Why Cutting Your Marketing Budget Is Like Stopping a Clock to Save Time
Henry Ford once said, “A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time.”
Yet this highlights a constant mistake small business owners make, slashing their marketing budgets when money gets tight, only to wonder why sales dry up months later.
The problem isn’t just cutting marketing entirely. It’s something more subtle but potentially more damaging: focusing all your resources on immediate sales while neglecting the brand-building activities that create future customers.
Think of your marketing as a flywheel that builds momentum through small pushes over time. At first, these brand-building activities seem to have minimal impact.
The flywheel barely budges. But with consistency, these efforts compound, creating the momentum that makes your bottom-of-funnel conversions easier and more cost-effective.
Here's the costly truth: when brand-building activity stops, the flywheel stops spinning. Rebuilding that momentum requires significantly more time, money, and resources than maintaining it would have.
Your cost per conversion climbs because you're starting from scratch with audiences who don't know or trust you yet.
The Soccer Team That Forgot About Its Midfielders
Recently, a marketing industry leader used a brilliant sports analogy to explain this common business mistake.
In his article Performance Branding: The Misalignment Between Brand and Performance Marketing, he compared it to a soccer team that gives all the salary raises to the striker who scores goals, while completely ignoring the defenders and midfielders who actually get the ball upfield.
What happens to that team? Eventually, the striker has no opportunities to score because no one is feeding him the ball.
The team’s performance collapsed because the support system fell apart.
This insight mirrors research from organizational psychologist Adam Grant, who explored in an episode of this WorkLife podcast, The Problem with All-Stars, how Butler University’s basketball team repeatedly shocked fans by beating far more talented teams.
Their secret? They understood that a team of all-stars is overrated (and not as effective as it may be assumed) and role players are underrated.
Butler won not through individual brilliance but through strategic role clarity and teamwork. Every player knew their job and executed it consistently, and role players did the “invisible” but important work required to set star players up to score.
Your business marketing works the same way. Let’s break down the parallel:
The Strikers (Performance Marketing):
- Google Ads that capture hyper-local searches
- Facebook lead generation campaigns
- Promotional emails to existing customers
- Retargeting ads for website visitors
- Limited-time offers and discounts
These tactics score the goals. They generate immediate clicks, leads, and sales. They’re visible, measurable, and get all the credit. But they only work when there is a system of support feeding opportunities.
The Midfielders (Brand Building):
- Consistent, intentional social media presence
- Regular content and newsletters
- Community involvement and sponsorships
- Professional, cohesive visual branding, such as STARSTIX checkout lane dividers
- Customer education and thought leadership
These activities move the ball upfield. They create awareness, build trust, and position your business in customers’ minds. When someone finally searches for what you sell, your brand-building efforts are what make them choose you over competitors.
The Defenders (Foundation Activities):
- Clear brand values and messaging
- Excellent customer service
- Quality product/service delivery
- Positive reviews and reputation management
- Consistent business operations
These protect your reputation and create the conditions where both brand building and performance marketing can succeed.
The Performance Branding Balance: What It Looks Like for Local Businesses
While there is no specific ratio and there are some common allocation models, a 60/40 split may be a solid and simple place to start.
60% Brand Building (Top-of-Funnel)
- Consistent social media presence sharing your story and values
- Regular email newsletters that educate rather than just sell
- Community involvement and local sponsorships
- Content that showcases your expertise
- Professional, consistent visual branding across all touchpoints
40% Performance Marketing (Bottom-of-Funnel)
- Google Ads for high-intent searches
- Facebook lead generation campaigns
- Promotional offers and limited-time deals
- Retargeting ads for website visitors
- Direct mail to specific neighborhoods
The Bottom Line
Brand building requires patience in a world that rewards quick wins and although it’s easier these days to show branding ROI, it’s still harder to measure (or justify) than performance marketing.
It feels risky to invest in activities that don’t show immediate returns, but to tie it all up to where we started, with Henry Ford’s wisdom: stopping your marketing to save money doesn’t actually accomplish that. It just stops the clock on your business growth.
So keep your flywheel turning, keep feeding your strikers, and keep that clock running. Your future customers are counting on it.