The operational alignment: Stopping the “leaks” and aligning sales with marketing

Most companies enter a new market by jumping straight into the “cool” stuff: AI tools, social media posts, and flashy ads. While this feels like progress, it is often just noise. You find yourself firefighting daily surprises instead of building a sustainable legacy. Think about it: Marketing promises a marriage, ...

Continue reading

Hurry slowly: Why copy-paste marketing fails in international markets

Cross-border growth is rarely a straight line. Spring 2026 in Riga, I sat down with leaders and exporters at the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to discuss a topic often avoided in boardrooms: marketing mistakes. In cinematography, a mistake is simply a “mis-take”. It means the scene did not ...

Continue reading

Why 70% of CEOs donā€™t trust marketing (and the framework to reclaim ROI)

In 2015, I stood in the boardroom of a major bank. Our agency turnover had hit 2 million euros, and I was presenting a report full of green arrows: reach was up, engagement was soaring, and our designs were beautiful. Then the CEO leaned forward and asked: “Mari-Liis, how is ...

Continue reading

Why Marketing Messages Fail Without Communication Literacy

The most frustrating experience for any marketer is watching a perfectly crafted campaign fail to land. You may have the data, the strategy, and the creative assets in place, yet the audience still misses the point. Usually, this happens because of a breakdown in the “final mile” of delivery. Marketing ...

Continue reading

From Introvert to Master Connector: 4 Pillars of Authentic Networking

The modern business landscape is currently facing a digital trust crisis. Inboxes and social feeds are saturated with automated outreach, making it harder than ever to build genuine rapport with a target audience. While efficiency is a valuable goal, technology cannot replace the human-to-human connection that serves as the foundation ...

Continue reading

Where Can I Connect with Other Marketing Managers Dealing with Burnout in 2026

Marketing burnout reached crisis levels in 2026: 65% of managers feel overwhelmed, over half are emotionally exhausted from endless campaigns, metrics pressure, and always-on demands. If you’re a marketing manager spinning through stakeholder fires, content treadmills, and creative droughts, that isolation amplifies the exhaustion. You need peers who get marketing’s chaos. Where can I ...

Continue reading