Marketing Is Loud. Results Are Quiet. What John Dwyer Gets Right About What Actually Works

Marketing today is everywhere. Louder, faster, more automated than at any point in history.

And yet, for most businesses, it works less than ever.

That contradiction sits at the heart of my recent conversation with John Dwyer on the Localization Fireside Chat. John has spent decades in direct response marketing, working with brands like McDonald’s, KFC, 7-Eleven, and famously securing Jerry Seinfeld for one of the very few advertising campaigns he ever agreed to do.

What makes John interesting is not the logos. It’s the clarity. He strips marketing back to first principles and exposes where most companies quietly lose money while telling themselves a comforting story.

The Big Lie: “Half My Marketing Works, I Just Don’t Know Which Half”

One of the first things John challenges is a line that has been repeated in boardrooms for decades: “50% of my marketing is wasted, I just don’t know which 50%.”

According to John, that excuse no longer holds. Today, almost everything can be tracked. If a business doesn’t know what a lead costs, where it came from, or whether it converts, that isn’t a tooling problem. It’s a leadership problem.

Too many companies are running marketing that looks good, sounds good, and feels busy, while avoiding the uncomfortable discipline of measurement.

Marketing becomes noise. Results stay quiet.

Brand Without Response Is a Dangerous Illusion

A recurring theme in the conversation is the way “brand building” is often used to avoid accountability.

Brand matters. But brand without response is not strategy. It’s hope.

John is blunt about this, especially for small and mid-sized businesses. Global brands can afford to spend years reinforcing awareness. Most companies cannot. If marketing does not generate a measurable response, whether that is a call, a click, a lead, or a sale, it becomes very difficult to justify continued spend.

As John puts it, marketing should make the phone ring. If it doesn’t, something is wrong.

Why Most Businesses Don’t Know Their Cost Per Lead

One of the most practical and revealing parts of the discussion centers on cost per lead. John has seen companies spending enormous sums on marketing without any real understanding of what a lead actually costs them.

This is where the gap between activity and effectiveness becomes obvious. Campaigns run. Content gets published. Agencies report impressions and engagement. But when asked a simple question, “What does one qualified lead cost you?”, many leaders cannot answer.

Without that number, optimization is impossible. Decisions become subjective. Budgets drift. Marketing becomes theater.

The Jerry Seinfeld Story Isn’t About Celebrity

The Seinfeld campaign is often treated as a fun anecdote, but John reframes it as a lesson in judgment. Jerry didn’t say yes because of money. He said yes because the idea was creative, human, and grounded in a real offer that made sense.

The takeaway isn’t “get a celebrity.” The takeaway is understand what actually motivates people to respond. Humor, credibility, clarity, and relevance still matter. Technology does not replace that. It only amplifies it.

Podcasts, Trust, and the Long Game

John also shares why podcasts have become such an effective channel for him. Unlike webinars or ads, podcasts create a space for real conversation. They allow trust to build over time.

That trust translates into action. Not every time. Not instantly. But consistently enough to matter.

It’s a reminder that while tactics evolve, human behavior does not change as fast as marketing platforms do.

Marketing Is Not Broken. Discipline Is Missing.

If there is one throughline in the conversation, it’s this: marketing does not fail because it is hard. It fails because leaders avoid clarity.

Measurable response forces honesty. It exposes weak offers, broken funnels, and unprepared operations. That can be uncomfortable. But it’s also where growth actually begins.

Marketing is loud. Results are quiet. The job of leadership is to close that gap.

Watch or Listen to the Episode

🎥 Watch the full video episode on YouTube:

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About Localization Fireside Chat

Localization Fireside Chat is an unscripted podcast exploring leadership, growth, technology, and execution with operators who have actually been in the arena.

Hosted by Robin Ayoub.