Maximilian Hohenstatt

The most common mistake is to treat marketing as a reactive tool. Many companies only begin to take serious action when revenue stagnates and cash flow becomes tight—that is, precisely when their room to maneuver is at its narrowest. Scaling takes time and stable conditions. The right time to invest in marketing is when sufficient cash is available.

Closely related to this is a second structural flaw: relying on metrics that reflect activity but have no real value for steering the business. Click-through rates, impressions, and ROAS at the campaign level—these are metrics without context. Any scaling effort must be preceded by an honest audit of the current state of affairs. Only once it is clear what existing measures are actually achieving can an informed decision be made about which KPIs are relevant and which goals are realistically attainable.

First, an important point to keep in mind: Profitability is not the primary goal in every phase of a company’s development. A company entering a new market may deliberately operate at a loss—as long as the market share it gains has real long-term value and the underlying strategy supports it.

Profitable growth results from a long-term strategy and the consistent alignment of budgets with measurable results. By structurally linking expenses and revenues, companies can identify early on where growth creates real value.

Another factor is the ongoing evaluation of the cost structure. Requirements change rapidly, especially during periods of growth. New tools, a software change, or adjustments to individual measures can significantly improve efficiency—provided that you regularly review whether the existing structures still align with the company’s current situation.

The most striking change is the level of technical expertise required for effective digital marketing today. Back in 2017, you could get a long way just with solid creative content and a reasonable budget. Today, accurate tracking and data-driven decision-making are key factors in determining whether a campaign succeeds—or fails. If you don’t have a firm grasp of the data, you’re optimizing blindly.

At the same time, the regulatory environment has become significantly more complex. The GDPR, the AI Act, and a host of other developments have created a framework that requires ongoing attention. The environment is constantly changing—and those who fail to keep up will lose their room to maneuver.

At the same time, digital marketing has become significantly more important in the budget planning of many companies. A growing share of marketing budgets is being allocated to the digital sphere—which increases the pressure to use these funds effectively.