Is marketing a cost or an investment?
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2025 6:14 am
Let's find out in a few words if marketing is a cost or an investment. The answer is: it depends... It depends on the results you get.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Marketing is a cost if the results are lower than expected. An investment if the objectives set are achieved.
Examples of uninteresting offers
So the question we must ask ourselves is: if I spend little and the results are zero, was the cost high or low?
Marketing is a cost if the results are lower than expected. An investment if the objectives set are achieved.
Marketing is a cost for those who do not use it correctly. Let's find out when it is defined as a cost and the potential it can generate profits.
When I started groups with other professionals and entrepreneurs, I noticed that the answers of many clients to the presentation of estimates very often sounded like this:
Great idea but it costs too much.
I thought I'd spend less.
My partner's friend's nephew tinkers with the internet and can do it for me for 50% less.
Etc. etc.
These are some of the answers that over the years I have whatsapp number list heard from certain clients who contact me for a quote. By now I am used to it and perhaps I have a callus so I don't worry too much. I can understand quite well if the client is truly interested or if he is just contacting me to test the waters.
Sometimes, however, when I understand that the customer would be interested in my products and my prices, but is simply disoriented because he does not have enough elements to understand what is evidently effective and adequate for what he needs, then I respond by starting to engage in my reasoning which in most cases ends with a beautiful exchange of ideas and information.
Without getting into the subject of the friend's nephew who is evidently put there only as a matter of reference for a possible negotiation and who the client does not fully believe in otherwise he would not have wasted any more time in contacting me or others, I immediately ask a question: in your opinion, are the marketing and promotion of your business a cost or an investment?
Is-Marketing-a-Cost-or-An-Investment
This is almost always a disconcerting question because many small entrepreneurs have always seen the promotion of their business as something that “must be done” not because it is necessary but simply because everyone does it (and not be left behind…).
In the minds of many excellent professionals and entrepreneurs, the market moves thanks to word of mouth, the physical location of their business (for example, a shop on a busy street) and little more.
Today it is no longer like that. That idea no longer exists because access to information at any time of the day has also changed the way of finding what you are looking for.
Today's marketing can no longer be a secondary element that follows the technical evolution of products/services at a long distance but must be the basis of your business structure.
It should no longer be thought of as a cost related to “it must be done because everyone does it” but should be developed as an integrated investment in one’s entrepreneurial growth.
Going back to the initial question , some people answer me: “in my opinion, marketing is a cost”.
At that point I usually point out that the cost by its nature must be related to a revenue otherwise it is simply an expense. Without going into accounting technicalities, the value linked to the cost is a real way to evaluate the purchase.
In this case, the expense for the purchase of a product (marketing in this case) must always be related to a forecast linked to the results obtained (revenues, improvement of image, services, expansion of the customer base, etc.).
“If the cost is high and the results exceed the costs, then the investment is profitable.
Conversely, if the costs are low, and the results are less than the expense, then the investment is a failure.”
Generally, only those who believe that the product cannot bring improvements (including revenue, image, services, customer growth, basis for medium/long-term development, etc.) that exceed the costs incurred to acquire the product talk about cost (it costs too much, it is out of budget, etc.).
This dilemma arises more and more from the lack of information and above all from the excessive expectations that are placed despite investing a minimal sum (both in economic terms and in terms of time and resources).
Examples of uninteresting offers
I'll give you some examples of concrete situations that you can find in many commercials that you may have also received:
showcase website (without having a precise marketing logic) at a cost of €500
first page positioning on Google at a cost of €1 per day (unlikely with the most used search words in the sector)
free website or 9€ per month
database of users unaware of your business to whom you can send your newsletters
advertising on electronic panels installed along the roads (with a refresh every 5 seconds and with hundreds of rotating spots)
All these are examples that if they were presented correctly would be discarded a priori by many entrepreneurs because, even if they have very attractive prices, the results will almost always be well below the investments.
So the question we must ask ourselves is: if I spend little and the results are zero, was the cost high or low?
An old company director told me something very interesting: “ You can't make a wedding with dried figs” .
While I agree with him, I believe that it is possible to invest little as long as this happens in a targeted and focused way. At that point the results achievable can be truly surprising.
And the wedding can be splendid even with a small budget…
And what do you think? Write it in the comments below.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Marketing is a cost if the results are lower than expected. An investment if the objectives set are achieved.
Examples of uninteresting offers
So the question we must ask ourselves is: if I spend little and the results are zero, was the cost high or low?
Marketing is a cost if the results are lower than expected. An investment if the objectives set are achieved.
Marketing is a cost for those who do not use it correctly. Let's find out when it is defined as a cost and the potential it can generate profits.
When I started groups with other professionals and entrepreneurs, I noticed that the answers of many clients to the presentation of estimates very often sounded like this:
Great idea but it costs too much.
I thought I'd spend less.
My partner's friend's nephew tinkers with the internet and can do it for me for 50% less.
Etc. etc.
These are some of the answers that over the years I have whatsapp number list heard from certain clients who contact me for a quote. By now I am used to it and perhaps I have a callus so I don't worry too much. I can understand quite well if the client is truly interested or if he is just contacting me to test the waters.
Sometimes, however, when I understand that the customer would be interested in my products and my prices, but is simply disoriented because he does not have enough elements to understand what is evidently effective and adequate for what he needs, then I respond by starting to engage in my reasoning which in most cases ends with a beautiful exchange of ideas and information.
Without getting into the subject of the friend's nephew who is evidently put there only as a matter of reference for a possible negotiation and who the client does not fully believe in otherwise he would not have wasted any more time in contacting me or others, I immediately ask a question: in your opinion, are the marketing and promotion of your business a cost or an investment?
Is-Marketing-a-Cost-or-An-Investment
This is almost always a disconcerting question because many small entrepreneurs have always seen the promotion of their business as something that “must be done” not because it is necessary but simply because everyone does it (and not be left behind…).
In the minds of many excellent professionals and entrepreneurs, the market moves thanks to word of mouth, the physical location of their business (for example, a shop on a busy street) and little more.
Today it is no longer like that. That idea no longer exists because access to information at any time of the day has also changed the way of finding what you are looking for.
Today's marketing can no longer be a secondary element that follows the technical evolution of products/services at a long distance but must be the basis of your business structure.
It should no longer be thought of as a cost related to “it must be done because everyone does it” but should be developed as an integrated investment in one’s entrepreneurial growth.
Going back to the initial question , some people answer me: “in my opinion, marketing is a cost”.
At that point I usually point out that the cost by its nature must be related to a revenue otherwise it is simply an expense. Without going into accounting technicalities, the value linked to the cost is a real way to evaluate the purchase.
In this case, the expense for the purchase of a product (marketing in this case) must always be related to a forecast linked to the results obtained (revenues, improvement of image, services, expansion of the customer base, etc.).
“If the cost is high and the results exceed the costs, then the investment is profitable.
Conversely, if the costs are low, and the results are less than the expense, then the investment is a failure.”
Generally, only those who believe that the product cannot bring improvements (including revenue, image, services, customer growth, basis for medium/long-term development, etc.) that exceed the costs incurred to acquire the product talk about cost (it costs too much, it is out of budget, etc.).
This dilemma arises more and more from the lack of information and above all from the excessive expectations that are placed despite investing a minimal sum (both in economic terms and in terms of time and resources).
Examples of uninteresting offers
I'll give you some examples of concrete situations that you can find in many commercials that you may have also received:
showcase website (without having a precise marketing logic) at a cost of €500
first page positioning on Google at a cost of €1 per day (unlikely with the most used search words in the sector)
free website or 9€ per month
database of users unaware of your business to whom you can send your newsletters
advertising on electronic panels installed along the roads (with a refresh every 5 seconds and with hundreds of rotating spots)
All these are examples that if they were presented correctly would be discarded a priori by many entrepreneurs because, even if they have very attractive prices, the results will almost always be well below the investments.
So the question we must ask ourselves is: if I spend little and the results are zero, was the cost high or low?
An old company director told me something very interesting: “ You can't make a wedding with dried figs” .
While I agree with him, I believe that it is possible to invest little as long as this happens in a targeted and focused way. At that point the results achievable can be truly surprising.
And the wedding can be splendid even with a small budget…
And what do you think? Write it in the comments below.