It was our eldest son’s 15th birthday last week. And in a rare and very welcome moment, our youngest – twelve years old and normally glued to his mates and his screen – offered to help bake the cake.
Naturally, I jumped at the chance. Just the two of us, chatting about our favourite cakes, working through the recipe, cracking eggs, measuring flour… and making just a little bit of mess.
As we went through it, I explained that baking isn’t really something you can wing. You can’t just guess the amount of baking powder or throw in the sugar at the end because you forgot. It’s about the right ingredients, in the right amounts, in the right order.
And it struck me: this is exactly the bit that gets missed in marketing.
And that’s where the comparison ends – because this isn’t about cake. And before I get carried away with the puns (yes, rising to the challenge – had to), this is about why so many businesses get stuck when they expect one marketing activity to carry the weight of everything else.
Organic social isn’t a strategy.
Posting regularly is great. Showing up is important. It’s visible, immediate, and can show real personality.
But it is not a strategy.
It’s a tiny piece of a much bigger picture – and on its own, it won’t drive growth, bring in consistent leads, or build a strong brand. It won’t fix what’s not working underneath.
Marketing needs structure – not guesswork.
If you’re improvising your marketing week by week, you’ll always feel behind. There needs to be a plan. A reason. A purpose behind what you’re saying and who you’re saying it to.
Throwing things out there and hoping they stick is exhausting – and rarely effective.
Your whole customer experience is your brand.
You can have brilliant social posts, polished campaigns, and a beautiful website – but if the way your team speaks to customers doesn’t match, or the service doesn’t reflect your promise, people notice.
How you treat people builds your brand. Marketing just starts the conversation.
Lead generation means nothing if you can’t follow through.
We’ve seen it so many times: the campaign goes live, the phones start ringing… and the wheels fall off. Because behind the scenes, the systems aren’t there. The follow-up’s patchy. The delivery side’s stretched.
If your internal setup can’t handle the attention your marketing brings, it’s not growth – it’s stress.
Personality matters more than polish.
People don’t buy from brands. They buy from people. Your tone, your values, your energy – these show up whether you mean them to or not.
If your marketing says one thing, but your culture says another, customers won’t stick around to work it out. They’ll quietly move on.
So yes – the cake turned out beautifully. And when I handed out slices in the office, someone quietly said, “this is just right.”
That’s what good marketing should feel like too. Simple, planned, well made – and exactly the right balance to hit the sweet spot. The kind of thing people remember – and ask for again.
