When working with external suppliers—whether they’re freelancers, agencies, or consultants—it’s easy to assume that they’ll always act in your business’s best interest. However, you risk losing control over your marketing efforts unless you have someone internally who truly understands your business goals, strategy, and budget. This is why it’s crucial to have a dedicated marketing representative—an internal team member or an external partner—who ensures that all work remains aligned with your long-term vision.
Why You Need a Marketing Representative for Your Business Interests
1. Preventing Wasteful Marketing Spend
Many businesses end up wasting money on marketing initiatives that don’t contribute to growth. Agencies and freelancers may produce beautiful campaigns, engaging social content, or SEO work, but without clear oversight, it’s easy to invest in efforts that fail to drive tangible results.
I’ve seen this firsthand with one of my clients. They had engaged a generalist freelancer for SEO services, spending nearly £30,000 over two years. While the freelancer managed to rank the business at position six for a high-value keyword, the reality was that due to the way search intent worked, potential customers were met with Google Ads, directories, and maps before even scrolling to their organic position. It meant that hardly anyone was scrolling down to find them. Instead of reassessing the strategy, the freelancer continued charging monthly retainers, offering little beyond reports that looked good on paper but did nothing for actual business growth.
A dedicated marketing representative ensures that:
- Marketing efforts align with key business objectives rather than vanity metrics.
- Budgets are optimised for initiatives that bring measurable ROI.
- Resources are allocated efficiently, reducing unnecessary spending.
2. Ensuring Strategic Alignment
Marketing should never operate in a silo. Without an internal champion overseeing initiatives, external suppliers may execute tactics that feel disjointed from the broader business strategy.
A dedicated marketing representative makes sure that:
- Campaigns and messaging stay consistent across all channels.
- Creative and technical teams translate strategy into execution rather than operating on assumptions.
- Your business remains competitive, with marketing efforts adapting to market shifts and customer needs.
3. Demanding Accountability
External agencies and freelancers often showcase selective data to prove results. If no one closely monitors deliverables and outcomes, businesses can fall into the trap of trusting reports that mask underperformance.
That same client also faced another issue—a chatbot project developed by the freelancer without first validating whether customers actually needed or wanted it. The chatbot was built based on how the freelancer envisioned it should work, but the functionality was archaic, and no real customers engaged with it. Worse, there was no structured reporting, no clear tracking of key performance indicators (KPIs), and the client—lacking the expertise to challenge the freelancer—continued paying for an effectively useless tool. This is the danger of having no marketing representative scrutinising and holding freelancers or agencies accountable.
A dedicated marketing representative helps by:
- Setting clear KPIs and expectations before work begins.
- Scrutinising reports and questioning performance metrics presented by external suppliers.
- Holding agencies and freelancers accountable for results, ensuring transparency.
What This Role Involves
- Providing clear briefs: Ensuring external teams fully understand project objectives, target audience, and brand messaging before they begin execution.
- Approving deliverables: Reviewing work to ensure it meets quality standards and aligns with strategic goals before launch.
- Keeping an eye on timelines: Preventing delays that could impact other marketing initiatives or business objectives.
- Serving as the “translator” between business and creative teams: Making sure technical or creative work serves its intended business purpose.
- Performing quality checks: Verifying that the deliverables match the promised outcomes before sign-off.
Pro Tip for Solo Founders and Small Teams
If you’re a solo founder or running a lean team, assign this role to the person most knowledgeable about your product and metrics. This could be the founder, a senior marketer, or a trusted team member with the ability to challenge assumptions.
However, if you lack internal expertise, consider engaging a Strategic Growth Partner who truly understands your business. A Fractional CMO or On-Demand Marketing Director can serve as this marketing representative, bridging the gap between your internal team and external marketing suppliers and ensuring every pound you spend is maximised for growth.
This is exactly what my client eventually did when they brought me in. After evaluating the existing SEO efforts, we pivoted away from low-impact rankings and redirected the budget toward customer research and demand-driven marketing initiatives that actually delivered leads. Likewise, we sunset the underused chatbot and reallocated efforts toward optimising real customer touchpoints that improved engagement. Without this intervention, the business would have continued wasting money and missing key growth opportunities.
Protect Your Business by Having a Marketing Representative
Marketing is an investment, and like any investment, it requires oversight. Without a dedicated marketing representative representing your business’s interests, you risk inefficiencies, wasted budgets, and misaligned strategies.
The solution? Always have someone responsible for ensuring freelancers and agencies deliver what truly matters—real, sustainable business growth. Whether it’s an internal team member or an external partner, this marketing representative will protect your interests, demand accountability, and drive better results.