The Loneliest Job in the Building

What invisibility costs marketers - and the ten minutes that changed it

For weeks, nobody knew I was there.

I came in the back door every morning, hung a left, and my office was right there. I never had to walk through the building. Never had to see anyone. And honestly? Nobody noticed.

That’s a strange thing to sit with when you’re working your tail off.

Not ignored. Just… invisible.

If you’re a marketer right now - especially if you’re carrying the whole function yourself - you might know exactly what I mean.

They See the Poster. They Don’t See You.

A campaign rolls out. New poster goes up in the lobby.

Someone walks past, glances at it and says “oh, that’s nice” - and keeps walking.

What they don’t see is the strategy behind it. The research. The business goal it’s meant to move.

The audience thinking, the approvals, the five versions that didn’t make it.

They see the pretty. They don’t see the thinking.

And when that happens often enough, something starts to shift inside you.

What Invisible Actually Does to You

First comes the frustration. The quiet kind that builds when you know how much went into something and all you get back is a passing glance.

Then the tension. Because when coworkers don’t understand what you do, they fill in the blanks themselves. Marketing is fluff. Anyone could do that. Must be nice to play with Canva all day.

You hear it enough - or just feel it - and you start to wonder.

Am I actually making a difference? Or am I just checking boxes?

That’s where it gets dangerous. Because a marketer who loses connection to the purpose behind the work stops leading and starts reacting. Stops asking why. Just gets things done.

Task by task. Request by request.

Eventually some of them leave. And the organization never quite understands what walked out the door.

What Changed It For Me

I didn’t come up with some brilliant strategy.

I watched a general manager I worked with do something I hadn’t seen many leaders do. Every morning he walked through the building. Stopped at desks. Asked real questions. Remembered what people told him.

And you could feel it - the way people talked about him, showed up for him, trusted him.

I remember thinking: I could do that. Title doesn’t matter.

So after I came in the back door, got settled and turned on my computer - I started spending ten minutes walking around saying good morning. Not rushing. Actually stopping. Asking about someone’s family, their weekend, something that made them smile before the day got going.

I went looking for visibility.

What I didn’t expect was getting my purpose back.

When you know the people you’re serving - when you see their faces and hear what matters to them - the work stops feeling like tasks on a list. It starts meaning something again.

The Question That Did More Than Any Presentation

Sometimes on those walkabouts I’d bring something marketing forward.

Or I’d print something off and stop at someone’s desk and say “hey, can you look at this for five seconds and tell me what you see?”

That question changed things more than any formal meeting I ever sat in.

Because asking for someone’s opinion gives them a small piece of ownership. They feel connected to the work. And people support what they feel connected to.

Slowly, the invisible marketer in the back office became someone the building actually knew.

What If You’re Not in the Building?

Maybe you’re remote. Maybe you serve multiple locations. Maybe there’s no building to walk through.

Same idea. Different door.

A Slack message asking for someone’s take on something you’re working on. A quick Teams note that has nothing to do with a deadline. A “thinking of you on this one - can I get your opinion?”

The point was never the walk. It was choosing to show up before you need something.

One More Thing

Those ten minutes eventually grew into something more structural - a cross-departmental team where every area of the business shared what was coming and marketing finally had a seat at the table from the start.

But that came later.

The human connection came first. That order mattered.

Your One Thing This Week

Take ten minutes.

Show up somewhere unexpected. Send a message that isn’t about a deadline. Ask someone what they think.

Do it again the next day.

That’s where it starts. Not with a strategy deck or a formal presentation. With you, choosing to be seen.

I spent a long time in that back office. If you're there right now and you can't quite see the way through, I'd genuinely love to talk. Not because I have a tidy answer, but because sometimes it helps to have someone who remembers what it felt like. Let's connect.

Keep on being amazing,

Lyanne

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Marketing shouldn’t feel like guesswork.

If you’re tired of feeling invisible in your organization, you’re in the right place. My goal is to help you create a clear, strategic marketing presence that works - so you can stop scrambling and start leading.

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To your success,

Lyanne