If you’ve ever looked at a slowing pipeline and thought, “Our strategy just isn’t working anymore,” this episode of Revenue Rewired is for you. In Episode 44, Sarah and I break down how to tell whether your marketing strategy is actually broken or if execution gaps are quietly holding it back, how to fix what’s already in motion, and how to avoid pivoting too fast when results dip.
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This comes up more often than most teams want to admit.
Why We’re So Quick to Blame the Strategy
When performance stalls, the instinct is almost automatic. Something must be wrong with the strategy. The channel stopped working. The platform changed. The market shifted.
Sometimes that’s true. Most of the time, it’s not.
What we see far more often is that the strategy is fine, but the way it’s being run has drifted. Settings haven’t been revisited. Messaging hasn’t evolved with buyer behavior. Teams are watching too many metrics and missing the ones that actually matter.
That gap between intention and execution is where results quietly start to fall apart.
A Recruiting Story That Turned Into a Marketing Lesson
Sarah shared a story on the podcast that perfectly illustrates this.
We were recruiting for an account manager role and getting flooded with applicants. On paper, it looked like the strategy was working. In reality, the quality was off. We were frustrated and kept tweaking where and how the job was posted.
Then an outside consultant took one look at the job description and said, “No offense, but this isn’t good.”
That stung. But he was right.
The issue wasn’t distribution. It wasn’t the channel. It was the message. Once the description was stripped down and written in plain, everyday language, the results changed quickly. Same strategy. Better execution.
The Same Thing Happens in Demand Generation
I had a very similar conversation with a client who felt stuck. They were convinced their marketing tactics had stopped working and wanted to chase new ones.
Instead, I took a step back and looked at the full picture. The customer journey. The platforms. The competition. The details inside the campaigns.
Within a short review, it became clear that most of the issues were execution-related. Outdated settings. Messaging that hadn’t kept up with platform changes. New competitors they didn’t realize were eating into reach. Roughly three quarters of the obstacles came down to how the strategy was being run, not the strategy itself
As I said on the episode, “Before we go dump a whole new set of tactics, let’s figure out if what you’re doing today just isn’t being done the right way.”
Why Smart Teams Still Miss Execution Problems
This is not a rookie mistake. Experienced leaders fall into this all the time.
One big reason is dashboards. Most companies are staring at too many numbers. When you have twenty or fifty metrics flashing at once, it’s hard to know which ones are actually telling you something meaningful.
It’s like driving a car with warning lights everywhere. Eventually, you stop noticing them.
Instead of asking, “What new strategy should we try?” the more useful question is, “Which part of this system is quietly breaking down?”
Small Changes Often Make the Biggest Difference
One of the themes we kept coming back to in this episode is how rarely the fix is a massive pivot.
Sometimes it’s a small adjustment. A tweak to messaging. A change in how success is measured. A reset of expectations around what a platform can realistically deliver right now.
I’ve seen conversion rates move from something as simple as changing a call-to-action button. Not because the strategy changed, but because execution finally matched intent.
Focus Beats Perfection Every Time
Another trap we talked about is analysis paralysis. The desire to have absolute certainty before making any move.
Marketing doesn’t work that way.
You can do all the homework, look at all the data, and still be wrong. That doesn’t mean the process failed. It means you learned something.
The teams that perform best are not the ones chasing perfect answers. They’re the ones willing to test, adjust, and move forward without burning everything down at the first sign of friction.
FAQ: The Questions Revenue Leaders Actually Ask
Q: How do I know if my marketing strategy is broken or just poorly executed?
A: Start by auditing execution before changing direction. Look at messaging, settings, follow-through, and alignment across teams. Most issues show up there first.
Q: When results dip, should we pause campaigns immediately?
A: Not usually. Pausing too fast often hides the real issue. Diagnose execution gaps before pulling the plug.
Q: What metrics should we focus on when diagnosing performance problems?
A: A small set of leading indicators tied to buyer behavior. Too many metrics create noise, not clarity.
Q: Is an outside perspective really necessary?
A: Often, yes. A fresh set of eyes can see blind spots that internal teams miss when they’re too close to the work.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
Between platform changes, AI-driven search behavior, and rising costs, marketing is harder to manage than it used to be. That pressure makes it even easier to panic and pivot.
But as we said on the podcast, “Just because it’s not working today doesn’t mean the whole tactic needs to be thrown out.”
Execution matters. Focus matters. And sometimes the smartest move is fixing what you already have instead of chasing what’s next.
If you want help pressure-testing your strategy before making your next move, connect with the StringCan team. Sometimes all it takes is a fresh perspective to see what’s actually going on.
Reach out to us to start a conversation, even if you’re just trying to figure out what to fix first.
