More Isn’t Always Better: Rethinking Your Marketing Volume Problem

When engagement starts to slip, the instinct is often to do more. More events. More emails. More content. But here’s the truth that most teams eventually learn the hard way: More isn’t better. Better is better.

Too often, organizations equate quantity with value. If the audience isn’t showing up, it must mean we’re not doing enough, right?

Wrong. Sometimes, people aren’t engaging because the events and communications you’re producing don’t match what they need — not because they need more of them. Let’s look at how this plays out in two common areas of overproduction: events and email.

Your Events Calendar Might Be Killing Your Strategy

Have you fallen into the trap of the never-ending event treadmill? Webinars, info sessions, lunch-and-learns, member meetups, summits — all stacked week after week in a crowded calendar.

What begins as an attempt to offer value quickly turns into a blur of activity with diminishing returns.

The Hidden Costs of Overproduction

• Team fatigue from constantly producing and promoting events
• Diluted messaging and inconsistent brand experiences
• Decreased audience attention from email overload and choice fatigue
• Wasted budget and resources on low-performing programs
• Missed opportunities to scale what’s working

Every event demands effort — content planning, design, logistics, promotion, follow-up — and most importantly, it asks something of your audience: their attention. If you overwhelm them with too much, they start tuning everything out.

“If your audience can’t keep up, neither can your message.”

The Email Treadmill Is Just as Bad

Email marketing isn’t dead. But in many organizations, it’s broken.

You know the cycle: reactive requests, endless revisions, one-off messages with no real strategy. The result? Overwhelmed teams and underwhelming results.

Why Email Breaks Down

• Requests come in fast, often without context or purpose
• Every email feels like a one-off, disconnected from a broader strategy
• Design and content are reinvented every time — creating inefficiency and inconsistency

Sound familiar?

Email should be your amplifier, not your bottleneck. But like events, more emails don’t mean better engagement — especially when they’re scattered, rushed, or irrelevant.

So What’s the Fix? Do Less — But Do It Better

It’s time to stop reacting and start refining. Here’s how to escape the trap of “more” and make your marketing mean more.

1. Align Everything to Strategy

Whether it’s an event or an email, tie each effort to a clear goal. Ask:

• Does this support a key campaign or business objective?
• Is this solving a real need for our audience?

If not, say no. Your calendar should reflect focus, not FOMO.

2. Prioritize Audience Relevance

Create for the people you’re trying to reach — not just to satisfy internal requests. Use data, feedback, and past behavior to guide what you produce.

Quality beats quantity every time.

3. Simplify Your Systems

For events:

• Audit past performance. Cut what’s not working.
• Double down on formats that drive real outcomes.

For email:

• Use modular templates to streamline production.
• Reuse and automate top performers instead of constantly starting from scratch.

4. Build in Breathing Room

Your audience needs space to absorb and respond. When you bombard them, everything blends into background noise.

Let your best messages stand out by giving them room to breathe.

The Real Win: Saying “No” With Confidence

Simplicity is a skill. And it often requires leadership to resist the urge to add “just one more” event or email to the plan.

When you shift your mindset from “more” to “meaningful,” your audience notices,  and so does your team.