The marketing is getting done. Is it helping?

A busy first marketer, with little they could point to as a win.

A consultancy’s first marketer described a substantial list of work early in the job: refreshed messaging, updated sales presentations, planned events and a more regular programme of content. They had brought in outside help for some of it.

The business sold through relationships and partners, making marketing’s contribution harder to isolate. The marketer was struggling to demonstrate value, while the available budget depended on recent revenue.

The account shows a difficult situation. It doesn’t tell us whether the work was good, whether buyers had seen it or whether the expectations were reasonable. I’d need to examine those before recommending more patience, a new plan or a different person.

I’d review the work before adding another target.

I’d ask the founder and marketer to bring the current plan, the material already produced and examples of recent sales conversations. We’d map how business actually arrives: who introduces the company, who needs convincing, what they ask and what happens before a decision.

Then I’d connect each active piece of marketing to a specific part of that process. A presentation might help a partner introduce the service. An event might create conversations with suitable buyers. An article might answer a question that keeps coming up in sales.

If we can’t say who will use a piece or why it should help, I’d question its priority. A full content calendar is a commitment to produce work; it isn’t yet a reason to produce that particular work.

We’d choose one project to improve, name who will put it in front of buyers, and decide what other work can wait. Existing event commitments or useful ongoing work still need to be considered. I wouldn’t cancel them just to make the plan look tidy.

For a sales presentation, here’s what I’d actually check.

The table below is a proposed review, not a record of what happened at this company. It shows how the same completed presentation can call for very different next actions.

This makes a review useful to both sides. The founder can see what the work is for and why more effort is justified—or isn’t. The marketer gets a specific next step instead of being asked to make a busy month look successful.

I’d help make the correction, too.

Suppose buyers understand the service but can’t tell what happens after they say yes. I’d review the relevant sales questions with the marketer and speak to the person delivering the service. Then I’d write the missing explanation: what starts the project, what the client must provide, what they receive and which decisions happen along the way.

We’d put that into the agreed sales material and prepare the explanation the salesperson uses with it. Your team handles the design and publishing; I brief and review that work within the project.

The marketer then collects the questions that remain. If the new explanation resolves one confusion but exposes another, we have something concrete to improve. If nobody has used the material yet, we have a distribution problem to solve before judging the copy.

Revenue still matters. So does knowing what a number can tell you.

I wouldn’t replace commercial accountability with a count of posts, slides and events. We’d track the relevant opportunities and revenue where the business can observe them. We’d also record the earlier evidence that helps decide whether the project deserves more work while those opportunities develop.

A buyer asking a better question may be useful feedback. It isn’t a sale. A sale after an event may involve the partner relationship, sales work and earlier contact too. Reporting should make those limits understandable, not claim everything marketing touched.

Equally, a quarter with lower revenue doesn’t tell us which marketing task to cut. That decision needs the project’s cost, its use, the response so far and the company’s available cash. Sometimes the right recommendation will be to stop.

You get a priority, a better piece of work and a way to judge it.

I review the existing work with you and your marketer, identify the first correction, and help research and write it. We agree who will use it, what feedback to collect and what decision the next review should settle.

If the work has a clear purpose, is being used and needs time for the buying cycle to develop, you may need a better review conversation rather than outside support. I’m useful when you also need someone to assess the work itself and help make it better.

For a hire already in difficulty, see the First Marketing Hire Reset. For support from the start, see First Marketing Hire & Support.