Why corporates with 15 marketing people still outsource and still fail.
By Amantha Perera
Let me ask you a question that no businessman wants to answer honestly. Why are you paying over Rs. 250,000 a month for a Marketing Executive or even a Head of Marketing, then building a team of ten to fifteen people under them, and still outsourcing almost your entire marketing function to an agency? What exactly are you paying your internal marketing team for?
- Emails
- Meetings
- PowerPoint decks
- Brand guideline PDFs
- Internal alignment calls
Because if your agency is doing the thinking, the creative direction, the campaigns, the execution, the posting, the ads, the reporting, and the growth, then your internal marketing department is nothing more than a salary expense with Canva access. And this is not an exception. This is corporate culture. Most companies are structured like this and no one questions it because it feels safe. It looks professional. It sounds correct in boardrooms. But it does not work. Here is the truth that nobody wants to say out loud. Most corporate marketing teams are trained to be safe, not effective.
- They are trained to protect the brand image.
- They are trained to follow brand tone documents.
- They are trained to submit work for approvals.
- They are trained to avoid controversy.
- They are trained to look professional.
They are not trained to win attention. So, what do we end up with? Marketing that looks nice but does absolutely nothing for revenue. Clean grids. Perfect colour grading. Beautiful captions. Zero impact. Because in 2026, marketing is not about looking premium. Marketing is about being present. And presence cannot be outsourced fully. Marketing should never be fully outsourced. I said what I said.
- Marketing is not decoration.
- Marketing is not content.
- Marketing is not posting twelve times a month and calling it strategy.
Marketing is operations. Marketing is happening every single day whether you acknowledge it or not.
- It happens when customers walk into your store.
- It happens when your staff responds to a complaint.
- It happens when something is out of stock.
- It happens when the restaurant is full.
- It happens when the restaurant is empty.
- It happens when someone praises you.
- It happens when someone trashes you.
That is marketing. And guess what. An agency is not there for any of that.
- An agency is not standing inside your outlet at 7.45 PM when the crowd is losing their minds.
- An agency is not in the kitchen when your chef plates something insane.
- An agency is not in your showroom on a random Tuesday when it is unexpectedly packed.
- An agency is not there when staff energy is high or when morale is low.
Your brand is alive daily. So why is your marketing dead most days? This is where corporates get it wrong. They think it is either in house or agency. That is a false choice. The best brands do not choose between the two. They combine both. That is the cheat code. Here is the formula that actually grows brands. Your in-house marketing team must handle the heartbeat of the brand.
- Daily stories.
- Daily updates.
- Behind the scenes moments.
- Staff personalities.
- Customer interactions.
- Live energy.
- Quick trend content.
- Simple edits.
- Fast uploads.
Not everything needs to be cinematic. Not everything needs to be scripted. Not everything needs three rounds of approval. People do not follow brands to watch TV commercials. They follow brands to feel connected. They want to see real people. They want to see movement. They want to see energy. They want to feel like something is happening. Agencies on the other hand have a different role. Agencies should handle premium campaigns.
Scripted ads.
- Lead generation funnels.
- Product launch campaigns.
- Collection drops.
- Brand films.
- Heavy edits.
- High production.
- Paid performance content.
An agency is a weapon. But it is not your heartbeat. If your marketing looks perfect, it is probably useless. Some brands are so obsessed with looking premium that they forget the most important thing. Consumers trust what feels real. What builds trust today is not your perfectly curated feed.
It is stories.
- Behind the scenes clips.
- Casual updates.
- Raw videos.
- Phones held vertically.
- Bad lighting.
- Real sound.
- We are packed today.
- Kitchen is moving mad tonight.
- New stock just arrived.
- Behind the counter chaos.
That is what people actually watch. That is what people actually share. That is what people remember. And if your brand is not showing up there every day, you do not exist. You might think you exist because you see your logo everywhere. The market does not care. Attention is rented daily. Miss a day, someone else takes it. Look at brands that are doing it properly. Look at Carnage. Look at Spa Ceylon. They understand this game.
- They have big drops that are shot properly.
- They have collections that are planned and executed.
- They have scripted content with intention.
- They have campaigns that scream structure.
And they still run their daily content like a living, breathing organism. You will never open their Instagram and see silence. There is always a story. Always something happening. That is what a functional brand looks like. Not a premium brand. A functional brand. A brand that understands attention does not care about your brand guidelines. Let me make this very clear for every businessman reading this. You can have the best product in the country. But if your marketing is bad, you will sell it to nobody. Because the market does not reward quality. The market rewards visibility. The market rewards consistency. The market rewards brands that show up like they actually want to win. You can cry about how good your product is all day. Nobody will hear you if you are invisible. Here is the hard truth. Your marketing team is not a department. It is a revenue engine.
If your internal marketing team cannot create content daily, capture real moments, communicate offers fast, show energy, build community, and drive attention, then you do not have a marketing department. You have a design team. And there is nothing wrong with design. But do not confuse it with marketing. Final message to corporates. Stop outsourcing your entire voice. Stop treating marketing like an accessory. Stop hiring marketing people and then not letting them market. Stop hiding behind brand standards while your competitors eat your market share with an iPhone and personality. Because right now, people do not stalk brands through posts. People stalk brands through stories. And if your stories are dead, your business is dead too.
