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Unplugged:

What People Think Marketers Do (And What We Actually Do)

What do people think marketing actually is? Depending on who you ask, you will get very different answers. From the outside looking in, marketing can feel like a bit of a mystery, a buzzword-heavy grey area, or just someone endlessly scrolling on their phone. We decided to take a proper look at our industry to break down the misconceptions, the realities of content creation, and what marketing actually means to us.

How People See Marketing

There is a massive spectrum when it comes to how people view our industry. On one end, those with little exposure assume marketing is simply posting on social media. Decades ago, people would have pictured something like Mad Men’s Don Draper and glossy magazine ads, but today, that surface-level view has shifted entirely to social platforms.

Further up the scale, business owners know marketing is vital for growth, but the specifics get confusing fast. When you are trying to scale, you get pulled in every direction by experts claiming their method is the only way forward. Whether it is LinkedIn influencers, Meta ads, or SEO, it is easy to know these tools exist without understanding how or why they work.

Marketing is Not Sales (And it Isn't Just One Job)

One of the biggest areas of confusion is the line between marketing and sales. They require very different skill sets. Marketing's job is to bring the right leads to the door; sales is about converting those leads into paying customers. 

When a business does not have separate teams, these roles often get blurred. To make matters trickier, many companies hire a single in-house marketer and expect them to handle everything: SEO, PPC, website optimisation, copywriting, graphic design, and strategy. In reality, those are all distinct specialisms.

Going Viral Isn’t a Marketing Strategy

Platforms like TikTok have completely reshaped how the public views what we do. Content creation has become a legitimate career path, but people often confuse content creation with strategic social media management.

There is a huge misconception around going viral. People see accounts with massive followings, but they do not see the 200 posts that flopped before the algorithm took notice. Chasing vanity metrics like millions of views feels great, but a viral video does not automatically equal paying customers.

Why Thinking That "Marketing Didn't Work" is Usually Wrong

Because marketing is subjective, what works for an e-commerce brand will look completely different to a strategy for a local B2B service provider.

Of course, if you speak to someone who specialises in one particular area, they are going to recommend their specific tool to help solve your problem. But if that single channel does not deliver the results you hoped for, it’s easy to assume that “marketing doesn’t work” as a whole. But what that actually means is that one specific option out of many was not the right fit for your business. Good marketing is about testing, being patient, and being flexible enough to change tack until you find the right approach.

What Marketing Actually Is

When you strip away the buzzwords, algorithm trends, and vanity metrics, marketing comes down to a clear core purpose: finding the right channels to deliver the right message to the right people, and ultimately driving genuine leads for a business.

If you are looking to build a tailored marketing strategy that actually fits your business, get in touch with our team today. We promise we do not just spend all day scrolling for trends.