Building or fixing the marketing function: practical approach when growth feels stuck

There’s a very particular kind of frustration I hear from founders and leadership teams when we talk about marketing. It’s not about creativity or budget but alignment.

They’ll say things like:

• “We’re doing lots of marketing, but I can’t tell what’s actually working.”
• “We have data, but no story.”
• “Our team is busy, but growth has stalled.”

Those problems usually share the same root cause: the marketing function is either underbuilt, overcomplicated, or misaligned to what the business actually needs at its current stage.

Whether you’re building marketing for the first time or trying to fix something that no longer fits, this is how I’d approach it in six steps.

Step 1 – Start with the stage, not the structure

Before talking about roles, tech, or channels, the first thing to assess is where the business actually is:

• Startup: Everything is experimental. You need rapid learning loops, lightweight systems, and a clear narrative that builds credibility quickly.
• Scale-up: You’re adding people, entering new markets, and trying to standardise without killing momentum.
• Established business that reached a plateau: There’s plenty of activity and history, but growth has slowed, and the current setup no longer moves the needle.

Each stage demands a different balance of speed, process, and discipline. Startups benefit from fast feedback and focus. Plateaued (As a French person this hurt my eyes) businesses often need clarity and simplification more than “more marketing.”

Step 2 – Define Marketing’s “Job to be done”

A surprisingly common gap is that no one has explicitly answered one basic question:

What is marketing actually responsible for in this business?

Is its primary job to:

• Generate a qualified pipeline?
• Educate the market and shape a category?
• Increase product adoption and retention?
• Build brand preference that supports sales over longer cycles?

Without a clear answer, it’s impossible to design the right team, metrics, or roadmap; and marketing often ends up being judged on expectations it was never set up to meet.

I typically frame meaningful KPIs across three buckets:

These aren’t vanity numbers; they connect marketing activity back to commercial reality and decision-making.

Step 3 -Build around capabilities, not job titles

It’s tempting to “solve” marketing by hiring a Marketing Manager or adding another specialist. But starting with job titles rather than capabilities often creates gaps and overlaps.

Step 4 – Don’t skip customer insight

One of the most common reasons marketing underperforms isn’t execution; it’s distance from the customer.

Before changing plans or hiring, I’d ask:

• When did we last speak to customers directly?
• Do we understand why we win, lose, or stall deals?
• Are sales, product, and marketing aligned on the same narrative?

In regulated or trust-led sectors like financial services and education, this matters even more. Marketing that isn’t grounded in real customer language and concerns will look busy, but won’t convert.

Step 5 – Fixing a function that’s lost its way

Where a team already exists, but results have plateaued, I’d start with a simple audit across four lenses:

People

• Are responsibilities clear, or is everyone “doing a bit of everything”?
• Are there obvious skill gaps (e.g. data confidence, customer insight)?

Process

• How are priorities set—deliberately, or by the loudest request?
• Is there a consistent way to brief, execute, and review work?

Technology

• Is the martech stack integrated, or duplicative?
• Are you paying for tools no one really owns or uses?

Performance

• Are you measuring activity (posts, sends, impressions) or outcomes (pipeline, retention, deal velocity)?

Across SaaS and B2B organisations, a consistent pattern emerges: when reporting is reduced to a handful of outcome-oriented KPIs, focus improves and leadership finally gains clear visibility into impact.

Fixing the function is often less about doing more, and more about making better choices.

Step 6 – Create a rhythm between strategy and execution

Even a well-designed setup will drift without an operating rhythm.

A simple cadence works remarkably well:

• Quarterly: Set focus, define 3–5 priorities and KPIs
• Monthly: Review performance, decide what to stop, start, or scale
• Weekly: Short stand-ups to keep execution aligned

This doesn’t require bureaucracy; just enough structure to ensure learning feeds back into decisions.

When a fractional leader makes sense

If this feels familiar: busy teams, lots of tools, unclear impact, you’re not alone.

In many cases, what’s missing isn’t more execution, but a temporary senior perspective.

A fractional leader can:

• Re-frame marketing’s role in line with growth goals
• Align existing people, partners, and platforms
• Establish a simple KPI set and operating rhythm that the team can sustain

For startups, this might be a few months of part-time support to set foundations before hiring.

For scale-ups or plateaued businesses, it’s often a faster, lower-risk way to reset direction without committing to another full-time executive.