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Marketing is one of those things you know matters.
You don’t need convincing. You don’t need another post telling you it’s important. You already know that.
And yet… it still feels like the thing that never quite gets the attention it deserves.
Not because you don’t care. Usually it’s because marketing lives at the bottom of a very long to-do list.
You know its important, but marketing isn’t screaming at you like client work, staff issues, or some random thing that’s happend today.
So it gets pushed back. Or half done. Or done in bursts when guilt kicks in. Which, by the way, is more common than you think, so if you’re beating yourself up about your marketing not getting done, please stop. You are not alone.
Here are three of the most common marketing challenges and how to fix them.
1. The “what should I even be doing” problem
One of the most common conversations I have goes something like this.
You tell me about the marketing you think you should be doing.
- Social media
- Website updates
- Content
- Video
- Probably LinkedIn
And then you look at me and say, “It’s overwhelming, I just don’t know where to focus.” or “We don’t know what’s going to get us the best results.”.
That feeling of overwhelm or confusion doesn’t come from a lack of ideas. It comes from too many.
So, the fix isn’t adding more marketing things. It’s deciding what marketing actually needs to do for.
What are you trying to achieve with your marketing?
- Are you trying to be more visible
- Do you want your messaging to be clearer
- Do you want to attract a different kind of ideal client
- Something else?
You also need to remember that your marketing goals should align with your business goals. You can read more about that here.
Once you answer that,(what are you trying to achieve with your marketing), then your marketing get easier.
It means that you don’t need to do all the marketing things, you just need to do the things that support your goal/s.
This is also where having someone outside your business helps more than most people expect. When you’re in it every day, everything feels equally important.
An external marketing brain can help you cut through the noise and focus on what’s actually going to move the needle, without you having to second guess every decision.
2. Doing the marketing things but still feeling unsure if its the right thing
This one sneaks up on you.
You are posting. You are showing up. You might even be spending money. But there’s this underlying feeling of, “I think this is working… but I’m not actually sure.”
That usually happens when marketing becomes a to do list instead of part of how the business works.
Brand awareness is a classic example. Almost everyone wants it, but very few people stop to define what that actually means for their business.
If your goal is to be more visible or better known, then the question isn’t “did this one post work”. It’s whether your marketing is helping the right people recognise you, understand what you do, and remember you when the time comes.
That’s also where measurement gets misunderstood.
Not everything worth doing in marketing shows up straight away. Some things are about momentum. Some are about consistency. Some are about making future decisions easier for the people you want to work with.
So instead of trying to judge every piece of marketing in isolation, it’s more useful to look at patterns over time.
- are enquiries becoming more aligned
- are conversations starting warmer
- are people already familiar with you before you explain what you do?
People don’t usually see one post and take action. They see you again and again, and by the time they reach out, it feels obvious to them, even if it feels random to you.
When marketing is connected back to clear goals and reviewed regularly, that “I think this is working” feeling starts turning into confidence. Or to flip it, that “I don’t know if this is working” feeling disappears – because you are regularly checking and adapting to make sure you’re focused on the right marketing.
This is also the point where doing it all yourself can start to feel unnecessary. Having someone else keeping an eye on what matters and making sure things stay on track means marketing stops being a constant question mark.
3. Marketing disappearing when things get busy
This is the most predictable challenge of all. It’s one I see all the time.
When work ramps up, marketing drops off. And then things slow down, marketing suddenly feels urgent again, and immediate results are expected (and not achieved).
Rinse and repeat.
What’s really happening in that cycle is that marketing gets treated a optional when things are busy, and urgent when they’re not. Which is exactly backwards.
Marketing shouldn’t drop off just because work ramps up. That’s usually when you need it running in the background, doing its job, without you having to constantly think about it.
The way out of this cycle isn’t trying harder or being more disciplined. It’s setting marketing up so it fits into how your business already runs.
That might mean focusing on fewer platforms instead of trying to be everywhere. Aka, spend your time on those platforms where your ideal clients are and ignoring people who tell you “you have to be on every social platform”.
Take if from me, you don’t have to show up on all the socials every day. In fact if you do try to be everywhere, chances are you are wasting your time, energy, and money on platforms that will never send new clients your way.
This marketing challenge, in particular, is also why outsourcing marketing can make sense. Not because marketing becomes less important, but because it shouldn’t rely on spare time. When you have a marketing expert responsible for keeping marketing running, you get to focus on your business, knowing visibility isn’t dropping off in the background.
Why this all feels so common
If you’re nodding along to this, it doesn’t mean you’re behind, it means you’re normal.
The businesses that get results aren’t the ones doing the most. They’re the ones doing the right things, again and again, without constantly reinventing the wheel.
A more realistic way forward
If marketing has been feeling messy or overwhelming, the answer probably isn’t another platform or another idea.
Marketing doesn’t need to be flashy or complicated. It just needs to work with your business, not against it.
And when it does, it stops being this constant background stress and starts quietly doing what it’s meant to do.
If you’re at the stage where you know what needs to happen, but you don’t want to be the one making it happen anymore, that’s exactly the kind of work I do. Helping you work out what to focus on, then making sure it actually gets done, consistently, without you carrying all of it.
FAQs about common marketing challenges and how to fix them.
What are the most common marketing challenges?
Not knowing what to focus on, inconsistent marketing, unclear results, lack of time, and trying to manage everything alone are some of the most common challenges.
How do I fix marketing when it keeps falling off my to do list?
Marketing becomes easier to maintain when you reduce the number of channels, create simple systems, and focus on what actually supports your business goals right now.
How can a marketing agency help with marketing challenges?
A marketing agency can provide clarity, structure, and follow through, helping marketing stay consistent even when you’re busy running the business.
