Can Marketing Save Your Company?

Marketing budgets are shrinking, yet expectations of marketing are increasing. Many companies even believe that some new marketing program or initiative will save their company.

These companies tend to think that marketing and branding can increase sales and revenue. That is partially true. Marketing and branding can contribute to your company's financial success, but they are only pieces of a much larger puzzle.

Marketing Alone Can't Save Your Company

Because these companies place too much weight on marketing, they feel that if they spend money on marketing, they should get new sales as a direct result. In B2C online sales, this could be possible. But, in complex B2B sales, it doesn't work because, although essential, marketing is merely a tool and an approach.

A company, armed with new marketing and branding tools, should start communicating, selling, and operating better. These tools are almost like another employee of the company. They can assist the sales force in communication, but they can't do all the work.

Understanding Marketing ROI

The majority of complaints about low marketing ROI are really rooted in this misunderstanding of marketing as a tool vs. marketing as the "magic sales machine". Measuring marketing dollars going out and sales dollars coming in could certainly give the impression that marketing is a waste of money. Investment in marketing should be seen as an investment in the long-term value of the brand. Brands take time to build and therefore cannot be viewed as a "get rich quick" effort. As the old saying goes, "Rome wasn’t built in a day."

Because this is a long-term proposition, we must be careful not to overreact when analyzing marketing ROI. An effort to save money by cutting corners today can build a shaky foundation for the future. Sometimes it may be better to spend nothing on marketing efforts than to spend money on the wrong things or on sub par marketing initiatives. Saving money for a more impactful effort down the road or investing in the sales force might be a better idea.

Changing Our Expectations

Without the willingness to change the approach, marketing will always be considered a waste of money. How can we change our approach? We must be willing to adopt new marketing efforts and tools without immediate expectations. We must view marketing as a means to an end. It will illuminate the path to success, but will not necessarily take you there.

If we can really start to understand what our marketing is teaching us about how to run our businesses, it will be the best investment we can make.