The Marketing Move My Clients Hate the Most

People don’t ignore advice because it’s wrong—they ignore it because it’s uncomfortable.

Saving money means spending less today. Eating healthy means passing up what tastes best right now. And effective marketing? That usually means doing more than what feels safe—or sane.

After providing 128,706 business owners nationwide with results-based marketing campaigns, I can tell you this with certainty: The marketing strategies that create real, lasting growth are rarely the ones people want to hear.

I’ve spent over 25 years helping businesses generate leads and grow revenue. Along the way, I’ve noticed something fascinating. There’s one piece of advice I give that consistently makes business owners uneasy. It’s questioned and debated. In fact, they flat-out hate it.

Here it is: To effectively grow your business, you have to market more than your competitors—more than you think is actually sane.

That statement alone turns people off. It sounds excessive. Risky. Maybe even self-serving, coming from someone in marketing. But the truth is it doesn’t matter who you market with—or even whether you do it yourself or hire help. The principle stands on its own.

But you don’t have to take my word for it—I come with receipts.

To reach growth goals, spend more on marketing

Gartner research demonstrates that the average 2025 marketing budget stalled at 7.7 percent of company revenue—and that is the same level as 2024. The recommended average marketing spend is 10 percent, but my mantra is do as much as you possibly can and then some!

You have to be willing to market yourself in quantities that feel insane to others. That’s what it takes to create real growth and momentum.

Take a look at these companies who spent far more than 10 percent within the last year, and it made a huge impact on their revenue:

• Monzo, a UK-based bank, increased its marketing spend 77 percent in 2025 and surpassed £1 billion in revenue, a first for them.
• Indian retailer Nykaa decided to increase sales and marketing spend 29 percent and reported a 61 percent increase in quarterly profit growth and a 27 percent rise in revenue as a result.
• Guardant Health, a cancer screening biotech firm, increased sales and marketing spend 30 percent and reported a 21 percent year-over-year revenue increase.

I also have firsthand experience, so you know I practice what I preach.

To stay on top, be consistent with your marketing

I started PostcardMania in 1998 with no investors and no cash—just a marketing plan I refused to abandon. That commitment took our revenue from zero to over $100 million a year.

Early on, I spent more on marketing than I paid myself—and I still do. I drove the same paid-off Nissan well past our first $1 million because I understood one simple truth: The size and consistency of my marketing directly controlled our growth. Growth was my top priority then, and still is.

Today, I mail about 232,000 postcards weekly and invest roughly $50,000 a week in online ads just advertising my business. Since 2020, we’re averaging nearly 15 percent annual revenue growth every year after a decade of averaging 5 percent annual growth. Just last year, we set a new all-time company record in leads generated. I can point to many factors behind that success—but it all starts with my dedication to marketing more than anyone thinks is sane.

So when I say this works, I’m not speaking in theory. I’ve lived it.

I know committing serious dollars to marketing can feel scary—but discipline beats comfort every time. Trust the process, track everything, double down on what performs, and refine what doesn’t.

Do that consistently, and the payoff isn’t just possible. It’s inevitable.

Never let the economy affect your marketing investment

Unstable economic conditions are not a reason to cut your marketing budget—in fact, they’re the exact reason not to.

When things get tight, most businesses pull back or shut off their marketing entirely. That instinct feels safe, but it’s also one of the fastest ways to hamstring your revenue or even put your business at real risk.

When the pandemic hit, Coca-Cola cut its advertising budget by roughly 35 percent, but Pepsi didn’t make any cuts.

Due to this decision, Coca Cola experienced big losses in 2020. Their quarterly revenue shrunk over $1 billion in a single quarter, dropping 16.9 percent from Q1 to Q2. They went from being up 6.96 percent in 2019 to down 28.48 percent in June of 2020 in year-over-year quarterly growth.

In fact, Coca-Cola revenue was down the entirety of 2020 and didn’t rebound until 2021. Meanwhile, PepsiCo returned to growth mode after being down a single quarter. That growth ended up lasting years as they gained more market share.

I made the same call PepsiCo did. When shutdowns began, I refused to stop marketing—and I refused to lay anyone off. That decision wasn’t easy—PostcardMania’s weekly revenue dropped about 40 percent, a swing of more than $500,000 a week—but it paid off.

I stuck to my guns and kept our marketing budget fully funded. And recovery came fast.

By April, revenue was back to pre-shutdown levels. By July, we set a new company record for monthly revenue—and broke it again in October. Despite the economic chaos, we finished 2020 up 10 percent over 2019. Then the momentum compounded. We entered 2020 as a $60 million business, and today we’re at nearly $120 million.

Marketing aggressively—when it feels uncomfortable or even “insane”—has been a massive growth lever for my company and countless others. And it can do the same for you.

So when you are at that fork in the road to take the shortcut or the uphill one, take the challenge. You’ll be far stronger and happier you did.