In business you've got to spend money to make money. Some are expenses you can't avoid, but others are investments. Sadly, marketing is usually seen as an expense when it's actually and investment.
For someone that has started their own marketing business (you can find out what I do here if you didn't know) reminding potential clients that marketing is and investment, not an expense, is all part of the job. But it shouldn't be.
I think I've made my position on this clear, but that doesn't mean I'm totally biased. The perception many companies have of marketers is that it's 'something nice to have'. But if you have a product and no one knows about it, it's not going to sell.
But what about sales? I thought you'd mention that, and you're right. Sales matters. The clue is in the name, it's all about selling.
However, without marketing you won't know who your target audience is. You might happen upon a few good customers, but you won't be focusing your efforts and maximising your output with all that lovely research a marketer can do for you.
But why is Marketing NOT an Expense?
I think I've established (pretty eloquently) that Marketing is an necessity. But marketing isn't free, at least good marketing isn't (unless it's my very reasonably priced services aimed at SMEs).
But let's be clear. Marketing is an INVESTMENT. If you're unsure of what that word means it's definition is 'the act of putting money, effort, time, etc. into something to make a profit or get an advantage, or the money, effort, time, etc. used to do this' (thank you Cambridge Dictionary).
So yes, marketing is something you should budget and be prepared to spend money on. But it's an investment. If the marketing is done correctly, it'll make you that cost back and then more on top! Hence and investment!
Are you starting to get my point? Good. I'll get off my high horse now and thank you for getting this far. But seriously, we're on the edge of a recession and the first thing that usually gets it's budget cut is marketing, and I think point I've made above shows why that shouldn't be the case. Remember, you've got to spend money to make money, so spend it on getting to the right people in the right way!