Most growing businesses think about marketing leadership when they need it. Few think about what happens after they’ve got it. Succession planning in marketing is rarely discussed in SMEs and scale-ups. Leadership teams focus on immediate priorities: pipeline, brand, product launches, growth targets. But as marketing functions mature, a quieter risk emerges - what happens when key people leave, roles change, or the business outgrows its current structure? The Hidden Dependenc

When Western B2B companies try to enter the Japanese market, success rarely comes from launching the same campaigns that worked at home with language swapped out. Too often, the result is a well-translated, poorly received message - a classic example of “lost in translation”. The problem isn’t vocabulary. It’s context, culture, and business norms. Japan isn’t just another market - it’s a relationship-driven, consensus-oriented business environment with communication styles t

Most growing businesses don’t wake up one morning and decide they need senior marketing leadership. Instead, the need builds gradually until performance stalls or pressure rises. Early-stage growth usually comes from founder networks, referrals, reputation or early adopters. And that phase can take you surprisingly far. But sustained, predictable growth requires structure and leadership. The challenge is recognising when the moment has arrived, and choosing the right model of

Japan is one of the most attractive B2B markets in the world. Large enterprises. Strong balance sheets. Long-term supplier relationships. High expectations of quality. It's also one of the easiest places to burn a year’s marketing budget without getting close to revenue. Many UK firms approach Japan as if it were simply 'another region' to launch into. They translate a website, appoint a distributor, run a few ads, attend a trade show, and wait for pipeline. When that pipelin

Most B2B businesses say they have case studies . Far fewer have case studies that genuinely influence buying decisions. Often, case studies become polite success stories. A logo, a quote, a short summary, a few vague outcomes. They look fine on a website. They fill a page. But they rarely change the course of a sales conversation. That’s a missed opportunity. In complex B2B buying, case studies are one of the few assets that can shorten sales cycles, build trust quickly, and

Japan is an attractive market for many B2B businesses from the UK. Large economy. Sophisticated buyers. High willingness to invest in quality. Strong long-term customer relationships once trust is established. And yet, I repeatedly see companies stall, burn budget, or quietly withdraw after 12-18 months with little to show for it. In most cases, the product wasn’t the problem. The opportunity was real. The issue was how the go-to-market approach was designed. Here are the mos

Sussex is an interesting place to run a business. There’s a strong mix of established professional services firms, growing technology companies, creative and marketing agencies, manufacturing, healthcare, education and ambitious SMEs. Many have national or international reach. Yet they’re rooted in a region where reputation, networks, and local visibility still matter. For years, many Sussex businesses have grown through relationships, word of mouth and founder-led selling. T

Poor marketing decisions rarely announce themselves loudly. They don’t usually arrive as dramatic failures or obvious mistakes. More often, they show up in ways like: a campaign that underperforms, a tool that never quite gets adopted, an agency relationship that drifts, a website that feels dated but never quite gets fixed. Individually, these things feel manageable. Collectively, they become expensive. In growing B2B businesses, the real cost of poor marketing decisions is

One of the most valuable and unexpected lessons in my career came from learning Japanese - not as a linguistic exercise, but as a way of understanding how language, culture, and meaning interact in marketing. It’s one thing to translate words. It’s another to 'translate meaning' in a way that resonates with the audience’s worldview. For example, when I worked on reviewing the Japanese edition of The Ideas Book , written by Kevin Duncan - comparing it to the original English v

Marketing technology promises efficiency, automation and insight. And in many cases, it delivers. But in growing B2B businesses, martech stacks often evolve in a very different way. A CRM gets added to organise contacts. An email tool follows. Then analytics. Then automation. Then a social scheduling tool. Then a reporting dashboard. Before long, your business has a collection of disconnected platforms , overlapping functionality, inconsistent data, and no clear view of what’

Most B2B businesses measure marketing. The problem is they often measure the wrong things. Marketing dashboards fill up with charts. Monthly reports get circulated. Numbers are discussed in leadership meetings. Yet when the inevitable question arises - “ Is marketing actually driving growth? ” - the answer still feels unclear. In many organisations, metrics have grown organically. A CRM report here. A campaign dashboard there. An agency’s preferred KPIs layered on top. Over

Ask most leadership teams what’s holding back growth, and you’ll hear familiar answers: pipeline volume, pricing pressure, longer sales cycles, tougher competition. Ask sales teams, and they’ll mention lead quality. Ask marketing teams, and they’ll mention lack of follow-up. Somewhere between the two sits one of the most persistent, and underestimated, growth blockers in B2B: misalignment between sales and marketing . It’s rarely dramatic. More often, it shows up as small fri

At some point in every growing business, marketing reaches a crossroads. Referrals and reputation have taken you far. A team or agency is producing activity. Campaigns are running. Content is going out. But results feel inconsistent. Pipeline visibility is patchy. Sales and marketing aren’t fully aligned. And leadership starts asking a familiar question: “Do we need proper marketing leadership now?” It’s the right question. But the answer isn’t always “hire a full-time CMO.”

If you’ve ever stared at a marketing dashboard and thought, “Ok… but what does this actually mean?”, you’re not alone. Most businesses drown in data - clicks, impressions, followers, sessions - yet still struggle to answer the simplest questions: Is our marketing working? Are we getting value from our spend? What should we do next? That’s because too many dashboards measure activity, and not impact. They tell you what’s happening, but not why it matters. You need to build das

If you run a small or mid-sized business, you’ve probably felt this frustration. You hire an agency. The work looks good. The reports seem positive. But sales? Pipeline? Revenue? They barely move. And then you wonder: “Are we with the wrong agency?” Sometimes, yes. But most of the time, the problem isn’t the agency - it’s the lack of focus, leadership, or structure around them. This is one of the most common issues I diagnose as a Fractional CMO and marketing consultant for

Every January, the same question comes up in conversations with agency leaders. How do we grow this year? It’s a fair question. And a difficult one. The last couple of years have been challenging for agencies of all shapes and sizes, and there’s little sign that the market is about to suddenly become easier. Client budgets remain tight. Procurement is more involved. Decision-making takes longer. Competition for briefs is intense. Pricing pressure is constant. And pipeline vis

Ever heard your sales and marketing teams say this? “Marketing says the leads are great. Sales says they’re not.” It’s one of the oldest tensions in business. Both teams want growth, but they often speak different languages and are completely misaligned . That’s where a Fractional CMO (or Fractional Marketing Director) can make a dramatic difference - not by choosing sides, but by uniting both around one shared goal: revenue. Why Sales and Marketing Drift Apart Misalignment

Every growing business hits the same wall eventually. You’ve got campaigns running. Your team is active. Your agency is producing work. But results? They’ve flatlined. Leads aren’t converting. The message feels off. And every new idea feels like more noise, not more traction. At that point, most businesses either: Hire a new agency. Redo the website. Launch another campaign. But what they really need isn’t more activity - it’s a marketing reset . What a Marketing Reset Actual

If there’s one question I've heard more than any other in my 20+ years working in marketing, it’s this: “How do we really know our marketing is working?” Most businesses can tell you their sales pipeline, revenue targets, win rates, quarterly forecasts… But ask about their marketing KPIs and you’ll often get something like: “Website traffic is up” or “We’re doing more on LinkedIn” or “Our agency says the campaign performed well.” These statements don’t answer the real questi

If you run a growing business, this story might sound familiar... You’ve built momentum through referrals, networking, and hustle. You’re running campaigns, posting content, maybe even working with an agency. But results? Flat. Leads aren’t converting. Campaigns feel scattered. And the team, even though they’re busy, isn’t sure what’s really working. At this point, most SMEs decide to wait it out. “Let’s give it another quarter.” “Let’s tweak the ads.” “Let’s try a new agency