In today’s constantly evolving digital landscape, it isn’t very hard for a brand to go ‘viral’ online, racing millions without having to spend too much money.
Despite this, big brands and industry leaders continue to spend millions and even billions on advertising and marketing each year.
According to a recent report from Statista, P&G spent a total of $8.1 billion on advertising in the year 2021 alone. On the other hand, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, reportedly spent $774.8 million on paid search alone in 2020.
But if these brands are already so well-known, why do they spend millions on marketing? This is exactly what we are taking a look at in this article.
Read on to learn the five main reasons why big brands spend millions on marketing:
Why do Big Brands Spend Millions on Marketing?
Marketing is an inseparable part of building and maintaining a successful brand. You can’t expect consumers to spend their money on your brand if they have never heard of it before.
At the same time, no matter how big a brand gets, it has to stay relevant. And to stay relevant, it needs to be a part of the conversation.
This is where marketing comes in.
More than an expense, marketing is an investment. This is why many big brands are spending a considerable chunk of their total revenue on it. In a nutshell, marketing is the most effective way to:
- Talk about new products
- Reach new customers
- Maintain the trust of old customers
Not to mention, big brands often advertise to a wider audience, which comes at a price.
Basically, they need to use all possible channels such as TV, radio, billboards, online ads, SEO, print ads, and more to remain relevant. From buying Super Bowl commercial spots to sponsoring large-scale events, marketing is the one thing ensuring they stay ahead of the competition.
Now, let’s go over the main reasons why big brands spend millions on marketing in more detail:
#1. Grow Their Consumer Base
There is no limit to how big a brand can get. As such, one of the most important reasons why big brands spend millions on marketing is to grow their consumer base.
This is why the majority of marketing campaigns leverage various marketing tools to raise brand awareness and grab the attention of a group of consumers they haven’t reached yet.
These often include marketing tactics such as:
- Festival & holiday campaigns
- Sponsorship deals
- Guerrilla marketing campaigns
- Influencer marketing and celebrity collabs
With the help of a well-designed marketing campaign, industry leaders can keep reaching new consumers and raising brand awareness, which can in turn help big brands grow their revenue by increasing their market share.
#2. Maintain a Relationship with Existing Customers
Sustaining your pre-existing customer base is as important as acquiring new consumers.
For starters, a happy customer is significantly more likely to keep choosing your brand.
Moreover, according to Temkin Group, which is a leader in customer experience research, 77% of customers are more likely to recommend a brand to a friend after a positive experience.
Thus, many big brands use their marketing budgets to keep their current consumer base happy and get them to recommend their brand to others.
A satisfied customer base comes with a bunch of other benefits for big brands, including:
- Remaining a relevant brand name
- Building trust with existing customers
- Maintaining the market share they have acquired over the years
- Receiving valuable feedback and improving their brand
Take, for example, Apple. It wouldn’t want an iPhone user to switch to Android, right?
Thus a big part of their marketing spending includes ways to keep their existing customers happy. And it is that very relationship-building that has led to them having some of the most loyal customers ever.
#3. Stay Relevant
Not being a part of the conversation is bad for business. And, with the emergence of new brands daily, it’s becoming increasingly challenging for brands to stay relevant.
This means that although big brands are leaders in their industry, they need to continuously work towards maintaining that position, which is another reason why they spend millions on marketing.
For example, when a competing brand launches a new product, other brands are also likely to boost their marketing efforts. This is to make sure that their brand isn’t getting overshadowed by the competition.
In this context, many marketers would argue that relevance is one of the primary goals of marketing.
Rolling with the example of Apple, they have managed to stay at the top, not only due to their products but also due to their brand positioning. Today, no conversation about technology takes place without mentioning Apple and a big part of that has to do with managing to stay relevant.
The same is true for other industry giants, like Burger King withk their quirky guerilla marketing campaigns or RedBull with their crazy stunts.
These big brands already have a loyal consumer base, but they spend millions to stay relevant and ahead of their competitors.
#4. For The Future of The Brand
The saying “out of sight, out of mind” becomes truer than ever when it comes to marketing. You may have the biggest brand today, but it’s only a matter of time before people forget about it.
Companies not only want to ensure that they stay at the top now but in the future as well. This means instead of just keeping up with the trends, they also have to create trends.
That’s because, as time goes on, the customer base also grows and changes according to the times. Marketing strategies and tactics that worked in the 90s won’t necessarily work today. In a similar manner, today’s strategies won’t stay relevant forever either. Thus big brands need to constantly keep investing in marketing to keep up with their changing and evolving customer base.
A good example of this can be seen in the way brands are incorporating inclusivity in their marketing campaigns today. Not so long ago, brands didn’t really touch on the topic like they do today. As the idea of what’s acceptable changes with time, brands also have to change the way they market and position themselves.
#5. Show Growth & New Products
Lastly, another major part of the marketing efforts of big brands is to highlight the progress they have made. After all, a brand can be super popular and still need to prove itself.
If Mcdonald’s wants people to keep coming back to its restaurants, it needs to show them that they are evolving. People want to know that the next time they step into an McD or an Apple store, the products will have evolved.
And to highlight this progress, brands have to spend a lot of money on – you guessed it – marketing. These campaigns are generally designed to show off exactly what the brand has improved upon and to show that with every new purchase, consumers are getting a better value for their money.
Conclusion
Ultimately, no matter how big or small a brand is, they have to do anything to grab the consumer’s attention. The bigger the brand, the higher the stakes, and the more important it is for them to invest in marketing.
Thank you for reading and to learn more about marketing and SEO, check out our other articles.
