The strategy vacuum: why your marketing lead isn't the problem

Marketing leaders are under pressure to drive growth, but without strategy from the top, they’re set up to fail.

Marketing leads in scale-ups and corporates are often expected to be miracle workers. But when KPIs aren’t hit and lead gen slows, the issue is usually structural.

Marketing is the first to be blamed when growth slows

Especially in B2B, finance, property, professional services - you hire a smart marketing lead, give them a budget and a team, and expect magic. Six months later: missed KPIs. Low lead quality. Executive frustration.

Here’s the hard truth: your Head of Marketing might not be the problem.

And if you already have a full-time CMO, you’ve made a strategic bet, given marketing a seat at the table, or reached a scale that truly demands this role. But even a talented CMO can’t fill a strategy vacuum overnight without the right structure and alignment, they’re still left to guess at the big questions.

The real issue? No one’s doing strategy.

Many growing businesses skip straight from mission statements to tactics. They confuse brand awareness with marketing effectiveness. They pour effort into content and campaigns without ever answering:

• Who are we really for?

• What are we trying to build in the market?

• What value do we stand for beyond service lines?

Without these foundations, your marketing lead inherits a mishmash of legacy assets, internal opinions, and untested assumptions.

What a strategy vacuum looks like

• Unclear or outdated value proposition

• No central messaging framework

• Campaigns that feel disconnected or low-impact

• A marketing team constantly shifting gears without direction

Without leadership alignment on brand positioning and go-to-market strategy, even the best marketers will struggle.

Don’t replace your team - support them with structure

What most teams need isn’t more people or more tech. They need clarity. That’s where a fractional CMO or strategic partner brings real value - CMO-level-thinking without the full-time commitment.

Pink Mingo works with executive teams and in-house marketers to connect the dots between business goals, customer insight, and brand expression.

When to bring in a strategic partner

• You’ve got smart marketers but no overarching strategy

• Your CEO is leading marketing by default

• Your brand no longer reflects your ambitions

• You’re scaling, but your messaging hasn’t kept pace

The answer isn’t more noise. It’s brand clarity.

How Pink Mingo helps

Whether stepping in as an interim marketing lead or a retained fractional CMO, I don’t come to “fix” the marketing team. I come to shape the agenda: clarify brand strategy, focus messaging, and define what good growth looks like - before you throw more budget at LinkedIn ads or lead-gen tools.

If your marketing is floundering, pause before you hire more people or change agencies. First, ask: Do we have the right strategy at the top?

If not—let’s fix that.

Explore my fractional CMO model.