You know your marketing. That’s not in question.
You’ve sat through “strategic thinking” workshops that made you feel inadequate. You’ve tried “executive presence” training that felt like gaslighting. You work harder, refine your campaigns and perfect your data.
And yet: Your budget gets cut, your input is optional, and Sales goes around you to the CEO.
The problem isn’t your competence; it’s the system.
The Real Problem: You’re Starting From Zero
Here is the pattern you are living:
You help Product with customer insights. They say thank you. Two weeks later, you need their roadmap input. Silence.
You send Sales competitive intel. They appreciate it. Next month, you need their support for a campaign and everyone is too busy.
You make deposits constantly. But when you need something, you’re starting from zero every single time.
This happens because you think if you prove your value, stakeholders will recognize it and include you. But recognition isn’t the same as influence. And value isn’t the same as authority.
You’re making tactical deposits by helping with their projects, but you aren’t building strategic currency. You aren’t becoming someone they can’t decide without.
That’s not a you problem. That’s a Market Your Marketing problem.
The Advice That Doesn’t Work
You’ve received all the advice:
“Be more assertive in meetings” – this assumes you are a pushover
“Think more strategically” – this assumes you don’t understand strategy
“Build better relationships” – this assumes you aren’t trying
All of this advice assumes you are the problem. If you just “fixed” yourself, stakeholders would suddenly listen.
The truth is that competent, strategic, and relationship-building marketers are often overlooked every day.
Skills Gap: You don’t know how to do your job well
Influence Gap: You can’t get people to act on what you know
You don’t have a skills gap. You have an influence gap.
Influence gaps require influence tools. Not competence tools.
The difference:
- Skills gap = Learn better marketing
- Influence gap = Learn how humans make decisions
Dr. Robert Cialdini spent 60+ years studying what makes people say “yes.” His seven principles of persuasion aren’t marketing tactics. They’re human psychology, so they work just as powerfully with internal stakeholders as they do with customers.
The Research That Changes Everything
Here is what’s interesting about Dr. Cialdini’s research.
Studies show that reciprocity proves most influential across all personality types and contexts. This means when you can’t personalize your approach, going first with value works universally.
In high-stakes decisions like budget approvals, social proof becomes particularly effective. Authority and scarcity, while valuable, were the least influential across different personalities.
These principles aren’t a manipulative trick. They are how human decision-making works. And internal stakeholders are making decisions about you and your marketing every day.
How This Works
So, how do you use these principles when your VP of Product won’t include you in roadmap planning? Or when your CFO keeps cutting your budget?
Here’s what we’re covering:
To get into the conversation:
- Reciprocity: The psychological bank account that stops you from starting at zero
- Liking: The side entrance when the front door is locked
- Unity: One word that turns critics into collaborators
To drive action and momentum:
- Commitment & Consistency: The 64% solution for stakeholders who agree but never follow through
- Scarcity: Why your CFO cares more about loss than gain
To build lasting credibility:
- Authority: The trust accelerator that makes skeptics believe everything else you say
- Social Proof: How to get proof when you don’t have proof yet
What You Need to Apply These Principles and Be “Monday-Ready”
The psychology: Why this principle works (deep enough to adapt to your situation)
The problem it solves: Your specific stakeholder challenge
Different stakeholder types: How to adjust for the different stakeholders
The Monday play: One specific thing to test this week
What success looks like: How to know it’s working
In the next several articles, we’ll dive further into the principles to explore the answers to these.
Your marketing is brilliant. Your strategies are sound. Your execution is solid. The only thing standing between you and the influence you deserve is a framework for persuasion.
The choice: Keep trying to solve an influence gap with competence. Or learn how to Market Your Marketing using the psychology of persuasion.
Next week: Why you keep starting from zero with stakeholders—and the psychological bank account that fixes it. The reciprocity principle, explained for internal marketers who are tired of being ignored.
This is Part 1 of a 9-part series applying Dr. Robert Cialdini’s persuasion principles to internal marketing challenges. Each week focuses on one principle with tactical, Monday-ready applications.
Elizabeth Humphries helps marketing teams ‘Market Your Marketing’ to internal stakeholders to help create respect, support and drive better marketing outcomes.
