Most marketers focus too heavily on short-term performance campaigns. Here’s why shifting more budget to brand marketing is essential for long-term growth.

By Niels Skovmand, Commercial Director, Nordics at AudienceProject, Juha Ourila, Managing Director at AudienceProject and Martin Radford, Solutions Director, UK at AudienceProject.

When speaking with advertisers, agencies, and publishers, one topic consistently surfaces: the balance between brand marketing and performance marketing.

In most cases, the majority of budgets (sometimes more than 60%) is allocated to performance marketing. The rationale is clear: it’s measurable, immediate, and tied directly to sales. But when we apply the classic 95:5 rule, a paradox emerges.

The 95:5 rule tells us that only around 5% of consumers are actively in the market to buy, while the remaining 95% are not. This means most marketing efforts are aimed squarely at the small group of people ready to purchase right now. In other words, more than half the budget is targeting the minority – and leaving long-term growth on the table.

The case for brand building

The 95:5 rule highlights a simple truth: sustainable growth comes from investing in your brand. Building a brand takes money, patience, and consistency – but it’s the foundation for future demand. When brand advertising is underfunded, the potential for long-term growth diminishes.

A strong brand doesn’t just build recognition – it drives preference. When faced with choices on a supermarket shelf, a search results page, or an e-commerce site, consumers are more likely to pick the brand they already know and trust.

In fact, research shows that consumers will often pay more for a familiar brand. One UK study found that drivers chose more expensive car insurance from an advertiser they recognised over cheaper policies from less familiar providers. That’s the power of brand equity.

Measure what matters: Reach and impact

The beauty of brand advertising is that its performance can be measured – if you have the right tools. It starts with one key metric: reach.

You can’t sell to consumers you don’t reach. The wider your brand’s reach within your target audience, the larger your pool of potential buyers when they’re ready to purchase. After all, no advertiser would ever say, “We’d prefer fewer people to know about our product.”

However, brand advertising doesn’t drive immediate sales. In a world that prizes quick returns, brand campaigns can seem less effective in the short term. That’s why many marketers prioritise performance – because the payback is clear and immediate, even if the reach is limited.

Bridging brand and performance

At AudienceProject, we work extensively with brand advertisers who want to ensure their investments deliver maximum value. They ask the right questions:

• Can I reach more people?
• What happens if I add a new platform?
• Am I reaching the right audience?
• Can I do it more efficiently?

These are crucial questions that help advertisers understand what works, rather than relying on assumptions. But performance marketing deserves the same scrutiny. What if your performance campaigns reach the same audience repeatedly? What if they barely extend your overall reach?

The real opportunity lies in combining brand and performance measurement – to see if retargeting truly reaches those exposed to brand campaigns and whether the added data and cost actually drive better outcomes.

The real question: Are you spending wisely?

From our conversations, it’s clear that many advertisers don’t know whether their performance campaigns add incremental reach – or if they’re simply serving the same small audience.

Performance marketing feels safer because conversions are easy to track. But in reality, it’s brand marketing that drives future conversions by planting the seeds of awareness and trust.

So when we ask, “Are you spending your ad budget wisely?” we’re not just questioning your media mix — we’re starting a conversation about growth.

Our mission is simple: help customers understand how to spend efficiently today while building the foundations for tomorrow.

Learn more

Learn more about how cross-media measurement can help you optimise your media investments and reach your audience more effectively by filling out the contact form below.

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