If marketing comes in last, it's already limited.

We’ve always felt that marketing works best when it’s an integral part of a business, not something tacked on at the end.

So often, marketing is brought in once the big decisions have already been made. The strategy is set, the investment or regeneration plan agreed, the leasing approach signed off, and marketing is then asked to support it or help get the message out. By that point, the role is mostly reactive.

When marketing is involved earlier, alongside those wider conversations, it can be much more useful. It helps join things up, test assumptions, and bring a bit of clarity around how decisions will land, not just externally, but internally too.

There’s also a very practical benefit. Alignment saves time and money. Clearer thinking upfront usually means better briefs, fewer last-minute changes and less reworking later on. It avoids activity for activity’s sake and helps focus effort where it really matters.

Sequencing is important as well. Knowing what to say, when to say it, and when it’s better to say nothing at all, can make a big difference. Marketing doesn’t need to lead everything, but it does need to be close enough to the decision-making to properly support it.

Good marketing isn’t about promotion. It’s about support, consistency and helping things make sense. When it’s embedded, rather than bolted on, it becomes part of how a business operates, not just how it presents itself.

We’d be interested to hear how others approach this, and when marketing tends to get involved in their organisations.