Have you ever hired someone to help with your marketing — an agency, a freelancer, maybe even a new team member — only to find yourself rewriting everything they produce?

It’s frustrating. It’s expensive. And it makes you wonder if anyone will ever “get” your business the way you do.

But here’s the thing: most of the time, it’s not actually a marketing problem. It’s a messaging problem.

Why marketing help often falls flat

The more established your business, the harder it becomes to delegate marketing. Not because your team isn’t talented, but because so much of your knowledge and your processes live only in your head.

When a new hire or an agency starts working with you, they only have what they can see on the surface; your website, a few LinkedIn posts, an outdated brand document, maybe a quick handover call.

That’s not enough to capture the nuance of what you do. So what comes back feels bland, generic, or just… not you. And you end up rewriting it. Again.

All roads lead to messaging

You rarely have a marketing problem. You almost always have a messaging problem.

That’s why I create messaging strategies for my clients, living documents their teams can actually use. Done well, a messaging strategy becomes the guiding reference point for all your marketing and sales conversations.

It covers things like:

• Positioning → where your business sits in the market and how you stand apart from competitors.
  
• Core services → what you deliver, why it matters, and how to explain the value clearly.
  
• Process → the steps you take clients through and the transformation it creates.
  
• Proof points → the results, testimonials, and data that back up your claims.
  
• Key messages & themes → the big ideas your brand wants to be known for, repeated consistently across platforms.
  
• Voice & tone → not just “professional and approachable,” but specific language choices that capture your personality.
  

When you have this nailed, delegation stops feeling like a gamble. Your team, freelancers, or agency can confidently create content, campaigns, and copy that sound like you without you rewriting every word.

If you’ve been frustrated by marketing that never sounds quite right, stop throwing money at more tactics. Get your messaging sorted first. It’ll save you time, money, and a whole lot of rewrites.

This article was inspired by my conversation with Paula Maidens on the Big Dreams, Great Teams podcast. You can listen to the full episode here.