t working for us.”

Omni-channel marketing is the order of the day. Companies must use any channel that makes sense for their brand and audience. These platforms include Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, as well as traditional channels like television and billboards.

But many companies invest in a channel because “everyone else is using it.” But each platform has unique audiences, capabilities, and strengths.

“Another department handles that. We have no control over what they do.”

It’s common for marketing, sales, and leadership teams to operate in silos. But when that’s the case, it’s impossible to create a cohesive business strategy.

For example, marketing teams might focus on metrics that sales reps don’t. Meanwhile, leadership may prioritize goals like lifetime customer value that puts additional pressure on the entire operation.

When departments are on different pages, campaigns suffer.

What most agencies get wrong

Every client at The Brand Auditors has worked with a marketing agency—either now or in the past—with mixed reviews.

In this section, we’ll cover some of the main challenges you may run into when working with an agency.

Treating the symptoms, not causes

Many agencies fail to deliver because they focus on superficial fixes instead of underlying problems. For example, we’ve seen situations where agencies use high volume, low competition keywords for their client’s advertising campaigns. These keywords sometimes attract high levels of SEO traffic. Yet, most of them are not “money keywords.” That is, they have little or no buying intent behind them.

We understand that the agency is under pressure to deliver. But often, the numbers are vanity metrics that have little or no impact on market share growth and revenue generation.

Imagine treating a fever without understanding the infection causing it. Likewise, many agencies treat symptoms without identifying the root cause. Many times, they use the same strategy and tactics for every client. This usually leads to short-term fixes instead of sustainable solutions.

Agencies should commit to problem-solving by analyzing every business component—branding, audience, platforms, and metrics. A 360-degree view of the business is the best way to develop a strategy that works.

Chasing trends, not strategy

Every few months, a new trend takes the marketing world by storm. It’s tempting to jump on board. Many agencies take the bait by prioritizing trends over solid strategy because they want to get the client’s attention.

However, chasing trends leads to disjointed campaigns that fail to meet business goals.

Here’s a real-life example. One of our clients was told by an agency that the company needed to invest in content that would rank in Google’s AI overviews. However, this was at the time when AI overviews were new. Google was still testing the feature, and visibility was limited to a small subset of users.

The client moved forward with the strategy. The result? Thousands of dollars spent on articles that never gained traction.

What the agency missed was the importance of developing content with a long-term perspective, anchoring it in proven SEO principles and audience fit.

Chasing trends may feel exciting, but long-term brand growth comes from strategy, not speculation.

Focusing on channel metrics, not business outcomes

Agencies that focus on channel metrics often miss the bigger picture. Metrics like click-through rates or engagement numbers are important. But you cannot rely on these numbers to determine success.

For example, a campaign could generate high engagement on Instagram, but fail to yield qualified leads.

To avoid this misstep, marketers should track metrics that directly relate to revenue or business goals. Every campaign should have a clear purpose and measurable outcomes.

Making recommendations without understanding customer lifetime value or cost-to-serve

Many marketing strategies miss the mark because agencies don’t assess customer lifetime value (CLV) and cost-to-serve. Without them, business owners risk wasting resources.

Successful marketing plans hinge on knowing how much potential customers are worth over time versus the cost of acquiring them.

Conversions	Website	Add to cart rate, checkout abandonment rate, sales	Assess the effectiveness of your website in converting traffic into purchases.
Customer acquisition cost (CAC)	All channels	Total campaign spend / number of new customers	Measure the average cost of acquiring new customers across all channels, indicating campaign cost-effectiveness.
Customer lifetime value (CLV)	All Channels	Average purchase value x purchase frequency x average customer lifespan	Estimate the long-term value of customers acquired through your campaign, indicating long-term profitability.
Return on ad spend (ROAS)	Social media, search ads	Revenue generated from ads / ad spend	Measure the revenue generated for every dollar spend on social media or search engine advertising.

How to fix broken marketing (before you waste another dollar)

There’s a process you can use to identify the root causes of why marketing doesn’t work and how to fix it. It’s called a marketing audit.

Get a marketing audit

A marketing audit is a comprehensive analysis of your strategy and campaigns. It covers several marketing problems, including messaging, channel strategy, and target audience segmentation.

Many agencies use audits to uncover problems a company might have, then offer a proposal for services to fix the issues. But a true marketing audit doesn’t just provide businesses with a list of problems. The final audit report also shows CMOs and marketing directors what they can do to address the problems once and for all.

Here are some examples of what you’ll get from a marketing audit:

• A gap analysis that finds disconnects between goals, key performance indicators, and campaigns.

• Channel strategy review to optimize the best-performing channels while reducing or eliminating ineffective ones.

• A review of key performance indicators (KPIs) to track only those that are relevant to marketing performance and revenue.

There are other components included in a marketing audit, such as competitor analysis, a review of ad spend, customer segmentation, and a content audit.

The audit should be designed for your business model and goals.

Conduct in-depth audience targeting

When asked, many businesses only have a basic understanding of their target market. For example, during onboarding, we ask clients to describe their target customer profile. The responses we get are usually generic, limited to age, income, and location.

Reaching the right audience is an in-depth process. In addition to demographics, here are a few other characteristics we use to develop target audience segments:

• Online behavior (search, purchasing, etc.)

• Values and interests

• Financial, healthcare, and technology use profiles

• Perspectives on entertainment, fitness, and household lifestyles

• Media consumption habits

These insights give marketers a tangible image of who their customers are. This enables them to develop messaging and campaigns that are far more effective than anything based on generic data.

Improve internal communication among in-house teams and third-party vendors

Marketing directors and CMOs often manage internal teams and third-party marketing contractors individually. We’ve only met a few clients that conducted group meetings with all teams and vendors each month or quarter.

When teams and vendors work in silos, miscommunication and conflicting priorities are rampant. We recommend holding a group meeting at least once per quarter to promote collaboration. During these meetings, teams can share their strategies and rationale for action steps. Other vendors can also weigh in on how each team’s activities impact the overarching strategy.

Let’s look at an example to illustrate. The web development and SEO teams must work together to produce optimal results. Load speed, for instance, is a critical piece of SEO performance. Yet the web developer is often responsible for making technical website speed improvements. Without input from the SEO team, the developer may not know all the factors that contribute to website speed.

Use proven marketing strategies, not hacks

Trends come and go. What’s hot off the press today is old news tomorrow. The same is true for marketing strategies.

It’s easy to get lured in by Shiny Object Syndrome. Through the years, there have been several marketing hacks that served as shortcuts to success. But like so many other foundations built on sand, they all collapsed when the storm came.

Here are some marketing hacks that no longer work:

• Buying backlinks, reviews, and likes

• Keyword stuffing

• AI-generated content (especially the “one-click” AI article writing tools)

• Marketing to everyone

• Boosting social media posts

• Sending generic cold outreach emails and inbox messages

• Ranking for easy keywords to increase web traffic

There are more, but we don’t have room to list them all.

Here’s a question we get often: “Isn’t it smart to use a tactic until it quits working?”

It’s true that a trendy hack may work for a while. But when it stops working, companies usually have to exert twice the effort to repair the damage. In other words, it takes a lot longer to clean up a mess than it does to make it.

Case in point: A client came to us because they had hired an agency that helped them get more reviews. Unfortunately, this was a violation of Google’s guidelines. Google’s manual review team caught on and removed the reviews. The client’s average star rating fell from 4.5 to 2.5 overnight.  

Quality, quality, and more quality

These are probably the two most powerful marketing tips we could give you:

• Focus on quality

• Put the customer first

If you do these two things, your marketing will survive algorithm updates, market volatility, competitive attacks, and changing customer preferences.

Many companies get bored by staying the course. They’re looking for the latest, greatest marketing techniques.

The platforms, tools, and methods have changed—and will continue to change in the future. However, consistent, proven strategies worked yesterday, they work today and will work tomorrow.

If your marketing doesn’t work—you’re not alone

Don’t be discouraged if your marketing doesn’t work. The Brand Auditors has helped companies—like yours—overcome their challenges and get back on track for success.

Connect with a strategist to find out how we can help you do that, too.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the first steps to take when marketing efforts fail?

When marketing efforts fail, begin with a comprehensive audit to identify the problems. Realign your strategies with the business model, make sure all teams are working together, and establish a robust feedback system to learn from previous mistakes and drive improvement.

Can poor execution be a reason why marketing doesn’t work?

Yes. Poor execution often occurs when there are knowledge gaps, no solid action plan, or when marketing vendors are unqualified.