Marketing is usually the first to fall victim to a budget slash when growth has stalled, usually, because it’s the most visible line in the budget and least understood by the powers-that-be who are slashing said budget.
When revenue is flat, or it’s slipping, marketing feels the easiest thing to switch off and it’s rarely anybody’s job to defend why we’re spending on what.
So often it’s cut, paused or deprioritised - and three months later, the same conversation happens again - because marketing was never the problem at all.
Now, this isn’t us saying that marketing is never the problem because sometimes it is; but before it takes the blame by default, it’s worth checking the rest of the P&L first.
Marketing is the visible spend, so it’s the first thing questioned
There’s a reason marketing is scrutinised before overheads, pricing or margin - and it’s because it’s a line item somebody actively chooses to spend on something that feels optional in a way that rent or salaries don’t. It makes it an easy target when growth is flat and targets feel out of reach, regardless of whether it’s actually at fault.
The trouble is, marketing often sits downstream of a lot of other decisions when it ought to be a fundamental part of the business strategy. If marketing is driving leads but the customer journey is weak, those leads are wasted. It looks like “marketing isn’t working” when it’s actually an internal process at fault for people abandoning their purchase.
Likewise, if margin is thinning because costs are creeping, more revenue doesn’t equal more profit, and cutting marketing spend doesn’t fix that either.
The number that sometimes looks like a marketing problem; sometimes is a symptom of a failing elsewhere in the business.
What we saw with one fashion business
In 2023 we worked with an independent fashion business in Yorkshire, and this sparked what Coulter Hinks is today. Revenue grew by over 50%, and the founder said to us “I’ve never seen so much money come through my account” and in the following week, they said “I don’t know where it’s all gone”.
The trouble was that while revenue was climbing, there was nobody keeping track of whether the cost base was keeping pace with it.
It’s one of the core reasons why now, at Coulter Hinks, we combine commercial and financial strategy within our core Growth Partnership packages. These are the decisions that will shape whether marketing will work for your business.
A marketing plan that hits its target can still leave a business worse off if nobody is checking what that growth costs to deliver. This is the pattern worth watching for, because a business can hit its marketing goals while its underlying numbers get worse.
Where should you look before cutting marketing?
A few places will explain a lot before marketing spend is the next line to go:
Gross margin, over time - not just this month but look at the trend over the last two or three quarters
Overheads against revenue - are the fixed costs growing faster than the business is?
Pricing against value - has the product moved up without the price catching up? Or vice versa
Where existing customers are going - so is the business relying on constant new customer acquisition because retention has dropped?
These won’t show up in a marketing report but they will show up in your P&L. And that’s the checklist we cover in our next post.
The key takeaway
Marketing is easy to cut because it’s visible and feels optional - but whether it should be cut is a different question. And it’s one better answered by the person who feels comfortable with understanding what marketing should be delivering, what it’s actually delivering, and what that costs.
If you’re not sure whether marketing is really the problem, book a free discovery call and we’ll help you find out before you change anything.