Why Your Marketing Isn’t Working For You & How To Fix It

On the Business Excellence Podcast, Steve Pailthorpe joins James Vincent to explain Why Your Marketing Isn’t Working For You. Drawing on decades of experience, Steve highlights the hidden gaps that cause campaigns to fail and reveals the secrets behind whats happening with Google and LLMs like ChatGPT. Learn how his 7-Step Marketing Chassis™ can turn wasted effort into measurable results.

Why Marketing Plans Fail – And How to Execute Them Properly

“Marketing doesn’t work.”

It’s a phrase many business owners repeat. But the truth is more nuanced. Marketing doesn’t work when it isn’t executed properly.

In this episode, we unpack why most marketing fails, how execution matters more than planning, and what you can do to make marketing deliver real results.

The Problem With Marketing Plans

Most businesses have seen it: a beautifully structured marketing plan presented in a boardroom. But then? Execution collapses.

Steve explains:

80% of marketing fails due to poor execution.

Many businesses hand marketing to a sales administrator or a “tech-savvy” teenager.

Each marketing channel needs a different skillset. Social media, SEO, paid ads, and content are not interchangeable.

The result: plans that look good on paper but never generate ROI.

The Engine Room Analogy

Your website is the engine.

It doesn’t matter how beautiful your design is—if the engine isn’t tuned, nothing moves.

That means:

• XML sitemaps integrated with Google Search Console.
• Fast, responsive design across all devices.
• Technical SEO fundamentals completed before launching campaigns.

Too many businesses invest in “pretty” branding but forget the mechanics that make websites convert.

Omnichannel Marketing Done Right

Modern marketing requires omnichannel execution. There are seven digital touchpoints that must work together to feed traffic into your website:

• SEO – Build authority with keywords and backlinks.
• Google Paid Ads – Search, Display, Remarketing.
• Meta Ads – Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp.
• Social Media – LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, X, Google Business Profile.
• Content Marketing – Blogs, white papers, learning centres.
• Marketing Automation – Targeted, personalised email campaigns.
• Digital PR & Lead Tracking – Links, placements, attribution data.

Each requires subject-matter expertise. Expecting one person to manage them all is unrealistic.

The Marketing Funnel

Marketing spend should be aligned to funnel stages:

• Top of Funnel (Brand Awareness): expensive, long-term (e.g. big ad campaigns).
• Mid-Funnel (Engagement): social media, content marketing. Necessary, but often hard to measure ROI.
• Bottom of Funnel (Lead Generation): email, SEO, paid ads. These deliver the clearest returns and should be the priority for SMEs.

Most small businesses should start at the bottom of the funnel, prove ROI, then scale up.

Email Marketing: Trust, Interest, Action

Forget newsletters. They don’t get opened. Instead, Steve recommends three-paragraph plain-text emails:

• Trust – Who is the sender? Use a person’s name, not the company.
• Interest – Subject line must spark curiosity. Keep it short. Avoid spammy phrases.
• Action – The preview pane (two lines on mobile) should drive response. A reply is as valuable as a click.

Use full URLs instead of “click here.” Deliverability can jump from 80% to 96% by following these basics.

The Marketing Attribution Model

Here’s where execution gets scientific.

Marketing attribution means tracking which channels actually generate conversions. This involves:

• Embedding tracking across all seven channels.
• Measuring hard conversions (form fills, calls, transactions).
• Calculating cost per lead and cost per acquisition.

The insights let you scale winning campaigns and stop wasting money on underperforming ones.

Example: if each qualified lead costs £100, you can decide whether to buy 20 or 200 of them each month.

The Role of Marketing and Sales

Marketing doesn’t end when a lead is handed to sales.

• MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead): fits target persona and shows intent.
• SQL (Sales Qualified Lead): confirmed opportunity ready for sales.

Marketing’s role continues into nurture—through remarketing, content, and touchpoints—until the deal closes. Without alignment between sales and marketing, businesses waste opportunities.

AI: Opportunity and Risk

We are living in an AI revolution. It’s transformative, but also disruptive.

What AI can do: process big data, provide insights, generate prompts, create efficiencies.

What AI shouldn’t do: write all your website or blog content. Google recognises AI-generated copy and won’t rank it.

Use AI for ideation (titles, headings, data analysis). But keep content human, authentic, and emotionally resonant.

Outsource vs In-House

Even global enterprises outsource specialist marketing functions like SEO and paid ads.

For SMEs, outsourcing is often the only way to access the breadth of skills required across all seven channels. Hiring one person won’t cover it.

As Steve puts it: focus on your core competency. Outsource the rest.

Key Takeaways

A marketing plan without execution is worthless.

Your website is the engine – get the technical foundations right.

Start at the bottom of the funnel (SEO, ads, email) to drive measurable ROI.

Use attribution models to make objective decisions, not emotional ones.

AI is powerful but must be used responsibly.

Marketing is about connections – with prospects, customers, and your wider ecosystem.

Final Thought

Marketing isn’t guesswork. It’s not about ticking boxes or copying a social media calendar. It’s about building a machine that consistently produces valuable customers.