Marketing Is Just a Megaphone
Marketing doesn’t build your brand. It amplifies it. And if your narrative is vague or you’re not quite sure how to articulate it clearly, then marketing will broadcast this at scale.
Marketing is the megaphone. Branding is the message.
Your Narrative Is No One Else’s Job
Agencies and marketers are not the strategic stewards of your identity. They work with what you give them. It’s not entirely their fault if what they publish and post doesn’t perform the way you want it to.
The Narrative Touchpoint Hierarchy
Narrative is not isolated to marketing. It needs to be applied consistently.
Here are some touchpoints that need consideration:
- Outskirts: Website, ads, social media
- Initial Touchpoints: Enquiry forms, outbound emails, intro calls
- Immersive Touchpoints: Sales conversations, delivery experience
- Peripheral Touchpoints: Post-sale care, follow-ups, team interactions
Marketing obsesses over the outskirts. But brands are built in the initial, immersive and peripheral. If those experiences don’t reinforce your narrative, your marketing is a facade.
The 3 Lies Marketing Tells You
- “Branding is part of marketing.” Wrong. Branding is the lens through which every business decision is made. Marketing is just one expression. If marketing leads branding, you’re letting tactics steer strategy.
- “Consistency is king.” Repeating shallow messaging consistently makes you forgettable faster. Consistency only matters when it’s grounded in something worth repeating.
- “Let the data decide.” Data tells you what worked. It doesn’t tell you what mattered. If you’re letting short-term data shape your long-term narrative, you’re not leading, you’re reacting.
Design Isn’t Visual, It’s Structural
Stop thinking of design as visual. Design is how your brand narrative speaks, delivers, and follows through. Build your foundation, then amplify it.
Have You Abandoned Your Narrative?
It’s easy to do when we get busy. We can forget that the vision we have in our heads will become diluted if we don’t provide leadership. You can’t outsource clarity. And you can’t delegate identity.
Before you execute another campaign, ask yourself:
- Would I buy from us?
- Why would I buy from us?
- Can I articulate, without fluff, what we actually stand for?
- Have I codified that in a way others can use?
If the answer is no, stop marketing.
Fix the message. Own the narrative. And only then should anyone be allowed to amplify it.
© Hamish Chadwick™