We’ve finally reached an inflection point, seemingly evolving on from our obsession with and reliance on performance advertising and its inherent focus on short-term ROI, to a place where in order to stand out, a renewed investment in awareness tactics to generate brand heat is needed more than ever.

As recent as 5 years ago, it was seemingly easy to set up a Facebook ad campaign and generate attributable purchases. The pandemic fueled ecommerce and cemented performance marketing adaptation with its measurable ROI, which effectively became “marketing” for many brands.

To see in real time the ability to spend $1 and make $5  was almost addicting (and made it easy to justify the marketing expense to the CFO signing the checks).

Today, growth is slowing for many brands.

On the surface, we’re seeing headwinds with privacy implications, the ability to opt-out of tracking on a mobile phone, the inevitable demise of browser-based cookies, shifts in customer spending, economic uncertainty, rising advertising costs, and it’s an election year.

All of this is a recipe for decline in performance marketing and rise in new customer acquisition costs.

Many brands as a result are putting as much emphasis on promotional events as they are product launches, which is a race to the bottom.

So what can you do?

Rationally, a shift in mindset is needed to look not just at the ROI of 1-day click attribution, but what the longer term ROI is on what brand-building activities drive over time.

“Last-click attribution” doesn’t tell the whole story of how marketing works – it’s like giving a wedding credit for the marriage.

Tactically, the way this comes to life is by creating a balanced investment in non-purchase digital and experiential strategies that help build a resilient baseline of organic, owned, and direct traffic.

A potential customer may not be in-market today to purchase what you have – the goal is to be top of mind when they are at a later date.

“Here we all are, opening up budgets to include the softer (read: harder to measure) things like PR, events, sponsorship, outdoor, and print” comments Ian Stewart, head of marketing and creative at Xcel Wetsuits.

“The things that drive awareness, ignite brand heat, and bring in new consumers. Opening the funnel. Telling stories. Getting dimensional. Again”.

This doesn’t mean the end of performance marketing. Far from it. Meta is still very good at new customer prospecting. After all, they are sitting on two decades of customer data by this point.

If anything, leverage channels like Meta, Google, and High-Impact Display to bolster your story-telling and brand awareness programs with more product-focused messaging as customers warm up to the brand. Dial spend up and down based on seasonality and brand impact moments.

But be aware of the shortening of screen time all of your digital outlets get and try not to get stuck in being overly data-driven. Be data-led. Let it guide you places, not drive your entire business.

“Tell me something I don’t know, show me something I haven’t seen”, Sam McIntosh, owner of Stab mag likes to say.

What now?

Opportunities, right now, are abundant, allowing you to blur the lines in creating amazing customer experiences through brand building, which can translate to strong performance results over time.

Here are some key takeaways to consider:

• Developing amazing products always comes first.
• Building organic demand is hard and a long-term investment but can pay dividends over time when done consistently.
• Goal is to get to a point where you have a stable baseline of owned and organic traffic, even if you lessen your reliance on discounts, promotions, and lower funnel tactics.
• Top of funnel awareness tactics are NOT a replacement for performance marketing. The initial introduction to the brand CAN be driven by paid media, so it is essential to continue to invest in it. Meta is still very effective at finding qualified new customers. The customer journey is not linear.
• The things that best drive incremental revenue in a 1-day attribution window might differ from the things that drive the most incremental revenue over a 90 or 180 day period. You may not see much return the first day, week, or even months from brand building efforts.
• Effectiveness of brand efforts can be measured as incremental contribution dollars from areas like organic search, direct, and unbranded traffic.
• By developing a more balanced marketing mix, a brand can actually lessen its reliance on discounts and promotions.

And if you’d like to know more, chat further, etc. please send me a note. We’re always happy to help and share knowledge.

Matt Raminick is the founder & CEO of Sunnyside, a leading performance marketing agency that connects creative and business performance to generate revenue for surf and coastal lifestyle brands. Prior to founding Sunnyside, Matt held senior digital marketing roles at Quiksilver, Volcom, and Pacsun. He can be reached on LinkedIn and at [email protected]