• by Michael Baer , August 5, 2024

As a fractional chief marketing officer, I get to work with a lot of CEOs at growing organizations that are in moments of inflection. Most generally know they need marketing help and understand when I talk about the benefits of developing a clear and cohesive brand and marketing strategy.

But there are also many leaders who, while understanding these best practices, believe this is a luxury they cannot afford and decide to go on without marketing leadership and oversight.

When leaders choose to do this, they may understand they’re foregoing the somewhat intangible benefits of developing an overarching marketing approach. But it’s also important for them to understand the risks they are taking.

So here are some of the dangers of not developing a strategic approach to your marketing, supported by research:

Inconsistent messaging and confusion: Without marketing leadership driving a thoughtful, documented strategy, businesses are less able to create messaging consistency or drive recognition in the market, and risk distributing inconsistent messages about their brand, products, or services. This can lead to customer confusion and weakened brand identity. In fact, a 2020 SmartInsights report showed that a company without a documented marketing strategy is less likely to differentiate itself from its competition.

Inefficient spending and wasted resources: Studies by Gartner, Forrester, and Workfront all show that teams without a documented strategy experience a lot more inefficiency and waste, including 55% more project delays and missed deadlines, and 35% more time on rework and unproductive tasks due to unclear goals and expectations. Forty-two percent experience more resource waste due to ineffective coordination or prioritization.

Marketing leadership not represented on the executive team: Both HBR and Gartner research showed that companies with CMOs highly involved in strategic planning and within executive leadership teams deliver better performance in achieving business goals and grow 1.3X faster. And Forrester found that companies with strong marketing leadership are 1.5X more likely to significantly outperform their industry average of revenue growth, market share, and profitability.

Weak or nonexistent measurement: Companies that don’t measure marketing performance tend to perform significantly worse than those that do. An HBR report found that organizations that measure marketing performance are significantly more likely to achieve better business outcomes (and can experience up to 2.5 times higher revenue growth).

Worse ROI on efforts: If you don’t have a strategic leader and/or documented strategic plans and goals, it’s likely that your initiatives aren’t clearly designed to deliver on your business objectives. This can lead to scattered efforts, inefficient use of resources, and substandard performance.

In fact, a HubSpot report showed that companies with documented strategic plans built around clear objectives see higher returns on their marketing investments and achieve higher ROI than those that don’t. A Forrester study indicated that companies with a documented marketing strategy see a 10%-20% increase in revenue growth compared to those without. And CoSchedule found that companies with documented strategies are over 400% more likely to report success in their marketing efforts.

Marketing team stress and underperformance: Studies by Gartner, HubSpot, Smartsheet, and CoSchedule all show evidence of the dangers of not documenting strategic plans and goals. For example, marketers without a documented strategy are 60% more likely to feel overworked and stressed, have a 48% higher incidence of ambiguity and confusion, and a 70% higher turnover rate.

It’s time for CEOs who choose to go to market without documented strategies to realize they’re making a choice. They’re not only deciding against accessing the benefits of such strategies, they’re also choosing to live with the material risks of waste, poor performance, and unhappy and ineffective teams.