Performance marketing alone won't sustain business success
In the age of experience, your competitive advantage doesn’t come from your product or service, but from the relationship you build with your audience—from the first advertisement they see, to the moment they receive customer support.
However, in recent years, we’ve seen many businesses shift their marketing focus toward campaigns that generate immediate returns.
Your takeaway for 2025
Marketing success in 2025 demands a shift from tactical to strategic thinking. Stop hopping from campaign-to-campaign hunting immediate conversions. Instead, invest in a comprehensive marketing program to connect with your audience.
Their attention and budgets have moved from brand investment to performance marketing, from measuring brand equity to bottom-funnel metrics, from long-term strategies to short-term tactics.
While this approach may seem pragmatic and effective in the short term (aren't those daily conversion rates satisfying?), it won't help to build a strong brand.
In fact, it could weaken or even damage your brand over time. Without a strong brand presence, you’ll lose your place in people’s hearts and minds, leaving the door wide open for your competitors to walk in.
From short-term to long-term thinking
Campaigns with a strong transactional focus push for an immediate response, a quick sale or action, instead of investing in personal relevance for the customer. This often results in generic, untargeted messaging, which might reach a large audience, but doesn’t resonate with anyone. Sure, it might trigger a few quick purchases today, but what about tomorrow - or 5 years down the line?
If you push purely transaction-focused messages, they will have no reason to become or remain loyal to your brand. Why should they, if you're only engaging them when you want something in return? It can lead to a higher customer churn rate and a decrease in the overall lifetime value of your customers.
On the other hand, positive experiences—even if they don’t lead to immediate sales—can significantly contribute to the long-term value and reputation of your brand. A customer who feels seen, valued, and understood will remember that interaction. They are more likely to return later or recommend the brand more often.
The key is to find a balance between promotional efforts and experiences that engage customers emotionally, ensuring people not only buy today but come back tomorrow.
Next steps for 2025
Make the shift from standalone, ad hoc marketing campaigns towards a well-structured, goal-oriented marketing program.
A marketing program takes a holistic approach, integrating marketing efforts with long-term business objectives. It includes ongoing initiatives that allow customers and prospects to participate at any time, rather than relying on the urgency often associated with a campaign. Think of a loyalty program, a community, educational or inspirational content, etc. Of course, in a marketing program, individual marketing campaigns may come and go, but they are all connected to an overarching core message or theme to ensure consistency and to reinforce the brand message.
The real business value of a marketing program is its ability to create compound growth: its effects accumulate over time, often in ways that aren't immediately apparent.
Dive deeper into marketing
Marketing programs are becoming more important because cookies are disappearing and there's a greater emphasis on customer experience (CX). Learn why.
At iO, we go way beyond campaign execution. We help you to build a robust marketing funnel with the right combination of targeted campaigns and ongoing programs.