By Vicky Sidler | Published 30 August 2025 at 12:00 GMT+2

If you’ve ever stared at your campaign metrics like they were a Sudoku puzzle written in Sanskrit, you’re not alone. According to Mark Lodwick, Director of Brand Experience at Intuit Mailchimp, the question that haunts marketers of all sizes is, “Am I doing the right things?”

Spoiler: doubt is normal. The problem is staying there.

In a wide-ranging conversation with Tim Healey of Little Grey Cells (published in The Drum), Lodwick gave small businesses a much-needed sigh of relief. Even at the billion-dollar brand level, marketing doesn’t come with a cheat sheet. But there are ways to quiet the panic, focus your energy, and get back to solving real customer problems.

TL;DR

• Even big brands ask, “Are we doing this right?”

• Mailchimp uses doubt to fuel clarity and customer focus

• AI is powerful, but only when it solves real problems

• Great marketing starts by solving one thing well

• Simplicity beats shiny every time

Need help getting your message right? Download the 5-Minute Marketing Fix.

Table of Contents

When Everyone Feels Like a Fraud (You're Not Broken):

Lodwick’s research-backed insight is refreshingly human. Whether you're a solo operator or part of a global brand team, that gnawing feeling that you might be off-track is universal.

In Mailchimp’s customer research, marketers kept repeating the same line: “I don’t know if I’m doing the right things.” Not “I need more budget.” Not “I need a better CRM.” Just a quiet, persistent uncertainty.

It’s the kind of thing no one puts on a slide deck but everyone feels after a disappointing click-through rate.

The takeaway? Self-doubt isn’t a red flag. It’s a prompt to refocus.

“The work we admire most is often incredibly simple,” Lodwick says. “That simplicity is usually the result of distilling a complex problem into something clear and resonant.”

Translation: Marketing clarity isn’t about doing more. It’s about getting better at solving the right problem.

Don’t Confuse Data With Direction:

One of Mailchimp’s most memorable recent campaigns was called “The Clustomer.” Picture a big, tangled ball of customer data. Now picture yourself inside it with a flashlight and a deadline.

Marketers, it turns out, are drowning in information but starving for insight.

Lodwick’s team realised the real challenge wasn’t access to data—it was knowing what to do with it. That insight drove the campaign, which helped reposition Mailchimp not just as a tool, but as a problem-solver.

And that’s the lesson for small businesses too: having more data doesn’t help unless you have a plan to act on it. Simpler is often smarter.

Use AI to Clarify, Not Complicate:

Lodwick is realistic about AI. He’s not buying into the hype, but he’s not ignoring it either.

Yes, Mailchimp is using generative AI to help speed up content creation. But no, they’re not outsourcing judgment.

If the tech helps them organise data and communicate more clearly, great. If it just creates more noise, it’s out.

For small business owners: think of AI like a power drill. Helpful if you're building something. Pointless if you're still deciding what to build.

Here’s Lodwick’s rule of thumb: “Can it create work we’re proud of and confident putting out into the world?” If not, skip it.

The Real Job—Solve One Problem Well:

According to Lodwick, the best marketing advice is deceptively simple:

“Every customer has a problem, so the key question becomes: what can we do that uniquely solves it?”

Marketing isn’t about going viral or being clever. It’s about solving something real for someone specific.

And that’s exactly what most small businesses forget when they get stuck chasing competitors, trends, or the latest “must-have” platform.

Your job is not to impress other marketers. Your job is to help your customer make a decision they feel good about.

Build Teams That Talk to Each Other:

Even within Mailchimp, siloed work is a risk. Lodwick calls it out directly: “How aware is this group of what’s going on outside their own lane?”

To fix this, his team runs quarterly “forums” where anyone—whether in product, creative, or strategy—can share what they’re working on, even if it’s messy or half-baked.

Sometimes they even present personal passion projects unrelated to work.

It’s not a kumbaya session. It’s a deliberate strategy to build trust, spark cross-pollination, and stop people from hiding behind Slack and email.

If you're a small team, try doing this monthly. You don’t need a budget. You just need a chair and 30 minutes to talk like actual humans.

At Strategic Marketing Tribe, we do this every week over Zoom.

Not Everything Needs to Scale:

Lodwick points out that not every AI tool is worth keeping. Some will work. Some will flop. That’s fine.

Try, assess, discard. Don’t force it.

The lesson here is to treat marketing like a lab, not a factory. You don’t need to industrialise everything. You need to test enough to learn, then focus on what works.

That means:

• Ignore the tech FOMO

• Solve your customer’s real problem

• Share ideas across the team

• Simplify where possible

• Stick with what’s clear and helpful

Still feel unsure sometimes? Good. That means you’re thinking.

Not Every Idea Has to Be a Winner

One of my favorite lines from our own weekly team check-in is this:

“We’re some crazy mofos who love experimenting with new shit, and we’re not afraid to admit when it was a kak idea.”

For the non-South Africans, "kak" means "shit"—and yes, we say it with love.

Because here’s the truth: if you’re not willing to test things that might fail, you’re not going to find the stuff that actually works. Lodwick gets this. His take on AI isn’t about hype or perfection. It’s about trying things, seeing what sticks, and being okay with the mess that comes with making progress.

The goal isn’t to get it right the first time. The goal is to learn faster than the next guy. That’s how real marketing clarity shows up—not from certainty, but from movement.

StoryBrand Meets Mailchimp:

As a StoryBrand Certified Guide, I’ve seen hundreds of small businesses tie themselves in knots trying to market everything to everyone. The fix? Get crystal clear on what problem you solve, for whom, and why it matters.

Mailchimp's Clustomer campaign is a great example of this. They didn’t just say “better segmentation.” They showed it. Visually. Memorably. Relatably.

That’s what good marketing does. It makes the customer feel seen. And more importantly, it makes them believe you can help.

If you want help simplifying your message and cutting through the noise, that’s what the 5-Minute Marketing Fix is for.

👉 Download it for free here

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FAQs on Doing the “Right” Marketing Things

Why do so many marketers feel like they’re doing it wrong?

Because marketing is messy. The landscape changes weekly and everyone feels behind. Doubt isn’t failure—it’s a sign to refocus.

What did Mailchimp learn from their customers?

That nearly everyone—regardless of company size—is unsure how to segment audiences properly or apply customer data meaningfully.

What should I do if I feel overwhelmed by AI tools?

Pick one task. If AI can help do that faster or better, use it. If it adds confusion or clutter, don’t.

What does “solving the right problem” mean?

It means identifying your customer’s actual pain point and showing how your product or service helps with that. Not everything. Just that.

How can I simplify my message?

Use the5-Minute Marketing Fix. It’s free, fast, and helps you clarify what to say and how to say it.