---
title: Do you need more marketing, or a marketing leader?
description: Spending on marketing but can't say what it's getting you? The signs you don't need more tactics, you need a marketing leader, and how to get one.
---

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 October 1, 2026

# Do you need more marketing, or a marketing leader?

![Picture of Summer Hagens](https://authentically23.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Profile%20Photo%20with%20Background.jpg?width=50&name=Profile%20Photo%20with%20Background.jpg) By   Summer Hagens  ·   2 minute read

When my daughter, Ella, was five, she was telling me about something from her day that didn't add up. "That doesn't make sense," I said.

She didn't miss a beat:

> "Yeah, Mom. It doesn't make dollars either."

 

Obviously, she thought I was saying “cents,” not “sense.” 

Ella is 22 now, and that line still makes me smile. It's also the best description I've heard of how marketing feels to a lot of business owners.

You're doing things. Posting, emailing, updating the website, trying the ad your nephew recommended. But it doesn't quite make sense, and it doesn't make dollars either.

So the instinct is to do more. Here's the thing: more usually isn't the answer.

## More tactics won't fix a missing plan

When marketing isn't working, most owners add something. A new agency. A social media freelancer. A website refresh. Each one makes sense on its own.

But without someone setting the direction, they don't add up. Every vendor is busy, and nobody is steering. You end up with a lot of activity and very little momentum.

What's missing usually isn't effort. It's leadership.

## Signs you need a leader, not more marketing

- **You're spending, but you can't say what it's getting you.** Money goes out every month, and the results are a guess.
- **Your message changes depending on who wrote it.** The website says one thing, the sales deck another, and social media a third.
- **Every marketing decision lands on your desk.** You're the brand manager, the approver and the strategist, on top of running the business.
- **You hired help and expected a plan.** A coordinator or freelancer can do great work, but it isn't fair to ask them to set the strategy too.
- **You've outgrown "we'll figure it out."** The business is growing faster than your marketing is.

If two or more of those sound familiar, another tactic won't fix it.

## Meaning and feeling come before channels

A marketing leader doesn't start with "Should we be on TikTok?" They start with the questions underneath it:

- Who are we, and who are we for?
- What do we want those people to feel about us?
- What do we want them to do next?

Once those are clear, choosing channels gets easy. Every post, page and campaign has a job, and you can tell whether it's doing it.

## What a marketing leader actually does

- **Sets the direction.** Priorities tied to your business goals, not just a calendar of posts.
- **Builds the plan.** What to do, in what order, and what to stop doing.
- **Makes sure it gets done.** Including managing the freelancers and partners who carry it out.
- **Keeps the brand consistent.** One story, told the same way everywhere.
- **Shows you what's working.** A simple monthly scorecard, so marketing stops being a guess.

I've built marketing functions from the ground up twice, including one that scaled across 20+ locations. Both times, the most important work happened before a single campaign launched: getting clear on the story, the priorities and the plan.

## You don't need a full-time executive to get one

Many growing businesses aren't ready for a full-time marketing executive, and don't need one yet. A fractional Head of Brand & Marketing gives you senior leadership a few days a month, scaled to what you need: senior direction for a team that can do the work, hands-on help building your marketing function, or a leader embedded with your team during a launch or growth push.

## The takeaway

More marketing makes noise. A marketing leader makes it make sense, and makes it make dollars.

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