Marketing Investment: Just Do It

Have you ever heard of a company called "Nike"?

Chances are very good that you have because, well, who hasn't?

Nike is not only an iconic brand that's been around since 1964 but also an athletic footwear and apparel company with a market capitalization of $235 billion and revenues of $12.2 billion in their latest fiscal quarter. (Quarter ending Aug 31, 2021).

They are very big and very well-known.

And yet Nike still spent $918 million last quarter on marketing expenses.

That's 7.9% of their total quarterly revenue to ensure the Nike brand is top-of-mind with consumers and that they don't give up an inch of ground to their competition.

This is the post I'm going to save and share the next time I hear a start-up tell me that marketing isn't critical for their business.

If Nike is spending 8% of their total revenue each quarter to maintain mental availability with its consumers, you almost certainly need to be spending more than that to establish it.

And although Nike is undoubtedly a performance-driven company, you can be sure they're not spending all (or even most) of those dollars on "performance marketing".

People choose brands.

Invest accordingly.

h/t to Chartr for prompting this post.