There is a problem in marketing that costs money, time and a great deal of effort without real impact. And this is not just my opinion. It is a reality we see every day in both international and Greek markets.

When the market starts to believe that marketing is about a nice campaign, a clever slogan, how many followers a brand has, or a well-designed poster, we have already lost the game before it even begins.

We have lost the essence of marketing. We focus only on the surface, and that is dangerous. Because this is not just about marketers’ choices. It is about how entrepreneurs, executives and entire departments perceive the role of marketing. As a result, they have taken almost everything away from marketing and left it with only one thing: communication.

So, is marketing just communication and tactics? Yes, in terms of perception, but not in terms of reality. Yes, when it comes to the impression most people have about marketing, but not when it comes to what marketing truly is and what its actual role should be.

The role of marketing is powerful and profound. Marketing exists to monitor the market and bring new knowledge into the company. It translates what is happening out there and guides what happens inside. It contributes actively to growth. It provides direction to the CEO or business owner in times of uncertainty. It aligns employees and departments under a shared vision. It understands human behavior and turns it into product decisions, storytelling, pricing and positioning. It defines the framework within which everyone else operates, from R&D when developing products, to sales when entering the market, to finance when forecasting, and to performance teams when running campaigns.

The truth is that 95% of those who work in marketing are actually doing communications. Only 5% are doing real marketing.

Marketing exists to evaluate where investments should be directed, to determine which channels make sense for the brand and integrate them into the media mix, to identify which actions strengthen customer memory and choice, and which ones simply create noise. It exists to filter the noise of the market, to bring clarity within chaos, and to introduce strategic discipline into a world driven by impulsiveness. It exists to protect the brand from wrong decisions, and it certainly does not exist to chase every trend.

Above all, marketing is not an order executor. It is a strategic partner within the company. It is intelligence, foresight, prioritization and direction. It is the function that ensures things move in the right direction.

How close to market reality is all this? My question is rhetorical, but the problem is real. The process of solving it begins with acknowledging that the problem exists, being willing to address it, and then removing anything that stands in the way in order to reach its root and start looking for real solutions.

The Democratization of Tools Created a Misconception About Marketing

The major issue in marketing began years ago with the rise of technology and digital platforms, particularly social media, which rapidly entered and reshaped the field. The democratization of tools for content creation, advertising, monitoring, data collection and analysis, and performance tracking gave a new generation of people and professionals the opportunity to see potential and enter the marketing industry by offering their services.

Is that a bad thing? Not at all. On the contrary, it was and still is a very good thing. The problem started when execution was misinterpreted and everyone began to believe that this is marketing. As a result, a large part of the market became familiar only with the tactical side of marketing. This led to the rise of the “aesthetic industry,” where what is visually pleasing is rewarded instead of what is effective and drives real business impact.

So, despite working in the marketing field, many lack the fundamental knowledge of what marketing truly is, what strategy means, what brand and branding stand for, what the marketing mix, brand personality, STP, and value proposition are. And these are just the entry-level concepts needed to claim that you actually practice marketing and possess the essential foundation to manage not a major brand, but even a small business. We will not even touch on topics like human behavior, the buying process, or the customer journey and its touchpoints, because that would be waving the white flag.

And in the middle of all this, we see so-called marketing professionals promoting seminars with titles like “Let me show you how I reached 50,000 followers.” My agency currently manages the personal brands of a top Greek doctor and a CEO, both of whom are achieving remarkable growth month after month, in Greece and abroad. Yet I would never dare to say, “Come to a seminar so we can show you how we gained thousands of followers,” because that would completely undermine the essence of the work being done.

Since when did followers become a KPI for growth or a measure of success? Followers are not penetration. They are not market share. They are not mental availability. They are not buyers. They are a vanity metric and usually a temporary one. If we define this as an achievement and call it marketing success, then it is no surprise that our industry is losing credibility. Because marketing is not part of the personal fame economy. It is a growth engine.

Just the other day, I was listening to Caleb Ralston, the man behind the personal brands of Gary Vaynerchuk and Alex Hormozi, two of the most powerful personal brands in the world. In one of his recent seminars, he said:

Numbers like viral reach, views, likes and followers are meaningless when measured in isolation from real business impact.

These words came from a man who has built two global success case studies. And that alone should serve as a reality check. If someone who has generated real substance and growth says that going viral means nothing without actual market results, then why is it still one of the main topics of analysis, discussion and education in the Greek market?

That is a serious problem, especially considering that this group of people is becoming the mainstream. They are shaping the new normal and influencing how entrepreneurs and executives perceive what marketing really is.

The Aesthetic Industry Without Real Results

Amid all this, an entire industry has been built around rewarding what looks “beautiful.” We celebrate beautiful campaigns, beautiful visuals, beautiful creative concepts, short films, and ideas. Awards, gala nights, photoshoots as if we were part of the fashion industry.

But if we are not measuring and evaluating marketing based on its contribution to achieving business objectives, to brand growth, to increasing brand recall or market share, then what exactly are we being judged on? On aesthetics alone?

That is the very definition of a bubble. Our industry lives on the planet of success stories, where no one talks about context, failures, business impact, or the systematic and sustainable growth of Greek brands both locally and abroad.

The Poor Decisions of Entrepreneurs

On the other side, we have the poor and costly decisions made by entrepreneurs who, not knowing what marketing truly is or what the role of a marketer entails, assign the position of marketing manager to people who lack the necessary knowledge and background to perform the role effectively and lead the organization toward growth.

Then, when they see that marketing fails to deliver, they take over as marketing directors themselves and start giving orders about what marketing should do and how it should be done. Marketers, acting as obedient executors, follow top-down directives personal opinions that are not based on data, research, analysis, or projections. I will never forget a project where, upon completion, the marketing director told me, “We like it, but the CEO will decide.”

Let me give you a clear example to illustrate what I mean. Normally, and I repeat, normally, did you know that the creation of new products should originate in the marketing department? The initial idea can come from anywhere, inside or outside the company. But the actual process of moving from idea to product development is, by definition, the responsibility of marketing, following all the required steps and procedures that come with it.

A Greek company with operations in dozens of countries abroad reached out to us because the launch of their new product had failed spectacularly. During the diagnostic phase, when we conducted internal and external research to identify what went wrong, we discovered that both the product development and the launch narrative were handled entirely by the management team. “Why did you create this new product?” we asked. “Because management decided so,” they said. “Why did you communicate it this way?” “Because management told us to.” I will leave it at that the conclusions are yours to draw.

An entrepreneur prepares a business plan because it is considered essential. They create sales plans. They prepare financial forecasts. They ask an engineer or electrician to draw plans for their new building. They ask an architect to design their new home or investment. They even plan their summer vacation in detail. Yet when it comes to creating, strengthening and growing their brand through structured and strategic marketing actions, when it comes to finding ways to make customers choose their products more easily, they make no plan at all. Just imagine if all the examples above were done without a plan.

How do I know all this? Because we are the ones entrepreneurs, brand managers, cities, organizations and even marketing departments (quietly, behind the scenes and often without anyone knowing) call in to evaluate the situation and then set frameworks, processes and methodologies. And our conclusion is clear: there is a problem and it is a big one.

Marketing is sick. It suffers from a lack of organization, alignment, direction, continuity and consistency and from a fundamental lack of knowledge among the very people who work in marketing.

Marketing Is About People, Not Machines

Years ago, I read a book called Humanize that left me with two lines I have never forgotten. The author, Jamie Notter, wrote: “For years we made the mistake of trying to fit people into systems and make them mechanical. Now we need to fit systems into people and make them more human.”

Unfortunately, today we are repeating the same mistake. We are so dazzled by technology just as we are now with AI ωthat we once again forget we are dealing with human beings.

I have been saying it for years: people buy, not machines. Those of us who work in marketing aim to get inside the minds of the people we believe we can help with a solution. We aim to create memory, infused with emotion, and to remain there as their choice for as long as possible. We keep forgetting that marketing is, above all, about people.

If there is something missing in marketing today, it is not more technology. It is a deeper understanding of the human being. Marketers should be studying human behavior, sociology and psychology. They should learn how the human mind works, how decisions are made, how associations and emotions are formed, and how the subconscious operates. Because if the mind is the place we want to “enter,” we first have an obligation to understand it.

At the very least, they should read Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking, Fast and Slow, which explores the mechanisms of decision-making through the lens of behavioral economics and cognitive science.

Instead, our attention is increasingly shifting toward machines, trying to make AI think like humans, instead of first understanding how humans actually think.

Marketing Is a Science and It Is Based on Evidence

William Caruso, a researcher at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute in Australia, the world’s leading center for marketing science, recently stated something fundamental.

Just as architects cannot ignore the laws of physics when designing buildings, marketers cannot ignore the laws that govern how brands actually grow. Not the laws of trends or platforms, but the laws of marketing science.

Because at the end of the day, marketing science measures how human behavior shapes the marketplace, how people think, remember, recognize, choose and buy.

Principles such as mental and physical availability, double jeopardy and distinctive assets are not ideas or buzzwords. They are conclusions drawn from decades of real data across many categories, countries and time periods.

What also becomes clear, though few are willing to say it so directly, is that creativity does not exist outside these laws. It exists within them. That is why brands that ignore these principles may succeed for a while, but eventually they fall.

I fully relate to William Caruso’s point. I often tell our clients that marketing is not about “what I like” or “what I believe,” mixed with a bit of inspiration and plenty of creativity. It has laws, rules and data. It has processes. It has methodology. It has frameworks.

And for heaven’s sake, we need to stop comparing and debating what is better or more effective: branding or performance, SEO or ads, brand awareness or hard selling, online or offline. Marketing is not about choosing one or the other. It is about finding the right balance of both, based on strategy and defined objectives.

Marketing is the science that reduces risk in the process of growth. It is not the industry of posts, ads and pretty campaigns. Not that these should not exist, of course they should. But marketing is far broader, deeper and more critical than what most people believe it to be today.

Brands are like buildings. When they are built properly, following the right processes and the laws of the market, by marketer-architects who know what they are doing, why they are doing it and how it should be done, they stand on solid foundations that can withstand time and turbulence.

If not, then the risk of collapse during a market disruption or “earthquake” is enormous. And to those who proudly say, “We didn’t do any of that, and we still succeeded,” my answer is, “You succeeded not because you didn’t do these things, but despite not doing them. You just dramatically increased your risk.”

A brand does not have an expiration date, unless we give it one. When brands and businesses remain stagnant while the market evolves, sooner or later they fall out of the game. What we should seek as brand owners is not a random or temporary peak. Real growth is steady and sustainable, regardless of changes, disruptions or market shifts.

If We Don’t Change Our Mindset, Nothing Will Change in Marketing

Let’s speak openly. We need to stop being idealists. We need to stop burying our heads in the sand. We need to stop living inside the bubble of lights, “creativity” and “aesthetics,” as if that were the real world. Outside our bubble there is a market. There is reality. There are people who buy, who choose, who change.

And that reality, whether we like it or not, is far from the way we see things among ourselves. If we want marketing to regain the place it deserves, we must first face its true essence with seriousness and responsibility.

Marketing is not about what we like, nor is it a form of self-expression or creative self-fulfillment. Marketing is market adaptation. It is the ability to align a company with the reality of the market, not to bend the market to our internal preferences. That is ground zero for the shift in mindset.

Marketing is not about what we like. It is not self-expression or creative self-fulfillment. Marketing is market adaptation. It is the ability to align the company with the reality of the market, not to shape the market around our internal preferences. That is ground zero for the change in mindset.

The Role of the Marketer

In a market that moves faster than we can think, marketers find themselves caught in the middle every day between management teams demanding results, teams that need guidance, and a marketplace in constant motion. They balance, interpret, connect and insist on strategy when everything around them turns tactical. It is not an easy or romantic role. It is a role that requires endurance, judgment and consistency.

And since you will surely want to see how this role is evolving in the years ahead, and how the modern marketer is becoming a true driver of growth within the organization, read the article we at RISTART have dedicated to all of you, titled “The Future of the Modern Marketer.”

The Solution Exists and It Is Right in Front of Us

We do not need new buzzwords. What we need is a return to the fundamentals of marketing to its essence and proper application. The solution already exists, it is here, and it is fully actionable. The science of marketing has already provided all the frameworks, processes and methodologies we need. The challenge is not to discover something new, but to correctly apply what we already know.

Knowledge and Education
Implementation begins with knowledge. Continuous education in the fundamentals of marketing is essential not for a few, but for everyone. For executives, marketers and entrepreneurs alike. Without a solid understanding of the basics, there can be no real ability to apply them.

Brand Development Through Structured Processes
Apply the established processes of brand development for companies, products and services. The methodology includes defining vision, values, personality, tone of voice, value proposition, messaging pillars, brand storytelling, differentiation and positioning statement. These are not “nice to have.” They are “must have.”

Marketing Orientation
The company must think and make decisions based on the market, not on its own internal opinions or desires. The hero and the center of the story is always the customer, and that is where our reasoning must begin. We are the guides. This means we start from what is happening out there, how people actually buy, what the category drivers are and what the market data shows, not from what we like or what we want to say and do. And you know why? Because we do not create products for ourselves to buy, but for others. So let’s listen to them.

Absolute Respect for the Brand
We build and develop our brand in the same way parents nurture a newborn child. They shape it according to what they believe is right, and over time it forms its own identity, direction, character, personality, and way of expression and thinking. That is why I always say we should see our brand as if it were human, and then remain faithful to that framework, to its personality, tone of voice, brand identity, colors and typography.

Strategic Alignment
Nothing begins without objectives. Marketing defines strategic priorities based on the business goals. Every action from the smallest printed material to a 360° activation or a new product launch must first answer the questions why, for whom, where and for what purpose. Without these answers, we lack direction and foundation, leaving too much room for debate and personal opinions during execution. When you know and can answer, you convince.

Design of a Comprehensive Marketing Plan
The creation of a complete annual marketing plan is essential. It should include the marketing mix, STP (segmentation, targeting, positioning), objectives, tactics, budget and timeline. In some cases, we also analyze the customer journey and key touchpoints within the plan to optimize both brand perception and customer experience. The plan represents the operational marketing strategy for the coming year, and without it there can be no stability, accountability, direction or consistency.

Implementation, Measurement and Evaluation
The market is highly dynamic, which requires constant alertness from the marketing department. At this stage, standardized processes and platforms must be in place to provide regular reports from both internal and external sources. Once a marketing plan has been designed, it must be executed with precision and monitored systematically. Results are analyzed, tactics are adjusted where necessary, and implementation continues. This process functions as a continuous loop: planning, execution, monitoring, evaluation, adjustment and then back to the beginning.

Consistency in Messaging and Campaigns
Campaigns, core messages and brand narrative platforms should not change every six months. When we change our main message every year or every new season, what we are essentially doing is pressing reset on the customer’s memory and saying, “Forget that, now learn this.” Brands that constantly reset do not build mental availability. The message we want to embed in the audience’s mind is an asset (it builds memory) and it cannot be changed before the previous one has been absorbed. A brand needs consistency over time to create and strengthen associations in the consumer’s mind. As Jenni Romaniuk explains in her book Building Distinctive Brand Assets, building memory and reinforcing distinctive brand codes is a long-term process that takes years.

Freedom of Action for Marketers
Once the marketing plan has been presented to the board, marketers must have the freedom to execute it and at the same time take full responsibility for its results. They are not order takers but internal strategic partners alongside the CFO, Commercial Directors, Business Units and Business Excellence teams. This is the true role of marketers, and only in this way can they genuinely contribute to growth.

A Common Language Within the Organization
Marketing must establish a common language with management and all other departments of the company, based on evidence-based principles rather than personal opinions. When everyone from the board to marketers, sales and commercial teams, speaks the same language (categories, objectives, CEPS, penetration, mental and physical availability), decisions are aligned, nothing gets lost in translation, and the company gains strategic cohesion. The absence of a common language is one of the main causes of poor decision-making.

Together with my team, we enter companies and most of the time work behind the scenes, supporting campaigns, strategies and major brand decisions. We hear things that are never said aloud, we see what happens inside, the tensions, conflicts, miscommunications and bottlenecks that lead to mistakes and we know that many of these could have been avoided if the company had simply followed proper processes. We see ideas, products, proposals and people who have the potential to shine, but the system and structure do not allow them to. So the issue is not that there is no talent or potential. It exists, but it needs structure and framework to thrive.

What I have written in this article is not theory. It comes from experience from real case studies, from discussions with business owners, executives and marketing professionals. I constantly talk with leading marketers around the world and with people from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute. These conversations are not formal, they are exchanges of knowledge and real data.

Real change in marketing won’t come through nice words. It will come when we apply what we already know is right with discipline, structure, and courage.