I see one mistake derailing marketing strategy again and again: Setting up marketing teams as internal agencies that serve cross-functional “customers” in other departments.
That’s a problem because it typically leads to reactive, disconnected efforts — even in the era of sophisticated AI, automation, data, and marketing analytics.
Sometimes, marketing teams try to incorporate strategic priority planning. However, those meetings tend to be derailed by internal stakeholders who want to dictate which themes or assets to prioritize.
As a result, the marketing calendar becomes a chaotic, siloed set of to-do lists fueled by ad hoc requests from multiple teams.
The marketing team turns into a production shop — pumping out assets like a high-speed printer — without a clear strategic direction.
The result? People burn out, ROI remains unclear, and businesses wonder why their marketing isn’t moving the needle.
So, when the inevitable marketing strategy reboot comes (and it always comes), how can you align the new approach with internal stakeholders’ expectations?
The answer is simple: Stop thinking of these folks as customers. I explain a better approach in the video above and in more detail in the article below.
Internal teams aren’t customers
Marketers often consider internal teams (sales, product marketing, PR, IT, executive leadership, etc.) as stakeholders. But ask anyone on your marketing team if they consider themselves stakeholders in sales, technology, or corporate communications, and you’ll likely hear, “Oh no, they’re our customers.”
That thinking is the root of the problem because it positions marketing teams as service providers rather than strategic partners.
I once worked with a global enterprise technology company whose marketing team existed solely to fulfill product marketing’s requests for thought leadership, sales collateral, and web copy.
But product marketing saw thought leadership as product one-sheets and case studies, not insight-driven narratives that would educate and inspire buyers.
Executives saw sales collateral as better pitch decks and case studies. All stakeholders thought of web copy as words that explain everything the company does in excruciating technical detail.
The result? The marketing team dutifully performed. Internal stakeholders loved the content. Actual customers? Not so much.
How to shift from service provider to strategic leader
Marketing teams succeed when they shift (or are enabled to shift) from being on-demand creators to strategic orchestrators of the brand’s voice.
This change often requires a complete adjustment in the company’s mindset. People stop thinking of marketing in terms of execution and start thinking about how it can lead to growth alongside other business functions.
Internal teams – stakeholders — are investors, not customers. They provide critical insight, direction, and assistance, but they shouldn’t dictate the marketing agenda. The most successful businesses treat the marketing team as an asset to be nurtured, managed, optimized, and leveraged for business growth.
Modern marketing requires specialized expertise, including a deep command of data analytics, behavioral psychology, technology, storytelling, revenue strategy, and real-time decision making.
Yet, too many organizations treat marketing teams like reactive service providers rather than strategic architects. So, what’s missing?
These essential elements set sophisticated marketing teams apart in 2025:
Investing in marketing operations (the missing strategic layer)
A key shift in 2025 is the rise (or perhaps the rebirth) of a more integrated role for marketing operations, a structured discipline that optimizes marketing creation, production, measurement, and distribution.
For the last decade, many marketing teams have tried to graft Agile development processes onto their marketing ops, hoping to replicate the success seen in software development.
Spoiler: It hasn’t worked all that well.
Marketing’s iterative loops rarely deliver a simple right-or-wrong outcome. Unlike coding, which either compiles or crashes, marketing success unfolds over time. Agile gets reduced to moving faster — prioritizing speed over strategy and iteration over creative insight. Teams break more things but don’t take the time to learn or adapt in ways that make breaking things worthwhile.
I see more successful teams embracing a structured but not rigid approach. They’re reviving marketing operations with intentional workflows, integrated tools, marketing analytics platforms, and generative AI-management systems to ensure smooth processes and unambiguous attribution of efforts to business outcomes.
Blending AI-driven insights with human wisdom
AI and automation are now central to marketing, providing data-driven insights that predict audience interests and identify high-value opportunities.
But here’s the thing — your organization isn’t the only one using AI. Thinking that AI gives you a competitive advantage today is like assuming your team was the only one with personal computers in the 1990s.
AI is a tool — not a differentiator or a replacement for the humans who use it.
The savviest marketing teams blend machine intelligence with human judgment. They leverage AI’s speed and scale while relying on human emotional intelligence and creativity to craft authentic, resonant stories. In other words, they use AI to shift their focus from routine execution to high-value strategic work.
Embracing emerging channels and media
In 2025, marketers aren’t just brand stewards — they’re futurists, mathematicians, and mad scientists rolled into one. They have to predict where audiences will be before they get there, analyze data patterns like Wall Street traders, and experiment with new formats like chemists in a lab. Successful content and marketing teams don’t just react to change; they anticipate and architect it.
That means proactively embracing emerging channels, such as custom AI learning models, immersive experiences, voice search optimization, short-form video, interactive micro-content, and even augmented reality.
This level of adaptability requires more than agility — it demands strategic investment in team expertise, talent retention, and a designed framework that allows for rapid experimentation while ensuring consistency across platforms.
These high-skill capabilities define modern marketing teams. But they don’t explain how to elevate marketing beyond being “the service department” (or, as one marketing director I know wryly puts it, “The Department of Words and Pictures”).
Align stakeholder investors in the marketing strategy
One of the biggest reasons marketing teams struggle for influence is that they’re seen as the doers, not the thinkers. C-suite execs take on the big strategic thinking or outsource it to an agency.
Few businesses give their marketing teams the space to develop strategic and creative muscles. Then, they wonder why marketing isn’t more strategic or creative. Execs put the marketing team in a box, then wonder why marketing can’t think outside it.
This isn’t only a perception problem — it’s also a structural one. If executive leadership won’t consider how marketing is positioned within the business, every effort to change it is just theater.
Even if the willingness to change exists, the shift from perceiving marketing as order takers to strategic leaders doesn’t happen passively. It requires a fundamental reset in how marketing teams engage with internal stakeholders.
Instead of treating them as customers to satisfy, marketing leaders must position those stakeholders as investors — partners with a real stake in marketing’s success.
Here’s how.
Segment your stakeholder-investors
Not all stakeholders carry the same weight or motivations. Understanding the key players in your organization lets you tailor your approach, build alliances, and anticipate resistance before it slows you down.
- Influencers hold the political capital or control the budget, but they may not be directly involved in marketing. They can make or break your initiatives, so winning them over is critical — even if they don’t care about marketing itself.
- Champions are your internal advocates — those who already believe in marketing’s strategic value. They’re often early adopters of new approaches and can help evangelize your vision across the company.
- Detractors resist change either because they see nothing in it for them or because they fear losing control. Some will be vocal, while others will simply disengage. The key is to understand their underlying concerns and address them head-on.
- Decision makers are the executives or department heads who approve major marketing initiatives. They need to see a direct connection between marketing initiatives and business outcomes.
- Participants are actively involved in execution — whether in product marketing, sales enablement, or content creation. They’re the people who will live with the day-to-day impact of your strategy, so their buy-in is crucial.
Recognizing where each stakeholder fits helps you customize your messaging, anticipate objections, and build strategic alignment.
Design discussions, not interviews
Too many marketing teams approach stakeholder (investor) engagement as a checklist item, conducting interviews to gather input as if they’re waiters taking orders. The problem? This approach reinforces the idea that internal stakeholders are customers, which is the dynamic you’re trying to change.
Instead, think of these conversations as co-creation discussions structured by the type of investor they are. The goal isn’t just to gather information — it’s to uncover motivations, identify roadblocks, and shift perspectives. Ask questions that go beyond surface-level feedback, such as:
- What does success look like for your team, and where does marketing fit into that?
- What are the biggest challenges you’re facing that marketing could help solve?
- What has and hasn’t worked in past marketing efforts?
Leading the conversation toward business outcomes shifts these discussions from transactional Q&A sessions into opportunities to reposition marketing as a strategic partner.
Remember, marketing leadership is a process, not a project
One of the biggest myths in corporate environments is that getting stakeholder buy-in is a one-time event. The reality? It’s an ongoing process. Even the most successful marketing leaders face continuous pressure to justify budgets, demonstrate impact, and evolve strategies to stay aligned with shifting business priorities.
To sustain marketing’s position as a strategic function, you need to:
- Regularly communicate marketing’s impact in terms that matter to stakeholders — business growth, revenue contribution, efficiency gains.
- Keep stakeholders engaged beyond the initial buy-in, involving them in ongoing discussions and strategy adjustments.
- Be prepared to resell marketing’s value when leadership changes or business priorities shift.
Marketing isn’t a department that serves the business — it’s a function that drives it. But that only becomes true when marketing leaders take control of their positioning inside the organization.
Not all stakeholders are customers, but all customers are stakeholders
Customers are the most critical stakeholders in your marketing strategy, so don’t conflate them with internal teams that request marketing support.
As the strategist and author Eli Goldratt wrote, “Tell me how you measure me, and I will tell you how I will behave.” If your marketing team is measured by how well they serve internal requests, don’t be surprised when they behave like a service department.
The best marketing teams don’t serve stakeholders. They lead them. That’s how marketing drives sustained business impact in 2025 and beyond.
Your marketing strategy should evolve constantly — because your customers do.
It’s your story. Tell it well.
Updated from a September 2022 story.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute