In my latest FrogDog article, I lament something I’ve seen far too often in my decades of heading up a marketing firm: Companies that want to grow, yet can’t bear to invest the funds needed to fuel that growth.

It happens so often that the old trope about “if I only had a nickel for every time XYZ happened” rings true in this situation. We get calls from companies eager to grow that then shy away when they realize that to grow, they need to invest in marketing, and the return on the marketing investment—as with almost every investment—takes time. If I could take payment for each of these conversations, I could retire by now.

Yet I don’t want to retire. The FrogDog team does great work. And it loves marketing. All it wants to do is help companies grow—if only they’ll let us.

The truth: The bottom line will dip before it rises. Always. True with marketing as it is with investing in research in development, investing in additional staff, and investing in new technology to smooth and enable operations.

Starving your company’s marketing will only lean it out over time—not plump it up.

Read the full article for my argument as to why starving your marketing goes against a company’s best interests.

Where do you see companies doing things that go against their goals?