There’s a certain kind of post that makes the rounds every few months—the CMO as growth warrior, the pipeline-at-all-costs crusader, wielding AI, attribution models and aggressive CAC math like a sword.
I get it—we’ve all been that marketing leader at one point in this ever-changing career. I’ve owned the revenue number, scaled the team, pushed the funnel, carried the brand and built the machine.
But after 20 years in the trenches—agencies, consultancies, founder-led businesses, B2B tech, hyperlocal media—I’ve learned that how you grow matters just as much as how fast you grow.
These days, here’s what I believe:
1. Brand Is the Moat
It clarifies your promise, attracts the right people and makes every marketing dollar pull double duty. Treat it like a cost line item and you’ll pay for it later—in churn, confusion or talent loss.
A real brand attracts prospects, activates customers, pulls in the right people and gets everyone rowing in the same direction. It’s not just the tagline or the logo—it’s the vibe, the gut check, the reason the company exists at all.
Strong brands create a tether back to the truth of what you stand for—a guide when things get tough or budgets get tight. Change is constant, but if it’s not anchored to your why, it’s just chaos in a new costume.
2. Growth Is a Cross-functional Sport
No CMO drives growth alone. Sales, product, ops, finance—they’re all part of the same engine. Misaligned teams kill momentum faster than any underperforming ad.
You can’t have growth if you don’t know what you’re growing toward—or if half the company hasn’t been brought along for the ride.
True growth lives in every corner of the business: the deals you chase, the talent you hire, the offers you build, the way your board shows up. If those pieces don’t click, growth becomes an uphill slog you can’t spin your way out of.
3. The CEO Needs to Get It—and Show It
If leadership doesn’t value marketing, it’s not always a messaging problem. Sometimes it’s a vision problem. Decks don’t fix that—real alignment does.
A CEO should invest in understanding brand and marketing the same way they look at financial health or headcount. Yes, it’s on us as marketing leaders to break down the how—but leaders need to meet us halfway.
Marketing in a vacuum is like putting up billboards in a room of mirrors—the only thing you see is your own reflection and the migraine it gives you.
4. Brand and Performance Need Choreography
One fuels the other. Brand sets the stage—performance proves it works. They only work if you keep them in balance. Shortcuts kill both.
When a company doesn’t understand that codependency, marketing turns into theater: a lot of noise, not much traction. It takes trust and patience to get this right, because every gear shift—no matter how small—pulls you off rhythm.
Brand sets the tone, marketing keeps the momentum, performance is the proof that consistency works. If you’re pivoting every quarter, you’re stuck in neutral.
5. Attribution Helps—Until It Hinders
Measure what matters, but know when your model turns into a crutch. The best marketing mixes data, context and gut instinct. Dashboards don’t move markets—decisions do.
Yes, look back at the data—audits, retros, assessments—all smart. But don’t pretend half-baked numbers tell a full story.
Good data should sharpen your aim, not paralyze your team. Use what you have with intention and keep moving forward.
6. Culture Eats Growth for Breakfast
No funnel fixes a broken employee experience. Marketing can’t outrun toxic leadership, a bad customer fit or misaligned teams.
Brand and marketing can’t patch cracks in trust or bandage over a hollow company mission. If your internal alignment is a mess, your funnel is just a distraction.
Great brands and clear goals keep the machine running—but only if your people believe in it and see where they fit. (I could write a whole piece just on this—maybe I will.)
7. Your People Are Your Edge
Humans build what works. Their craft, ideas and instincts are the advantage. Invest in them, protect them, coach them—the returns always follow.
Whether you’re selling hours or products, the truth holds: happy people make better things. Satisfy the basics. Give people a reason to care. Let them stretch and own their wins. The loyalty and results will surprise you every time.
I’ve seen it in tiny nonprofits I built myself and in global giants with a hundred-year brand promise. The common thread? Clarity of purpose—and people who could see themselves in it.
8. Sometimes the Smartest Play Is to Do Less
Not every company needs a bloated MarTech stack or a jam-packed calendar of “stuff.” Clarity beats clutter. Strategy beats volume. Execution beats noise.
It took me a long time to learn this (and I still fight the to-do list monster). But the right few things done well will outperform the endless hamster wheel of busywork. Maybe email isn’t your big conversion driver—maybe it’s brand affinity instead. Maybe LinkedIn is your pipeline builder, not that new podcast you’re forcing.
Make the tools work for you. Keep it simple. Keep it clear.
9. AI Is a Tool—Not a Threat, If You Stay Human
AI won’t replace what makes great marketing great—the spark, the voice, the point of view. It will replace your grunt work if you let it.
Every innovation sparks the same panic—radio, TV, the internet, social. Every time, what sticks is what humans do best: tell stories, build trust, stand for something real.
If you ignore AI, you’ll get left behind. If you lean in, figure out how it lightens the load, your work will be better for it.
I don’t chase the loudest growth playbook anymore. I help companies build healthy, resilient brands that earn trust, inspire teams and deliver real traction—the kind that sticks when the quarter’s over and the lights are off.
If you’re a founder, CEO or marketing lead who wants to build what lasts—get in touch. Let’s shape it together.
