Why Marketing Feels Harder Than It Should on Small Teams

Marketing isn’t supposed to feel this exhausting.

Yet for a lot of small teams, it does. Not because the people aren’t capable. Not because the work isn’t important. But because too much is being asked of too few, without enough clarity or support to make it sustainable.

I see this all the time in my work with higher ed and edtech teams. Smart people. Thoughtful leaders. Good intentions. And still, marketing feels heavier than it should.

Here’s why.

It’s not a talent problem

When marketing feels hard, the default assumption is often that something is missing — more skills, more tools, more training.

In reality, most small teams are already doing a lot right. They understand their audiences. They care deeply about the work. They’re juggling priorities with limited time and resources.

The issue usually isn’t capability. It’s capacity and clarity.

Too many priorities, not enough decisions

One of the biggest contributors to marketing burnout is the lack of clear decisions.

When everything is important:

• nothing gets finished cleanly

• timelines stretch

• feedback loops multiply

• ownership gets blurry

Marketing becomes reactive instead of intentional. Teams spend more time managing requests than moving work forward.

This isn’t a motivation issue. It’s a structure issue.

More tools don’t fix capacity

It’s tempting to believe the next platform, feature, or workflow will solve the problem.

Sometimes tools help. Often, they don’t.

Without the time and support to implement them thoughtfully, new tools can actually add friction. They create more places to manage content, more decisions to make, and more expectations to meet.

Technology can support good marketing.It can’t replace focus, prioritization, or human judgment.

What actually helps

In my experience, marketing starts to feel lighter when a few things shift:

• Fewer initiatives, chosen intentionally

• Clear ownership of decisions and execution

• Alignment around what doesn’t need to happen

• Outside perspective when teams are too close to the work

None of this requires doing more. It requires doing less — more clearly.

Marketing doesn’t need to be louder to work better

Small teams don’t need to hustle harder or publish more content just to keep up.

They need clarity. They need support that matches reality. And they need permission to simplify without guilt.

When marketing feels harder than it should, that’s usually a signal — not a failure.

If this sounds familiar, this is exactly the kind of work I help teams untangle.