why marketing should be seen as a key contributor and not a cost centre

Have you ever had something in your career worth fighting for? Trying to explain the importance of why what you do is worth far more than just the money you spend to do it?

I bet you have. And full disclosure: I have too.

Maybe I’ve been working for the wrong companies all along, but I doubt it. There have been companies I’ve worked with who understand the importance of marketing, what it contributes to and have been willing to spend the money necessary.

Marketing is, always will be and should be seen as a key contributor to any business. Period.

I don’t just say this because I’m a “marketer” but because marketing is more than just logos, visual identity and mission statements. It’s the anchor of a company’s brand and growth whether you like it or not.

Let me explain. This post was inspired by another fantastic email newsletter I subscribe to (more on that later) and they covered a story on how the landscape of ad agencies is changing, resulting in the emergence of small agency-focused consultancies. They are in fact slowly replacing a lot of traditional agencies as we know them today. Clients want to think beyond advertising and communication, re-imagining the way brands connect with customers (source).

At the end of the day, they want to influence how marketing should be seen as a key contributor and not a cost centre and as a result, there has been an increase of business owners showing greater interest in the consultants’ approach (umm hello, now you’re speaking my language). Their intent is to have a far greater analysis on a brand and its customers landscape, and then using that intel to identify opportunities, and creating a programme to deliver that opportunity while monitoring its progress and impact.


It’s simple: marketing affects every cornerstone of every business. Storytelling, campaigns, visual identity, public relations, advertising, digital media and platforms, internal communications, promotions & events, sales, management, training, printing & collateral, business relationships, signage, strategic partnerships, trademarking etc. The list goes on and on and on.

So why aren’t company’s see marketing as a key contributor? Maybe the better question is: why do company’s struggle so much to make the investment in marketing, while understanding the value it offers, at all stages of a company’s growth? Yes it costs money, but so does everything else to run a business. It’s really that simple.

As a consultant where it’s basically feast or famine, part of what I do is educate clients on the importance of marketing as a whole being very systematic in my approach. It’s an investment towards the brand and strategic growth of any business, whether they’re starting from scratch (no visual identity or a rebrand) or if they’re in the midst of creating a strategic plan to take them to the next level of growth.

Big or small, new or old, there needs to be a shift and reconsideration on the importance marketing has on any business. Just like everything else, it’s an investment and often it’s a big one, but the results pay in dividends and always have positive, long-term benefits.

when you stretch a department too thin, all in the spirit of saving money

I've always been intrigued by how companies run their departments. Their hiring practices, how they function and operate day-to-day, how they budget, delegate and achieve the tasks at hand. More importantly, how they scale their department. 

Here's what I've seen time and time again: companies believing that if they contract out the majority of roles not only saves them money, but it supposedly benefits everyone involved.

the future of content marketing is outside the marketing department

Here’s an interesting thought: What if a company’s content was everyone’s responsibility to help levitate, build and grow a brand? I loved this article from The Knowledge Bank because it got me thinking about this very topic that a lot of senior executives roll their eyes at. I've always encouraged companies I've worked for to do the same because there are just some things that should not be restricted to just one department.

Think about it….traditionally, content has always been the responsibility of the marketing team because they strategize and create all the content specific collateral from advertising campaigns to digital media. They are often the ones to set the rules, know the voice and the brand, development the content and dictate where it is to be used and how it is to be used.

But times they are a-changin. It’s been a slow evolution, but over the past 8 years, content marketing’s growth has exploded and for great reason. It’s one of the most important things a company can do: to invest in their content, remain streamlined in their messaging, offer various ways to promote their content and involve the entire company in doing so.