Do Less.
There’s no shortage – in fact, there seems to be a near-endless supply – of advice for things you need to start doing to help your brands grow.
This is not a new phenomenon. Advertising is one arena in which amateur opinions abound and frequently go unchallenged (not intending that to be derogatory, just acknowledging perspectives from non-professional marketers have an outsized effect on this industry).
What is new is a world in which this advice is increasingly based on evidenced-backed guidance that can stand up to scrutiny. You know the list by this point**: invest above your market share, use compelling high-emotion creative, favor broad-reaching, high-attention media environments with bespoke creative executions, engineer a cheat code for greater upside, and advertise perpetually to reach category buyers when they come into market.
Simple.
But what gets lost in the noise is that even if all the advice is starting to coalesce around the same things...all of these things are still things you have to do more of. And in a world of finite resources and multiple decision-makers, following the principles to the letter is not always guaranteed.
At the very least, it’s important to understand what you can do less of to make room for these proven principles. The problem is all the folks hawking advice stand to gain from doing more. No one wants to offer up what can easily be cut (for understandable, self-preserving reasons).
I'll be brave. Here's my not-without-controversy list of sacrificial lambs to consider cutting to make room for doing better:
Display Advertising
This one at least better not be controversial. Low attention, low impact, increasingly squirrely measurement, inefficient supply chain, and unstable data governance. In nearly every case it’s not worth as much effort as goes into it. Automated all-placement platforms like Google’s Performance Max/Demand Gen and Meta’s Advantage Shopping+ haven’t risen fully to this level of suspicion just yet, but are fully clear either.
Complex CRM Systems
Driving repeat purchase is valuable for sustaining current market share (even if it’s a suspect avenue for driving growth). CRM systems today are at best introducing new products or uses to existing customers, at worst simply pushing deals and discounts – which have questionable value in the big picture since they most often only pull demand forward rather than create new sales. Except for a small handful of categories – Nonprofits, in particular – save the investment in technology, integration costs, agency time and resources, and discounting for better opportunities.
Personas and (most, maybe not all forms of) Segmentation
Within-category user segmentation does not hold up to scrutiny in the long-term. And even in the short-term, the applications on both creative development and media planning & buying are suspect – there will inevitably be a translation or proxy necessary to put it into meaningful use. And at that point, increased data costs or low-quality data will minimize the real impact. With the emergence and maturation of machine-learning-based targeting methods – to say nothing of the Market-Based Asset Theories evisceration of segmentation in principle – render this money that can easily be reinvested elsewhere.
Customer Journey Maps
These matter for product development, not for advertising. Save the money.
Multi-Touch Attribution Systems
Attribution systems have always had gaps in the data. Walled Gardens restricting data flow made those gaps larger. Cookie-loss and deprecation exponentially increase those gaps to the point that MTA is no longer even directionally insightful. Reinvest in MMM, consistent/proper brand health tracking, and other diagnostic models.
Concept Testing for Creative Platforms
Test for future insights, not for the “paper shield” (shoutout Elizabeth Paul, CSO @ The Martin Agency) that it’s worth investing in. Stick with System1, EQ Max, or similar emotional resonance and fluency testing platforms – quick, insightful, affordable.
Chasing the Feed in Organic Social
This one may be slightly more controversial. A not insignificant part of my career has been spent championing the value that can be created by bringing better brand ideas into social media. And there is still under-utilized value to be found here. But it cannot be realized through chasing the feed – trying to insert a brand into the moments of the day, chasing viral reactions is unsustainable at best. And chasing hype through organic social is something that should be done after all of the proven drivers of attention are sufficiently supported, not as a shortcut. Reinvest in making your own moments through participating in communities your brand matters to (or can matter more to).
Competitive Analysis
Don't worry about it. When they do something that matters, you’ll know. Make plans big enough that force your competitors to react to what you’re doing.
That all may not add up to enough savings to do everything that the principles of effectiveness tell us you need to do to predictably help your brand grow. It will be good hygiene for your SOWs that can make room for even a little better, though.
**If none of that made sense, check out: WARC ’s podcasts, Sweathead, James Hurman, Uncensored CMO, the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) or follow any of the generous-with-their-thinking luminaries that I'll spare from tagging…Byron Sharp, Jenni Romaniuk, Les Binet, Peter Field, Rob Brittain, James Hurman, Orlando Wood, Karen Nelson-Field, Grace Kite, the R’s (Roach and Ritson), and many many more.
