The siren’s song of performance marketing lured us to these shores. Now we’ve crashed, and we’re panicking.
This is the situation for far too many companies these days.
The hard truth is, we allowed this to happen. We sat by while finance teams demanded proof that every dollar of marketing investment result in clear short-term returns. And for a while, it did.
We stopped talking about long-term investments that the best corporate leaders have always known are important. The investments in trust, in relationships, in mattering to people. Basically, the investments in brand.
In retrospect it seems so obvious. Paid digital promised targeting and tracking. It turned marketing into a penny slot machine where it felt like the winning was easy.
But the house always wins. And eventually performance marketing became a narrower and more expensive path.
One day, companies looked up and realized they didn’t have many options left. Because long-term investments, which many weren’t making, compound over time.
Now, many are scrambling. Finance wants answers on what the next quick fix is. They hope it’s AI. The answer is more complicated.
I wonder if the issue is rethinking proof. Brand investment never wins because it sounds so abstract. And it’s hard to measure.
Business exists to make money. There is nothing wrong with that, and any investment should demonstrate value.
Maybe marketers need to stop talking about brand altogether and reframe the conversation. Reframe the measurement.
Otherwise the next siren song of AI-driven marketing might be too strong for most companies to resist.
