Today, I’m starting a 5-part series on why marketing fails. 

There are multiple reasons it can fail, but I want to focus all 5 parts on the single most important factor at play. 

A great marketer of our times, Dave Gerhardt, summed it up well when he said – “Life’s too short to work for a CEO who doesn’t get marketing.”

As a CEO of a marketing agency for ministries, I fully agree. 

The single biggest reason why marketing fails is that it often fails at the top. 

The 5 reasons why marketing fails at the top can be classified as:

1. Perception
2. Priority
3. Practice
4. Patience
5. Peer pressure 

Let me start with perception today. 

If your CEO isn’t a marketer, or is one who doesn’t get marketing, he/she could often be referring to sales when he/she says marketing. 

Most people simply don’t understand the real difference between the two.

Ask a CEO about the top marketing activities he/she approved for the year and you are likely to hear the following – conferences, online advertising, sponsorships, discounted campaigns, etc.

Most of these are sales activities and not marketing activities. 

Real marketing activities would include customer interviews, CRM analysis, pipeline velocity measurement, demand generation, activity/channel audit, community building, etc.

The primary problem here is perception because most people, not just the CEO, think sales when they say marketing.

If your CEO isn’t getting marketing, I pray you first understand why, so that you can start to help change that perception.