Colouring-In Department - Rethinking the Role of Marketing

“We’re not graphic designers, and we’re not just here to make things look pretty. But no matter how much I explain or demonstrate that my team can contribute to the company’s growth and make money, it doesn’t change people’s view that we’re just the colouring-in department.” — Senior marketer in social care, 2024

It’s a line I’ve heard more than once - sometimes as a joke, sometimes in exasperation. Occasionally, even from marketers themselves. But the sentiment behind it is always the same: a deep frustration that the full value of marketing is being missed.

In a sector as complex, human, and high-stakes as social care, we desperately need functions that can help us connect, communicate, differentiate, and engage. And yet, marketing is still routinely misunderstood, underutilised, and positioned as little more than the creative department - a place to send things when they need “jazzing up.”

When perception becomes limitation

As part of my MSc dissertation, I explored how marketing is perceived and positioned within UK social care organisations. Through interviews with marketing leaders and a survey of 78 non-marketing managers, a clear picture emerged: marketing is seen, first and foremost, as a tactical, executional function.

In fact, 74% of respondents said their marketing teams were involved in graphic design.

Only 35.9% believed marketing had a role to play in organisational strategy or planning.

To be clear, this doesn’t mean graphic design isn’t valuable — of course it is. But when design becomes the main thing people associate with marketing, we have a problem. Because it shows that marketing is being defined not by what it can do, but by what it’s allowed to do.

In other words: if marketing is only ever asked to create flyers, tweak fonts, or “do a social post,” it’s no wonder people think that’s all it does.

The impact of under-positioning

This narrow positioning has consequences.

When marketing is left out of strategic conversations, organisations miss opportunities to leverage insight, shape reputation, engage key audiences, and drive real cultural and commercial outcomes. Worse still, they risk treating marketing as a service function — a sort of internal agency to make things look good — rather than a strategic partner that could be helping to make things work better.

It’s a missed opportunity that shows up everywhere. In recruitment. In staff engagement. In service differentiation. In brand trust. In stakeholder communications. In growth.

Marketing, when used properly, can help tackle some of the biggest challenges social care organisations face. Let’s look at just a few:

Recruitment and retention

We’re all aware of the recruitment crisis in care — but marketing is often overlooked as part of the solution. Employer branding, storytelling, and internal culture-building are all tools in the marketer’s kit. Yet in many organisations, those responsibilities sit elsewhere, or are picked up ad hoc.

If we let marketing lead on shaping how it feels to work at your organisation — and give them the tools and access to do so — we stand a much better chance of attracting (and keeping) the right people.

Internal engagement and organisational culture

In sectors like social care, where staff connection and morale directly affect service quality, internal marketing is critical. Yet many still see “internal comms” as a separate, operational concern — a series of email bulletins or updates. But the best marketing teams go further. They bring the organisational purpose to life for staff. They help create pride, connection, and clarity around values and identity. That doesn’t just help engagement; it improves outcomes.

Service growth and differentiation

Social care is a competitive and often saturated market, particularly in areas like supported living or complex needs services. If you can’t articulate clearly who you are, what you offer, and why someone should choose you — you’ll get lost in the noise. Marketing should be at the heart of that conversation. It’s not about spinning a story. It’s about owning your identity and using that to grow your reputation, build trust, and support sustainable growth.

Marketing as a strategic resource — or an afterthought?

One of the most significant findings from my research was how strongly the presence of senior marketing leadership correlated with more strategic use of marketing overall.

In organisations where marketing had leadership-level representation (e.g. Marketing Director or equivalent), marketing was far more likely to be involved in strategic planning, to be recognised as a critical business function, and to be valued for more than its creative output. In fact, 100% of those with senior marketing leadership agreed that marketing contributed to strategic planning, compared with just 11.8% in organisations without it.

This makes intuitive sense. If marketing isn’t represented at the top table, it won’t influence top-table decisions. But more than that — it won’t be viewed as belonging there in the first place.

That becomes a vicious cycle: marketing is left out of strategy because it’s not seen as strategic, and it’s not seen as strategic because it’s left out of strategy.

What leaders need to know

If you’re a senior leader in social care — especially if you’re not from a marketing background — here’s the key takeaway:

Perception follows positioning.

If your marketing team is only ever tasked with visuals and social posts, that’s all their role will ever appear to be. But if you bring them into conversations about growth, culture, recruitment, or service design, you might be surprised at what they can offer.

Marketers are not just creators — they’re connectors. They’re experts in understanding people, in communicating clearly, in building trust, in creating emotional resonance, and in shaping how your organisation is perceived — by staff, families, commissioners, regulators, and the general public.

That matters.

And if you’re facing challenges with any of the following:

• Recruiting and retaining great staff

• Gaining referrals or standing out in a crowded marketplace

• Communicating clearly with stakeholders

• Building internal culture and pride

• Strengthening your reputation…

…then chances are, your marketing team can help. If you let them.

Let’s retire the colouring pencils

No marketer minds being asked to make things look good (well, at least I don't!). It’s part of the job. But when that becomes the only job, something important is lost.

Let’s move beyond the “colouring-in department” belief. Let’s start involving marketing in the real work — the strategic thinking, the internal change, the long-term planning — and give the function the remit it needs to make a real difference.

Marketing doesn’t just change how things look.

It changes how things feel.

And ultimately, how they perform.

That’s too important to leave on the sidelines.