I actually have a marketing degree. Shocking, I know.

And, believe or not, my four years taught me very little about real-world marketing concepts. It taught me literally zero things about digital marketing.

But, if there’s one thing I did learn, it was a lecture from my Marketing Concepts course during my final semester. This lesson has taught me how to talk about marketing investment to any client I work with — no matter if the budget is $500 or $50,000.

What Drives Sales?

Marketing.

When you say this to the savvy business owner or C-suite, they get it. Heads will nod and everyone will agree.

But, they often don’t behave in accordance with that mindset when the company isn’t doing well.

Instead, when sales are down, they cut their marketing budget.

The one area of your company designed to drive more sales is the one most frequently cut during tough times.

Why?

If you can’t breathe underwater, don’t waste your energy struggling — it’ll burn even more oxygen.

If your company is struggling — don’t cut off your dollars coming in to “save money”.

That’s silly.

It is the number one mistake that any struggling company makes.

Cut The Bad Marketing

Now, I’m not saying to keep every dollar in every marketing channel if your revenue is down and projections aren’t being met.

Cut bad marketing investments. That’s always a good idea — no matter the current state of your balance sheet. If there are investments that aren’t working, then work them out and instead add into channels that are.

This is why marketing analytics is so important. You need to have a detailed understanding of where sales are coming from and how investing into different channels impacts your bottom line.

Instead…

Always be looking out for new opportunities and know how to identify wasted marketing spend.

But, don’t cut off marketing when revenue is down.

Instead, always be evaluating and measuring. Trim the wasted dollars and invest in what works.