How much do fast growing companies invest in marketing?

Some of the fastest growing companies in the world are those that invest heavily in marketing to acquire new customers, expand into new markets, and increase their brand awareness. These companies often have high growth rates, but low profitability, as they prioritize revenue over margins. Examples of such companies are Netflix, Spotify, Uber and Shopify.

Netflix spent $2.65 billion on marketing in 2022, which was about 8.5% of its revenue of 31.6B, which was a combination of:

·       Digital marketing (SEO, SEM)

·       Content marketing (sharing relevant and valuable content to attract and engage a specific audience)

·       Social media marketing (paid ads to your target audience)

·       Personalization (using data and algorithms to recommend and provide new shows)

·       Push notification strategy (reminders of new releases, unfinished episodes, or similar titles)

Spotify spent $1.1 billion on marketing in 2022, which was about 16.4% of it’s revenue of about 6.7B, which was a combination of:

·       Digital audio advertising (delivery of ads in audio format to the audiences of online audio platforms, such as Spotify and Pandora)

·       Influencer marketing (sponsored content, discounts, affiliate links, contests, giveaways, product and content collaborations, long-term ambassadors, platform takeovers)

·       Email marketing

·       Social media marketing 

·       Content marketing

Uber spent $3.1 billion on marketing in 2022, which was about 23.8% of its revenue of $13B, which was a combination of:

·       Digital marketing

·       Mobile marketing (SMS, location-based marketing, in-app marketing)

·       Referral marketing (asking customers to leave reviews)

·       Partnership marketing (collaborating with airlines, hotels, travel agencies to offer integrated transportation services)

·       Social media marketing

·       Email marketing

·       Content marketing

Shopify spent $1.1 billion on marketing in 2022, which was about 26.8% of its revenue of about 4.1B

·       Digital marketing

·       Content marketing

·       Social media marketing

·       Email marketing

·       Affiliate marketing

·       Influencer marketing

·       Partnership marketing

You can see in the above that some of the fastest growing companies spend significantly in marketing, using various methods. Using creative means to reach new customers with innovative ways means that they are able to create a loyal customer base before their competitors take over the industry.