Over the years, I have worked with businesses at very different stages of growth, from startups with an idea and a lot of ambition to established companies looking for their next phase of growth.

And there is one mistake I see businesses make time and time again.

They budget for the product or service. They budget for people, technology, operations, logistics, premises and sometimes even an impressive office.

Then we get to marketing.

“We’ll invest in that once we start making more money.”

But my question is always the same: how are you going to grow if the right people don’t know you exist, understand what you offer or why they should choose you?

Marketing should not be what you do with the budget that is left over. It needs to be part of the business plan and wider business strategy.

You can have an incredible product or service, but you still need to create awareness, communicate why people should choose you and give them a reason to care.

Before you can sell, people need to know you exist

One of the biggest misconceptions I see is that marketing is mainly about generating immediate sales.

Of course, ultimately marketing needs to contribute to commercial results. But before that can happen, there is another job to be done: visibility and brand awareness.

People need to discover you, understand you and begin to trust you.

Airbnb is a great example. They had an enormous challenge in the early days: convincing people that staying in a stranger’s home was not only safe, but something they might actually prefer to a hotel. They invested in professional photography to make listings more appealing and trustworthy, built reviews and host profiles into the experience, and used referral programmes that rewarded existing users for introducing new ones.

They also focused their marketing on the experience of travelling rather than simply finding accommodation, helping position Airbnb as a completely different way to discover a destination. Over time, campaigns such as ‘Belong Anywhere’ reinforced that emotional positioning. Marketing did not simply promote the service; it helped change people’s perception of the whole concept and build trust around a new way of travelling.

Revolut faced a similar challenge in financial services. Asking people to trust an app with their money, particularly at a time when traditional banks dominated the relationship with customers, required much more than a good product. Revolut built a strong, modern brand that deliberately felt different from traditional banking and made the benefits easy to understand, particularly around spending, travelling, transferring and exchanging money. It also used referral programmes to turn existing customers into advocates, rewarding them for introducing friends and helping the brand grow through word of mouth. The physical Revolut card itself became another visible part of the brand, while its digital-first marketing kept Revolut highly present among younger, tech-savvy consumers.

Importantly, Revolut was founded in 2015 but did not record its first full year of profit until 2021 – around six years later. During that time, it continued investing in its product, technology, brand, customer acquisition and international expansion, building the scale needed for long-term growth.

The combination of a strong product, distinctive positioning and an acquisition strategy that encouraged customers to spread the word helped turn Revolut from an unfamiliar alternative to traditional banking into a service used by millions of people around the world.

That is the power of marketing when it is considered as part of the business strategy rather than added as an afterthought. And while I have used well-known brands as examples because we all recognise them, the principle is exactly the same for smaller businesses and SMEs. You do not need a global brand or a huge marketing budget to apply the same thinking. What matters is having a clear strategy, understanding your audience and investing consistently in making sure the right people know who you are, what you offer and why they should choose you.

A strong brand makes growth easier

Another thing I often tell clients is that branding is not simply your logo, colours or how your Instagram feed looks.

Your brand is the perception people have of your business.

It influences whether they trust you, remember you, recommend you and, importantly, how much they are prepared to pay for what you offer.

Without strong positioning, it is very easy for a business to end up competing primarily on price. And once you enter that race, it can be difficult to get out of it.

Nike is maybe one of the clearest examples of the power of brand. There are countless companies capable of producing a good pair of trainers. Yet Nike has spent decades building a brand around performance, ambition and identity.

People are not simply buying the physical product. They are buying what the brand represents.

Of course, most businesses do not have Nike’s budget, nor do they need one. The principle is the same: how you position and market your product or service can completely change its perceived value.

Marketing can make customer acquisition more efficient

There is also a very practical commercial reason to invest consistently in marketing.

If nobody knows your brand, every customer becomes harder and more expensive to acquire.

You become dependent on paid advertising, outbound sales, referrals or constantly chasing the next lead. And as anyone running performance campaigns knows, you cannot simply keep increasing advertising spend and expect acquisition costs to remain sustainable.

Strong marketing creates something far more valuable: demand.

ASOS is a good example. When it launched in 2000, buying fashion online was still a relatively new concept and the business had to convince customers to shop for clothes without being able to see, touch or try them on first. Instead of relying on the product alone, ASOS invested in building a strong digital brand around fashion, using TV advertising, online marketing, editorial content and, as the platforms evolved, email, social media and influencer partnerships to become part of the fashion conversation rather than simply another online retailer.

Importantly, this investment did not mean waiting decades for a return. ASOS was established in 2000 and reported its first pre-tax profit in 2003 – around three years later. By early 2004, it had already attracted more than 280,000 registered users, demonstrating how investing in marketing, customer experience and brand building can help a business achieve both growth and profitability.

The lesson is that marketing investment before profitability does not mean disregarding profit. It means recognising that you often need to invest in building awareness, trust and a customer base before you can expect the business to deliver its full commercial potential.

Paid media is extremely powerful, but in my experience it works much harder when there is already a strong brand, clear positioning and good marketing behind it.

Marketing helps you understand what customers actually want

This is another reason I believe marketing needs to be closely connected to business strategy.

Marketing is not just about telling people what you sell. It is one of the best ways of learning what resonates with your market.

Which message gets a reaction? Which problem matters most to your audience? Which campaign generates enquiries? Which audience converts? What are people clicking on, asking about or ignoring completely?

That information is incredibly valuable to any business.

Even a company like Bolt has had to continuously understand what different markets and customers value. Is it convenience? Price? Availability? Speed? Safety? The answer can change depending on the service, audience and market.

Campaign performance and customer behaviour give businesses information they can use not only to improve their marketing, but also to refine their actual offering.

Sometimes the message you think will sell your business is not the message your customer actually cares about.

It is much better to understand that and adapt.

Marketing supports business growth

For a startup, growth might mean attracting investment, building an initial customer base or proving there is demand.

For an established business, it could mean entering a new market, launching a new service, reaching a different audience or strengthening its position against competitors.

Whatever stage a business is at, marketing strategy has an important role to play in creating that momentum.

Again, Revolut is a useful example. Long before becoming the global financial brand it is today, it was building users, referrals, visibility and momentum at enormous speed.

That traction demonstrated something extremely valuable: people wanted the product.

The same principle applies to established businesses. Strong brand awareness, market visibility, customer engagement and a clear proposition all create a stronger platform for growth.

Marketing compounds

One of the biggest differences between sales and marketing is that good marketing builds value over time.

A sales call might generate one opportunity today.

Marketing can make the next sales call easier.

Someone sees your content. A few weeks later they see an advert. Then somebody recommends you. Later they search for you, visit your website and eventually get in touch.

By the time that enquiry reaches you, the relationship has already started.

That is why stopping and starting marketing based purely on immediate sales can be so damaging. Brand awareness, trust, search visibility, content, community and reputation are built over time.

The businesses that understand this are building a brand, not simply running campaigns.

Marketing cannot be an afterthought

Having worked in marketing for more than two decades and having built my own business, this is something I feel very strongly about.

I understand why business owners protect budgets. There are always competing priorities, whether you are starting out, investing in growth or navigating a more challenging period.

But marketing cannot permanently sit at the bottom of that list.

If you have invested in developing your product or service, your people, your website, your operations and everything else needed to deliver what you do, you also need to invest in making sure the right people know about it.

Because a great product or service that nobody knows about is still one that nobody is buying.

Marketing is the bridge between what your business offers and the people you need to reach.

Businesses that understand this are not simply “spending money on marketing”. They are investing in visibility, positioning, customer acquisition, learning and long-term brand equity.

And that investment should be an ongoing part of building and growing a successful business.

This article is by Davinia Mallia Pulé, marketing strategy consultant & founder of GRO Marketing