Before we get into the particulars around marketing debt, let’s start higher up and align on what does debt mean and then we’ll ladder down to business debt and finally we can talk to some specifics related to marketing debt.
Debt at 30,000 Feet
Don’t blame me if you don’t like the definition, and I promised we’d start high level, so at least I’ve kept my word on that.
Often questions around debt tend to live in areas like “is there such a thing as good debt” and debt as perhaps a “necessary evil.” I’m not here to argue (or agree) with money experts but from a household perspective, the ability to accrue debt has been one of the largest and most impactful wealth creators of the modern age – specifically what I have in mind is the home mortgage. So I think we can all see how in some cases debt can be good, and while in others debt can create drag – think about the phrase “drowning in debt” and now apply to a mortgage that has gone upside down or perhaps an earning situation changes for the worse. Okay, we get it. Let’s move on.
Business Debt at 30,000 Feet
Typically when referring to debt in a business setting the first place we land is around money, or more particularly money owed by the business to somewhere else. And from here, depending on how you roll there are all kinds of other interesting business debts to explore. If you want to read about other non-money types of debt that a business can incur (such as technical debt, data management data, product develop debt) go ahead and skip on over to this article from CIO.com – if this is some new territory before we talk specifics around marketing debt, go ahead and take a read – I promise my feelings won’t get hurt. And yes, it being 2025, the article does also mention “Ai Debt!”
So here we are – roughly 300 words in and the article is barely getting started!
Marketing Debt Explained
So let’s formally begin. Marketing Debt explained.
Marketing that in some way has a long-term cost.
Simple enough. You did something and now for whatever reason in some way it continues to have an influence on your next. Could be a hard cost. Could be something more of a people cost. Or even a decision cost; you pick path A, and suddenly path B is what all the cool kids are doing…
So before we cover if this is good or bad (and yes, often it is good, and also often it continues to be good until suddenly it is no longer good…) let’s explore some scenarios to gain some more visibility around the challenge in front of us.
Marketing Technical Debt: This is probably the most obvious form of marketing debt. The team develops a complex, multi-layered thread. UTMs. Databases. Possibly a lake. Multiple streams. Likely a CMS, and CRM and then a bunch of other tools that your mouth is writing checks for that your body can’t possibly cash. Meet Frankenmarketing. We’ve all been there. You are probably there right now! The sunk cost is significant. All the meetings, the scoping, building the API calls. You get it. No turning back now.
Marketing Design Debt: That time when you decided that this will be the last time you redo your X (could be your design, could be your Go-To-Market framework, your marketing personas…) Meetings and then more meetings. Arguments and hurt feelings. Possibly even tears and stern looks across tables. No turning back from this one. The emotional and work debt needed to get past go is real and it is significant. Are you really going to walk away from all this effort and start over?
Marketing Cultural Debt: You rode the wave. Got from A to B and its amazing. The people and culture all came together to allow the organization to not only fight another day, but to prosper and possibly even to dominate. Good luck walking away from that!
And you get the idea. There are all kinds of spaces in marketing where if you look hard enough you will find marketing debt. And lots of it! And guess what – that is normal.
Is Marketing Debt Good?
OK – it’s easy to find pockets, or even large swaths of marketing debt. Doesn’t matter your size, your longevity or even what your organization does. Finding marketing debt is the easy part. Determining how you feel about it, and what you are going to do about – THAT is the hard stuff. So let’s dive in.
On one hand, as a marketer, a marketing team, a marketing department or even an enterprise, ideally you put in all kinds of effort up front the help you make sound decisions. And the higher the cost, the more thought you are going to put around the decision. This is particularly true for marketing as money is kind of funny in that once you spend it, well, its spent. So all this time, energy and effort is really intended to enforce better decision making.
On the other hand, simply put, things happen. Times change. Technologies continue to morph. And people leave – today’s champion might be tomorrow’s competitor. All normal stuff, and in theory change is a net positive. Except that change can also be an inhibitor, because after one change we can be pretty sure there are more changes to follow.
So this creates a bit of a paradox. Be super thoughtful and make great choices. Be open to change, it after all being a constant.
And suddenly we have a strong resistor to change – and that is of course where I see marketing debt come in to play.
My View on Marketing Debt
My personal view is that some marketing debt is healthy. If you are chasing every bouncing ball how can you really be in the game? But too much marketing debt can become a massive inhibitor.
Ultimately everyone needs to find their own comfort level on this space, but generally, at least around marketing if you are too wedded to your past, your ability to pivot to your future will be greatly limited.
And perhaps more importantly, if you are not having this type of discussion, you better hope that someone else in your company is!
Which starts to shift the dialogue more to business innovation and the comfort you might have with tried and true (at least for your organization) balanced against the need to be market-ready for your company’s future.
Going Back Up A Layer: Marketing Debt –> Business Debt
So if we start to ladder back up on the topic and begin to apply more generalized business language to re-examine marketing debt, we now have a strong dialogue to help facilitate how to better approach marketing debt.
When to accrue, when to double down, when to write-off, and even we to apply concept like a marketing debt restructure? And perhaps broadening out a bit, what is your marketing debt tolerance, and what might be considered a sustainable amount of marketing debt to carry? Applying business principles to marketing approaches!
Of course, when a business assumes debt of any kind, marketing or otherwise, there is also an expectation that over time the business will pay that debt down, and in the course of doing so, but taking on the debt the business will also realize near and long term returns on the debt in the forms of elements like capability, productivity and profitability. This is where where a business realizes the benefits of debts. And yes as is so often the case this is also where the pressure points live when entities put on ‘cost blinders’ and tend to have short term memories focuses on the most current timeline horizons while not fully being able (or willing) to maintain their resolve and maximize their returns on debt.
By having these types of conversations marketing can maintain credibility, and more importantly marketing can also engage with a wider internal ecosystem to come to a stronger and more sound decision around how best to manage marketing debt.
And yes, easier said than done!
Photo by Josie Weiss on Unsplash
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