The Leader’s Marketing Paradox: What to Keep and What to Delegate
"We'll handle everything – you won't have to lift a finger!"
If you're a leader, you've likely heard this seductive pitch from marketing agencies. The promise of completely hands-off marketing can be alluring, especially when you're juggling countless responsibilities and you, well, hate marketing.
But the truth is, you’re being sold a pipe dream. Some aspects of your marketing simply can't – and shouldn't – be delegated to anyone.
When it comes to writing your job description, almost every CEO I know would LOVE nothing more than to eradicate marketing from that list of duties. I truly hate content just as much as you do, I promise. But there are ways to fold it into your work week, even for the most busy and in-demand person.
No excuse you can give will deter me from this simple fact that I have to share with you today:
Marketing is part of the gig.
(I know because I have tried almost every single excuse on for size myself. Just ask Dawn.)
This isn't about maintaining control or massaging your ego. It's about understanding which elements of your marketing strategy are intrinsically tied to your expertise, vision, and ability to connect with high-value clients. Let's explore why certain marketing functions need your direct involvement and which ones you can confidently hand off to others.
The Non-Negotiable Core of Your Business
Your unique insights and expertise form the foundation of your professional credibility. When you're targeting sophisticated clients or building thought leadership in your industry, there's no shortcut around your involvement in the following areas:
Strategic Positioning: Only you truly understand your company's vision, values, and the specific problems you solve for clients. Chances are you are the lead salesperson and spokesperson, and you have had hundreds, if not thousands, of “sales” conversations, both on and off the clock. You are by far the most qualified expert at your company to speak to what you do, how you do it, and why anyone should care. You are also the most compelling, due in no small part to your lived experience and practice.
When you do the strategic positioning, it flows seamlessly and directly from your experience and understanding of your market. While agencies can help refine and articulate this message, they can't create it from scratch without your deep involvement, and a lot of times? It’s easier to do it yourself. Less emails, less time, and more effective.
Core Content Development: Your firsthand experiences, client interactions, and industry observations are invaluable sources of original insight. Whether it's identifying emerging trends or sharing lessons from recent projects, things that you learned at an industry conference, or your failures that no one likes to talk about, this type of content cannot be authentically replicated by outside writers, no matter how skilled they are at research and writing. They aren’t you, and no one cares about their conjecture.
Clients want real-life stories, not robot stories from AI. The shift has turned back to authentic writing, and there’s no escaping that truth.
Key Relationship Building: High-value clients and industry partners want to connect with you, not your marketing team, in the LinkedIn comments. Your presence and engagement in professional communities, whether online or offline, must feel genuine and personal. In a world with a chatbot for every question on a website, wouldn’t you love to call someone up and get a reply in 60 seconds instead of spending 10 minutes going down the list of options and bubbles to check? I know I would.
The Delegation Sweet Spot
While certain elements require your input, many marketing functions can and should be delegated to maximize your impact. We all have 24 hours, and they can’t all be spent on business. Here are some of my favorite spots to leverage tools and help from our team and other experts.
Content Enhancement and Distribution: Once you've provided the core ideas and insights, a team of skilled professionals can help polish and package your content for different platforms that work best for your goals and audience. They can handle editing, formatting, and repurposing, ensuring consistent distribution across your marketing channels.
TIP: keep one platform yours for your original content. Maybe it’s the blog, maybe it’s email, but keep one and keep it consistently as the core piece of content you write.
Graphic Design: For the love of all things holy, step AWAY from Canva. Please, just don’t. I know you can, I can too! But the end result looks just like that: like someone who is NOT a professional did it. There is no substitute for professional design.
A Canva template does not make you qualified, it just gives you delusional thoughts like: “Sure, I have time just to whip up this 3 page document tonight-it’s free if I do it (ahem-it’s not)”. Trust me on this one.Data Analytics and Reporting: Expert marketing teams can track performance metrics, analyze engagement patterns, and provide you with actionable insights for adjustments and refinements. In other words, they can tell a story that makes sense and clearly shows you where to focus your efforts. This matters. A lot.
This allows you to focus on strategy while maintaining a clear view of what's working-not find out six months later that all the money you invested was a bust. We want to keep our fingers on the pulse of your business monthly and adjust as needed. It’s the difference between reactive and responsive support; you need the former.Technical Optimization: SEO, website performance, email marketing automation, and other technical aspects can be handled by specialists who stay current with best practices and platform updates. Most companies have a lot of tech tools but are grossly underutilizing them and their power. With a team of marketing professionals, you have power users baked into the mix, making the tools you already pay for much more cost-effective.
Community Management: While you should engage directly with key stakeholders, your team can handle routine social media interactions, monitor mentions, and flag essential conversations for your attention. Turn off the notifications and realize how much more time you have for deep thinking (and writing that content)!
Finding the Right Balance & Helpful Frameworks
Okay, so we know we can’t abdicate all of the marketing work as much as we all want to. BUT I also know that managing a team and providing oversight can also be its own form of torture to busy leaders.
Over time, I’ve found a few things that help set your engagement up for success and ensure that everyone is rowing in the right direction from the start– saving you money and potential frustration later.
1. Create a Clear Content Strategy
Work with your marketing team to develop a content calendar that identifies which pieces need your direct input versus what can be created from existing materials and documents. I am willing to bet you already have REAMS of content lying around your Google Drive-sales documents, strategy documents, past events and speaking engagement materials, old social posts or blogs that just need a dusting off. It’s all there and just waiting for repurposing.
2. Establish Strong Processes
Develop clear workflows for how your insights get transformed into various content pieces. This might include regular brain-dumping sessions with your content team or a system for capturing your thoughts and observations weekly via a voice notes tool. You’re in charge, and delivering ideas and feedback in a way that works for you and your style is critical to staying consistent.
Make sure that any firm you work with for this stuff has a clear, and I mean VERY clear and airtight process for how content is delivered to you, approved, revised and scheduled. You want to know the expectations out of the gate instead of getting ran over by the amount of work it is AND footing the bill for it.
3. Set Quality Standards:
Provide clear guidelines about your voice, style, and the level of expertise expected in all communications. This helps ensure consistency and that everyone knows what the content needs to sound and feel like. Even when a firm is repurposing your original words…things get lost in translation. This document is a governing document and steers all content in the right direction. It’s key, and you can’t do this work without it.
4. Regular Review and Adjustment
Most marketing agencies will give you content for review for the upcoming month. Review it FOR REAL. Set aside dedicated time and review the content. Be honest and kind with your feedback, but give them your true thoughts. This is not a place to play nice. The more constructive your feedback, the better results you will get! Aim to see content improvement over about three months. The first few months are learning months for everyone, but by month three your revisions should be declining. If they aren’t, you need to do a gut check on if it’s working (and worth it).
The Reality Check
Here's what many agencies won't tell you: creating truly valuable thought leadership content requires…real thought leadership.
A 23-year-old content writer, no matter how talented, cannot replicate your years of experience and insight. AI tools, while useful for certain tasks, cannot generate the nuanced understanding that comes from direct market experience.
To be clear: this doesn't mean you need to write every word or approve every post.
Part of this process is releasing your white knuckle grip on controlling every sentence. But it does mean being honest about where your direct involvement adds irreplaceable value. The goal isn't to create more work for yourself – it's to ensure your marketing efforts authentically reflect your expertise and resonate with your target audience.
Moving Forward
As you evaluate your marketing strategy and potential partnerships, ask yourself:
- What unique insights can only come from my experience?
What types of content do my ideal users consume the most? Do they love videos or are they readers? This part is important.
- Which activities directly build trust with my target clients?
Maybe it’s consistent blogging also delivered in an email reminder. Maybe it’s JUST emails that feel more like a personal 1-1. Where do you get the most engagement? Focus there.
- Where can professional marketing support amplify my message without diluting its authenticity?
What is bogging down getting this stuff out in the world? A plan? Content prompts? Wanting to get it SEO-perfect? The scheduling? Not knowing if it’s “working” so it becomes less enticing to do it? These are the key areas you need help with.
Remember, the most effective marketing for high-end services isn't about volume or perfect automation – it's about creating genuine connections with your audience through valuable insights and authentic engagement. Meeting them where they are, providing stuff they want to read and interact with.
That’s it. It’s pretty simple.
While you can and should delegate many marketing functions, maintaining your direct involvement in core thought leadership and relationship-building activities isn't just about quality control – it's about preserving the very essence of what makes your business valuable to clients.
Your marketing strategy and support team should help you amplify your expertise, not replace it.
When you find the right balance between personal involvement and professional support, you create a sustainable system that builds your platform while respecting your time and maintaining the high standards your audience expects from you and your business.
meet the author & ceoAhoy there, I’m Sabrina!
I write about the joys and trials of owning a business, being bold, and taking the right actions at the right time.
Mix this with Midwest no-nonsense, being a Mom to 3 growing-too-quickly kids, lots of travel, 2 giant German Shepard dogs, and after-school sports schedule that makes your eyes cross and that’s the slice of life you’ll find here.
