By Patrick Sharpe
Brand Manager, Lessiter Media
psharpe@lessitermedia.com
262-492-9006
If you expect growth in your business, this is something you need to hear.
Here’s the reality.
- Everyone is a marketer when things are going well.
- Everyone has ideas.
- Everyone has opinions.
- Everyone wants their thoughts included.
But when things get tough?
- Marketing suddenly becomes the easiest place to cut.
- The easiest place to second-guess.
- And the easiest place to blame.
And that’s the problem. Because good marketing doesn’t happen by accident.
- It takes conviction.
- It takes consistency.
- And more importantly, it takes guts.
I’ll be honest.
Even after 45 years in marketing, I still sometimes feel that same pull to cut back. Early in my career, I thought pulling back was the smart move. When things got uncertain, it felt responsible to protect the budget and wait it out. And ownership didn’t just support that thinking they demanded it.
And I’ll admit, I held onto that thinking longer than I should have. But over time and with the benefit of a great mentor, I started to see the pattern. He taught me you can’t grow your business by “polishing up your balance sheet.” When you pull back, you don’t just slow down, you get quieter. You become less visible. And when the market comes back, you won’t be where you used to be.
Get prepared to answer these questions.
- “Why are we behind, and what are you doing about it?”
- “Why is it costing so much to regain our market share?”
Meanwhile, competitors who stayed visible were in a much better position than we were. Trying to wait it out wasn’t just a small mistake; it was one of the biggest ones I made in my career. I never let it happen again.
To the marketers reading this.
You have a bigger responsibility than just execution. You are the voice of the customer. You are shaping how your company is seen, understood, and chosen. And that means at times you must stand your ground. The best marketers I’ve worked with didn’t just execute. They fought for what they believed would work. They pushed back. They made their case. They stood behind their plans even when it wasn’t popular.
Not recklessly. Not emotionally. But with clarity, data, and confidence. Because they understood something most organizations miss. If marketing becomes a collection of everyone else’s opinions, it stops being a strategy.
Now, for leaders reading this.
If your instinct in a tough market is to cut marketing first, you’re not solving the problem; you’re making it worse. You’re reducing visibility. You’re weakening your position. And you’re setting your team up to fail and spend even more later trying to recover.
I promise you this, you won’t cut your way to long-term profitability. What you will do is spend more later trying to win back the position you gave up.
And one more thing.
Delaying your marketing budget has the same effect as cutting it. Because when you’re not in the market, you’re not in the conversation.
You can’t demand growth and, at the same time, remove the very function responsible for creating it. The strongest organizations don’t just support marketing when things are easy.
- They align it with sales.
- They challenge it constructively.
- And then they stand behind it.
Because when marketing is clear, consistent, and supported, it works. And when it’s not, everyone pays the price.
5 Reminders for Marketers (and the Teams Around Them).
- Have the courage to defend your strategy
- If you don’t believe in it, no one else will
- Back your ideas with logic and data
- Opinions are easy, proof earns trust
- Stay consistent, especially when it’s uncomfortable
That’s when it matters most. Invite collaboration, but protect the strategy because input is valuable, but direction is your responsibility. Expect accountability across the company. Marketing can’t succeed if it’s the only function being held accountable.
The reality is this.
You don’t cut your way to growth. You commit to it. The companies that win are the ones where marketers have the conviction to lead, and leaders have the discipline to back them.
Your approach matters.
At Lessiter Media, we’re moving forward at full speed, not with blinders, but with focus, disciplined decisions, and a commitment to doing the hard work. That’s what is expected of us.
We’re interested in how you’re approaching it. What strategy are you leaning into right now?
If it’s helpful, let’s connect. We’d be glad to share what we’re seeing and how we can support your objectives this year.
