The real cost of not investing in marketing

One of the most powerful principles from Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling is simple:

What are the stakes if nothing changes?

In film, if the hero fails, something meaningful is lost, sometimes, forever - if Woody doesn't get back to Andy, he loses his purpose and is replaced.

In business, ignoring marketing is the difference between growth and slow decline - or losing your purpose and potentially being replaced!

We often talk about what good marketing delivers - clarity, growth, momentum, differentiation. But few leaders stop to consider the opposite question: what happens if you don’t invest?

And the answer to that question is difficult. Because marketing isn’t decoration, it’s infrastructure and if you ignore it, the cracks show everywhere.

The slow cost of doing “enough”

Many leadership teams believe they are “doing marketing”.

There’s a website, there’s LinkedIn activity, there’s the occasional campaign and there’s someone responsible. But doing ‘stuff’ isn’t strategy and the data supports that:

• Brands that are consistent with their marketing are estimated to increase revenue by up to 20%
• Businesses with tightly defined target audiences generate significantly higher conversion rates
• Companies with strong employer brands reduce cost-per-hire and attract the best candidates

When marketing lacks strategic clarity, the hidden costs appear elsewhere - longer sales cycles, lower win rates, increased price sensitivity, inconsistent messaging across teams, poor quality inbound leads, losing talent to competitors.

The point is, it rarely shows up as “a marketing problem” it shows up as friction and looks different depending on what stage your business is at.

1. Start-ups: the foundation question

You may gain traction through networks and hustle but without strategic clarity, scaling becomes unpredictable and even unlikely.

At this stage, marketing isn’t about campaigns, it’s about building the concrete slab your business will scale from.

Without it, you are building on sand.

2. Scale-ups: momentum is fragile

Scaling businesses often underestimate how quickly perception lags behind ambition.

You may have investment, you may have traction, you may have strong leadership but if marketing doesn’t professionalise along with your growth:

• Your Employee Value Proposition won’t attract top-tier talent
• Larger clients won’t see you as a strategic partner
• Your sales team won’t operate from a unified narrative
• Your brand won’t justify premium pricing.

You’ll still grow, just slower than your potential. And in scaling businesses, delayed growth compounds into lost valuation, lost market share and lost opportunity.

The danger isn’t failure, it’s underperformance disguised as progress.

3. Businesses in transition: relevance is not permanent 

For established businesses facing plateaued growth or crowded markets, ignoring marketing is not conservative, it’s complacent.

When your brand starts to feel “samey” your margins tighten, your differentiation blurs, talent disengages and your competitors reshape the narrative. Your relevance decays quietly.

Strategic marketing at this stage can re-articulate your purpose, refocus your audience, reposition your offer, re-energise internal teams and restore commercial confidence

But only if it’s treated as a leadership lever not a communications function.

The Leadership Test

Here’s the audience participation bit - if you’re a founder or senior leader, ask yourself:

• Can every senior team member articulate your proposition in the same sentence?
• Do you know precisely who you are for and not for?
• Are you consistently winning on value rather than price?
• Does your brand reflect the size of client you’re trying to attract?
• Is marketing driving growth or reacting to it?

If any of those questions create hesitation, you have a structural issue not a tactical one.

And structural issues don’t fix themselves. Take the test HERE

Why this matters now

Markets are noisier, audience attention is fragmented and at the same time, buyers are more informed and talent is more selective.

Standing still isn't neutral it’s regression, as the saying goes 'adapt or die'.

So, the real question isn’t whether or not you are investing in marketing, it’s whether your marketing is strengthening your commercial position or just keeping you visible.

Where Rowntree² comes in

We built Rowntree² to support businesses at three inflection points:

1. Start-ups needing strategic foundations
2. Scale-ups requiring professionalised growth
3. Established businesses navigating transition

We integrate quickly, we bring clarity fast and we deliver impact without the overhead of full-time hires and long-term PAYE commitments.

And we treat marketing as a strategic growth engine not a support function.

Because the stakes are high and very real.