Marketing isn’t expensive. It’s often just too complicated.
- Just Do Ad
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
When things get economically tougher, marketing is usually the first area where cuts are made. Budgets are reduced.Projects are postponed .Or not started at all.
Not necessarily because marketing doesn’t work. But because it quickly becomes expensive.
And that’s rarely due to the hours themselves. It’s because too much of that time is spent on alignment instead of impact.
A typical project starts with a kick-off.
The client brings documents:
CI/CD manuals,
presentations,
visions,
sometimes even a briefing. Or at least what is considered one.
What is often missing is something else:a clear, concise answer reduced to just a few sentences – to the question of what should actually be communicated to whom, and why.
The result: The agency starts to close this gap.
They structure, interpret and develop initial approaches. Then comes the presentation.
Several teams present ideas, claims and visual directions. Ideally, the client chooses one of them.
In practice, something else often happens.
A mix emerges.
A part from concept A,
a part from concept B,
and maybe a thought from concept C.
Shortly after, doubts arise. More voices join in. The direction is discussed again.
Not rarely, the process starts all over again.
This is not an isolated case. It is a pattern.
A lot of alignment. Little impact.
The moment when projects start to fail is not always the same.
Sometimes at the beginning, when it is unclear what should actually be achieved.
Sometimes in the middle of the process,when decisions are reopened.
And sometimes at the very end, when finished solutions suddenly no longer convince.
What all these situations have in common:
Clarity is missing –and it is then searched for within the process.
Part of the problem also lies in the distribution of roles.
Is the client still king – or a partner on equal footing, who should be guided toward success?
In the traditional model, agencies are expected to take on as much as possible. To provide answers – even where the questions themselves haven’t been clarified.
Follow-up questions are often seen as an obstacle. When in fact, they should be the starting point.
Because the central question cannot be delegated:
What do we actually want to say?
Alternatives please.
Some work differently on purpose.
They shift the focus forward. Away from pure execution, toward clarification.
Methods like design sprints are one example: https://www.character.vc/sprint
At the same time, the organisation on the client side is also changing.
Marketing no longer happens only externally. Many companies now have their own in-house teams – some of them very well set up.
And yet, it often remains a back-and-forth between internal and external.
The core tasks stay in-house.Content, maintenance, operational execution.
The more visible, strategic or creative projects are outsourced.
Not necessarily because the in-house team couldn’t do it. But because time, trust or structure are missing.
That it can be done differently is shown by an example from Switzerland.
Galaxus deliberately brings together marketing, creation and media within the company: https://www.galaxus.ch/de/page/galaxus-agency-ehrlichkeit-ist-die-beste-werbung-25956
The know-how is not outsourced, but built up and developed internally.The campaigns reach millions and are known to a large part of the population. The difference lies not in the budget, but in the organisation.
At the same time, this model also comes at a cost.
Companies like Galaxus or Migros don’t build their teams by chance. They deliberately bring in experienced professionals, often directly from agencies. That strong results come out of this is desirable and hardly surprising.
Sometimes it seems as if there are only two models:
Either you work with agencies. Or you try to build solutions internally.
What happens to companies that don’t have these options?
SMEs that also need marketing. That may have individual people in-house –for content, for design, for communication. But without the depth, the experience or the time to execute everything at this level.
At this point, something is starting to change.
New tools, especially in the field of AI, are making many things more accessible.
Production becomes
simpler.
Execution faster.
But the core problem remains:
Even with better tools, things do not automatically become clearer.
And yet, there is a large and often untapped potential in between. Especially for SMEs, there is now the opportunity to empower small teams and bring marketing, design and content closer together.
A look at many start-ups shows a similar picture.
Small teams working together on a product. Teams that have internalised their core message, their USP and their positioning. Not always perfectly executed. But clear at the core. That such constellations can be effective is also shown by organisational research from McKinsey: https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/email/classics/2025/2025-02-15c.html
Small, independent teams make decisions faster,work closer to the customerand arrive at clear statements more quickly.
A possible path for an SME:
A small internal team that brings together marketing, design and content. That develops on a project basis and applies what it learns directly.
Complemented by external partners –where specific expertise is needed.
And this is exactly where another factor comes into play: It is often seen as the solution. As an accelerator, a replacement, a driver of efficiency.
In practice, however, something else becomes clear:
AI only helps when you know what you want.
Without a clear idea.
Without a starting point.
Without direction.
Then it mainly produces one thing: more variants. But not necessarily better ones.
At the same time, it changes something fundamental:
It empowers people who previously had no access to these tasks.
Suddenly, content,campaigns and visual ideas emerge – even without traditional agency roles.
Not perfect. But often good enough to get started.
And that is exactly where an opportunity lies for SMEs:
If there are people in the team who are willing to learn and take responsibility, marketing can move closer to the company.Not as a replacement for professionals. But as a complement.
In the end, marketing is not too expensive.
It becomes expensive when it is unclear what should be done.
Or when this clarity only emerges during the process.
Then work turns into alignment and budget into a risk.
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