Performance advertising channels usually claim credit for a big percentage of sales that would have occurred anyway.
Among other lessons, the pandemic doled out to brands and businesses has shown how marketing activities can go down significantly with little effect on consumer traffic. For instance. AirBnB cut its performance advertising spend by $542 million in 2020 and still did not see a measurable drop in attributable sales.
Platforms like Google, Facebook and Amazon are vast hubs of behavioural and predictive data, given that they attach tracking pixels to every web property around. But these platforms are not necessarily creating or fulfilling demands for businesses. While retargeting, display and branded search help target relevant audiences, most consumers exposed to these ads would have purchased from the brand anyway.
Instead, marketers should focus on experimenting with organic marketing investments in alternative channels that perhaps do not charge $0.99 for every $1.00 the business makes. Advertise to audiences who are already primed to purchase from the brand. This will help brands see a significant return on advertising investment without a significant sales lift.
[13 minute read]
