The 7 Deadly Sins of Marketing

Most marketing teams aren't failing because of effort — they're failing because of how the work is set up. This guide names the seven mistakes that quietly drain pipeline, and shows the exact fix installed for each one in 90 days.

The 7 Sins at a Glance

• Sin 01 – Sales and marketing don't talk (no feedback loop, wasted spend)
• Sin 02 – No real funnel (cold and warm audiences get the same offer)
• Sin 03 – The same playbook everywhere (new products sold like mature ones, and vice versa)
• Sin 04 – Attribution that lies (measurement windows shorter than actual sales cycles)
• Sin 05 – Metrics that aren't revenue (clicks and MQLs on the dashboard, CFO not reading it)
• Sin 06 – Tools that don't connect (more than two systems holding a customer record)
• Sin 07 – Brand vs. performance at war (separate meetings, separate numbers, weak results on both sides)

What the Fix Actually Looks Like

Each sin comes with a specific, installed fix — not a principle. For example: aligning lead scoring and same-day routing moved one client's Lead-to-SQL rate from 6% to 29%, with no change in spend. A construction client resolved SQL-to-opportunity drop-off by routing contacts into segmented B2B and consumer nurture flows inside a single centralised system.

The 90-Day Build

The growth engine rolls out in three moves: Weeks 1–2 are diagnosis and definitions (nothing launches). Weeks 3–4 build the foundations — tracking, routing, one dashboard. Weeks 5–12 ship experiments, kill losers on a set date, and scale what earns it.

The 7-Point Audit

The guide includes a one-point-per-yes self-audit. Most teams score four. Scoring 5–7 means the problem isn't effort — it's structure. Scoring 0–2 means you have an engine; the question is how fast you're scaling it.

Download the full guide for all seven fixes, the honest comparison of tools vs. agencies vs. hiring, and your first 10 experiments.