Frankenstein marketing: The monster lurking behind your brand
You’ve heard of Frankenstein’s monster - the lonely chap, pieced together from mismatched parts, stitched together without harmony or cohesion. He moved, he functioned, he was visible enough but he didn’t really do the job.
Unfortunately, this is exactly what many agencies are unknowingly doing with their marketing.
They create what I call Frankenstein marketing - a disjointed, reactive mix of tactics pulled from a combination of webinars, competitors, legacy activity or lunch room opinions. One part is based on a ‘cool’ idea someone saw on LinkedIn. Another is an outdated strategy from a past campaign that someone’s sure brought in a lead.
A third piece is there just because “we’ve always done it that way.” It’s marketing that technically exists and is visible, but lacks clarity, cohesion and - most importantly - effectiveness.
What Frankenstein marketing looks like
Frankenstein marketing isn't always obvious from the inside. In fact, it is often dressed up as effort - lots of activity, tools and tasks. But beneath it’s wrinkly skin there’s:
- Inconsistent messaging LinkedIn posts say one thing, your website another, and your email campaigns something else entirely. The core value of your agency becomes diluted or confusing, a mishmash of different styles, tones and opinions that no one person really understands.
- Siloed efforts Content is handled by a strategist, SEO by one of the engineering team and social media by the office manager who has a bit of “extra capacity” and understands TikTok and then a freelancer is brought in to run some webinars. On top of that, the founder is out ‘networking’ and doing their best to be relevant. None of them talk to each other. No one’s working toward the same strategic goal. Marketing is siloed.
- Copy-paste tactics Instead of strategy leading the decision on tactics in the plan, you’re borrowing things you’ve seen other agencies do, without asking if they make sense for your positioning or audience. What worked for a productised service won’t work the same for a boutique, independent creative agency.
- Lack of follow-through Campaigns are launched and activity is executed with enthusiasm but quickly derail when results aren’t instant. There’s no refinement, no long-term plan, just the next shiny thing.
- Disconnection from sales Your marketing is generating some traffic and maybe even some early stage conversations, but they’re low-quality and unqualified. Marketing and sales aren’t aligned and you're attracting the wrong people with the wrong message.
The end result is your agency looks busy from the outside, you’re working hard but the pipeline remains dry or inconsistent. The marketing isn’t building anything commercially meaningful, it’s simply draining resources.
The cost of getting it wrong
Poor marketing does far more than just waste time, effort and budget, it erodes trust.
For service businesses like agencies, reputation is everything. When your messaging is inconsistent or your marketing feels scattergun, prospects pick up on it (do not think seasoned marketers will not spot it). It communicates disorganisation, lack of relevancy and worst of all, a total lack of value.
And perhaps most damaging: it demoralises your team. When marketing isn’t working, it creates internal friction and doubt. People question what the agency stands for, and morale suffers. Your internal marketing culture is shot - if it were even there to begin with. Nothing screams disorganisation and misalignment more than 30 different versions of what you do across the team.
What a good marketing monster looks like
If Frankenstein marketing is reactive and messy, the Disney princess of marketing (good marketing) is intentional and integrated. It looks a bit like:
1) A clear positioning strategy You know exactly who your ICP are, what you do for them, and why it matters to them. This positioning underpins everything - from your website copy to your sales conversations. It’s visible and consistent across all your prospect facing platforms.
2) Messaging that builds trust Your content consistently reflects your agency’s personality, values and expertise. It speaks directly to your audience’s pain points and shows them a better future. The problem / value exchange is obvious and communicated with clarity and a smoothness which feels natural.
3) Channels cohesion Your content strategy isn’t isolated. Social leads to email. Email supports content. Content drives traffic to landing pages. Everything moves in the same direction. Rather than being solo tactics, your channels work together to fuel each other and power the flywheel.
4) A feedback loop with sales Marketing and sales are truly aligned. The leads coming in are the right ones, because marketing was designed with sales in mind. Insights from sales calls feed back into marketing to refine messaging. Win or lose, data is being fed back to refine the engine for the next opportunity.
5) A long-term mindset Instead of chasing quick wins, you start building long-term momentum. You’re tracking what matters, optimising what works and giving campaigns time and space to grow. You build value, not just outputs.
Recommendations for agencies
If this sounds like you and your marketing approach is a bit of a haphazard, chaotic bundle of disjointed tactics, or you’re creating a marketing approach for the first time, there’s key things you can do to avoid the ugly mess (Sorry, Frankie).
- Audit your marketing assets
Look at your website, your social channels, your email funnels, your paid campaigns (if you’re running them). Do they tell the same story? Are they aligned with your current positioning and audience? Is there a consistency to them? If there’s not, that’s the first thing to look at.
- Create a strategic marketing plan
Before launching anything new, step back and get clarity on your marketing goals. Who are you targeting? Is your value proposition differentiated and fit for purpose? What’s the ideal prospect journey? Agency marketing is about relevancy and consistency and the big question to ask is - are we relevant with what we do and the value that comes from that (i.e are you solving the real things prospects need)
- Consolidate ownership
One of the biggest reasons for Frankenstein marketing is lack of accountability. If you don’t have a marketing manager, assign a marketing owner, someone who understands strategy and execution. If that person isn’t internal, hire a strategist or fractional marketer. Marketing without leadership always ends up piecemeal and sometimes, that leadership is always best sat with the founder.
- Focus on fewer and better
Yes, volume has the perception of effectiveness, but it’s not always the case. Stop trying to be everywhere if things are a bit lawless. Choose 2 maybe 3 core marketing activities you can execute well, consistently and will be best suited to your ICP. Quality beats quantity every time. Scaling once you have order is far easier, especially with AI - you can 5x your marketing efforts very quickly. But amplify what’s good, nobody would quadruple a pile of poisoned apples.
- Invest in long-term brand building
Don’t just market for leads, as 95% of your target audience are not in market for your services currently, and it’ll take time for them to come around. Instead, focus on building brand equity. Publish thought leadership. Share case studies. Evidence through social proof. Create resources that help, not just sell. For all the value you send out, you’ll get it back in the form of a decent, healthy pipeline but only if you’re patient and consistent.
Get it right and you’ll soon know
When your marketing is coherent and strategic, everything is simply easier. Your positioning becomes attractive to your ideal clients. Early stage prospect calls feel like warm conversations, not cold pitches. Your team becomes aligned, confident and engaged, actively contributing to your marketing. You stop chasing disjointed tactics and can start to see brand value being built.
If your current marketing feels stitched together, it might be time to dismantle the monster and start building something that’s not just alive, but viable.
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