Marketing tools are everywhere — automation platforms, AI assistants, analytics dashboards, CRMs, scheduling tools, and paid media platforms. Yet many businesses still struggle to turn marketing activity into consistent growth.
The real challenge isn’t always adding more tools. It’s strengthening the foundations that help those tools deliver value.
When marketing underperforms, it’s often because businesses prioritise activity over clarity: more platforms, not enough positioning; more automation, not enough clean data; more content, not enough relationship-building; more delivery, not enough upskilling.
In this collaborative article, contributors share where they believe businesses are still underinvesting in marketing and growth. From positioning and visibility, to CRM data and continuous learning, each perspective highlights the overlooked investments that make marketing more effective.
What emerges is a clear theme: sustainable growth doesn’t come from tools alone. It is built through the strategic, human, and operational foundations that turn marketing from disconnected activity into long-term commercial momentum.
Dipa KotakÂ
Social Media StrategistÂ
Most businesses are not underinvesting in marketing tools, they are underinvesting in positioning, relationship-building, and visibility consistency. Too many companies keep chasing more platforms, more ads, and more automation while ignoring the fact that trust, authority, and commercial relationships are still what drive long-term growth. I see it constantly on LinkedIn where busiesses want leads without investing in strategic visibility or meaningful networking first.Â
Graham Smith FCIMÂ
Fractional Marketing DirectorÂ
“You can’t do smart marketing with dumb data”. So invest in your CRM and data sources. But most companies don’t because:
- a) At Board level, clean data is considered a boring subject
- b) No Head of Marketing is likely to win an industry award or get praised for data efficacy – so they focus on other stuff
What other stuff? Vanity metrics such as the number of Likes on LinkedIn 🙂
Chris Howard Â
B2B Marketing Director
I actually think upskilling is the key thing for me – especially given the pace of change for AI tools like Claude, which is releasing new updates, workflows, approaches to undertaking marketing activity, etc. And often, that doesn’t even come from the marketing budget, but from a centralised pot. People get so focused on the ‘BAU’ of the job, that little time is left for upskilling, which results in people/teams/companies not being able to focus on ‘how’ to innovate and evolve.
If every person in a 1,000 person business was able to teach themselves a new skill each week – how quickly would you get new and innovative ideas flowing through the business?
Rapidly, I’d wager.
Across these contributions, a clear message comes through: businesses are not always missing ambition in marketing, they are often missing the foundations that make that ambition work.
Some contributors point to the external side of growth: sharper positioning, stronger visibility, and relationships built before a sales conversation begins. Others focus on the internal systems that support better marketing: cleaner data, stronger CRM habits, and teams that have time to learn, adapt, and use new tools with confidence.
What stands out is that these are not quick fixes or shiny marketing trends. They are steady investments that shape whether campaigns land, whether content builds authority, and whether commercial conversations have real substance behind them.
The strongest marketing does not come from chasing every new platform or measuring success through surface-level activity. It comes from knowing who you are for, staying visible with purpose, building trust consistently, and giving teams the skills and information they need to make better decisions.
When businesses invest in these areas, marketing becomes more than a function. It becomes a long-term source of credibility, momentum, and commercial growth.
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