Many years ago, I sat in an interview for an executive-level role with a large corporate. I was excited by the potential, as the role covered marketing, brand, communications, product and internal engagement, but that excitement quickly faded. The interviewer referred to the function as “the colouring-in department” and described the work as “soft, touchy-feely stuff.” It was clear they didn’t understand, let alone value, what marketing and communications brought to the business.
That experience stuck with me. It was the moment I first realised how often marketing and comms are undervalued in the boardroom and at the exec table. Over the years, that was reinforced every time I had to work harder than others to justify investment in new initiatives or comms programmes. Marketing and comms are often seen as a support function like HR or IT, or worse, as the poor cousin to sales. Essential, but not strategic.
When budgets are tight - like we’re seeing now - marketing is often the first to feel the squeeze. Many of our clients are operating with smaller teams and reduced budgets, but are still expected to deliver the same outcomes. That expectation of ‘doing the same, or more, with less’ highlights just how essential marketing is.
So let’s be clear: marketing and comms are not just enablers. They are front-line drivers of business performance. Here some real ways, with real-world examples, that demonstrate their bottom-line value.
1. Builds brand trust
People don’t buy products; they buy brands they believe in. A strong brand shapes perception, builds loyalty, and lets you charge a premium or keep customers when cheaper competitors emerge. It’s what makes someone choose your product over another. It’s why investors stick with you during a rough patch. A trusted brand is the result of long-term marketing investment, strategic storytelling, and clear, consistent communication. Undervalue that, and you risk commoditising your offer.
Toyota is a great example. Decades of consistent messaging and brand behaviour have earned them high trust and strong resale value. Apple is another, their brand allows them to charge a premium and maintain loyalty despite cheaper alternatives.
2. Fuels the sales engine
Sales and marketing are complementary. One feeds the other. Marketing ensures customers know about your products, understand how they solve their problems, and are prompted by the right promotions and market opportunities. It also ensures sales teams are equipped with tools, materials, and messaging to close the deal. Put simply, marketing ensures your sales team aren’t spending all their time prospecting, educating, or justifying but are focused on selling.
Xero is a strong B2B example. Their targeted marketing created brand awareness and educated small businesses, allowing their sales teams to convert warm leads instead of cold-calling.
3. Attracts (and keeps) great people
Your brand isn’t just external. The best talent wants to work somewhere that reflects their values, has purpose, and treats them as more than a cog in the machine. Marketing and comms help attract the right people, make employees feel proud of where they work, and keep teams aligned and motivated.
In today’s talent market, a strong employer brand is a competitive advantage - and it’s built the same way as a customer brand: through strategic, consistent positioning.
Salesforce is a standout here. Their ‘Ohana’ culture and internal messaging are deeply woven into their external brand, helping them retain top tech talent and build global alignment.
4. Reaches new customers in new ways
Customer behaviour and channels are evolving fast: social, search, programmatic, influencers, digital events, immersive experiences. Great marketing teams don’t just use these platforms, they optimise them. They test new ideas, find new audiences, and pivot quickly when traditional channels slow down. it’s about future-proofing the customer pipeline.
New Zealand company, Allbirds, is a perfect example. They used digital storytelling, influencer partnerships, and purpose-driven marketing to break into a crowded global footwear market.
5. Drives retention and lifetime value
It’s cheaper to retain customers than to find new ones. Marketing drives customer communication, loyalty, and engagement programmes that keep customers connected to your brand. That leads to more frequent purchases, higher spend, and organic advocacy.
Airpoints is a great example. Air New Zealand’s marketing-led loyalty programme keeps customers engaged and flying, while their comms foster a sense of community and recognition.
6. Informs product development
Marketing sits at the intersection of customer and business. It’s often first to spot unmet needs, emerging pain points, or shifting behaviours. Smart marketing teams work closely with product and sales to develop offerings that meet real needs, maximise perceived value, and maintain margins.
This isn’t fluff but commercial insight, grounded in what drives customer behaviour.
Dove’s Real Beauty campaign is a textbook case. What began as a marketing insight about unrealistic beauty standards led to a new product range — with packaging, formulation, and messaging all shaped by real women’s feedback.
7. Drives internal performance
Strategy is easy to develop but harder to implement. Good internal comms bring strategy to life. They make it relatable, actionable, and understood across the business. They foster alignment, engagement, and shared purpose - all building blocks of high performance. That clarity of purpose drives productivity, quality, and business outcomes.
Unilever does this well. Their internal comms embed sustainability and brand purpose into every role, connecting day-to-day decisions with long-term company goals.
So what’s the bottom line?
Marketing and comms are essential strategic growth levers that drive revenue, profit, staff and customer retention, sales effectiveness, brand strength, and long-term business success.
In tough times, the instinct may be to pull back but history shows us that companies who maintain or increase their marketing investment during downturns don’t just survive, but emerge stronger, with greater share of voice, brand recall, and customer loyalty. Cutting discretionary marketing and comms spend might reduce short-term costs but those savings are often offset by underperformance in other areas that show up in your results.
If you’re a CEO, MD or CFO reading this, I encourage you to see marketing and comms not as a support service, but as a strategic driver of performance. Give them the support to deliver the results your business needs. And if you’re a marketer or comms professional making the case internally, know that the ROI on marketing and comms stacks up, so put your case forward with confidence.
