There’s a quiet role marketing teams have slipped into over the last few years. It’s rarely written into job descriptions, but everyone seems to expect it. Marketing has become the translator between departments that don’t align.Marketing has stopped being a growth engine and started being the corporate spackle for structural cracks. We’ve become the emotional support function for leadership teams that treat "strategy" like a vibe rather than a plan.
When strategy is unclear, marketing is told to “experiment.”
When priorities clash, marketing is asked to “stay agile.”
When the organization can’t agree on what success looks like, marketing is expected to make it all somehow work and look intentional while doing it.
When priorities clash, marketing is asked to “stay agile.”
When the organization can’t agree on what success looks like, marketing is expected to make it all somehow work and look intentional while doing it.
At first glance, this sounds like trust. Autonomy. Empowerment. In reality, it’s often the opposite.
What’s being handed to marketing isn’t freedom. It’s ambiguity. The phrase "Marketing will figure it out" is doing a lot of heavy lifting these days. It’s code for "We have no idea what we’re doing, but we need a pretty deck to distract the board.
Every request arrives wrapped in politeness:
“Could you just take a look at this?”
“Can we quickly test something?”
“Let’s try a few things and see what sticks.”
“Could you just take a look at this?”
“Can we quickly test something?”
“Let’s try a few things and see what sticks.”
These phrases sound harmless. But they carry an unspoken assumption that strategy is fast, infrastructure is invisible, and execution has no cost.
Real marketing doesn’t work that way.
Strategy is a series of choices. Choices mean trade-offs. Trade-offs mean saying no to perfectly reasonable ideas so the right ones can actually succeed. When leadership avoids making those calls, marketing inherits the burden.
The buffer between sales pressure and product reality.
The storyteller for a vision that keeps shifting.
None of this shows up in dashboards.
What does show up is performance anxiety.
It’s the only department where you get blamed for the rain but get zero credit for the sunshine. When sales hit the target, it’s because the sales team are "closers" and the founder is a visionary. But when the numbers dip? It’s because the leads were "weak," the copy didn't "pop," or marketing spent too much time on brand awareness. We’re the designated scapegoat for missed revenue targets that were unrealistic from day one. When results stall, the question is immediate: Why isn’t marketing performing?
Rarely asked is the harder question: What did we actually ask marketing to optimize for?
Rarely asked is the harder question: What did we actually ask marketing to optimize for?
And when things go well, Credit floats upward. Marketing moves on to the next “urgent” request, usually before the last one has fully landed.
This is where the exhaustion creeps in.
Not because marketers can’t handle the work.
Not because they lack creativity or grit.
But because they’re constantly compensating for the absence of alignment.
Not because they lack creativity or grit.
But because they’re constantly compensating for the absence of alignment.
That’s why your best marketers look so tired. They aren't burning out because the work is hard, they’re burning out because the chaos is loud. They’re leaving because they’re tired of doing everyone else’s job. That’s why so many are leaving environments, not careers. They’re stepping away from organizations where clarity is optional but results are mandatory. They’re exhausted from bridging the gap between a disorganized leadership team and the reality of the market. If you want to keep them, stop buying them pizza and start making actual decisions. Marketing can amplify a clear strategy, but it cannot fix a broken compass.
If a marketing team feels reactive, stretched thin, or perpetually behind, the instinct is often to push harder: more campaigns, more tools, more output.
But the real fix is quieter and more uncomfortable.
It starts with leadership doing the unglamorous work of choosing.
Choosing a direction.
Choosing a priority.
Choosing what won’t be done right now.
Choosing a direction.
Choosing a priority.
Choosing what won’t be done right now.
Because marketing can amplify focus, but it cannot create it from nothing. And no amount of hustle can compensate for a lack of clarity at the top.
