Dustin Rideout, Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at creative marketing agency The Hive identifies shifts required to unlock growth for brands.
For many brands that have found initial success through direct response methods, “performance marketing” has been the engine behind much of their growth. These brands have relied on highly targeted tactics to drive quick wins in customer acquisition.
Performance marketing strategies, such as search marketing and digital performance ads, have helped sustain sales and maintain visibility in competitive spaces. But as brands reach a certain stage, they often realize that continuing with a pure performance marketing approach may no longer be enough to unlock their next wave of growth.
Brands at this pivotal moment may find themselves at a tipping point: performance marketing has allowed them to hold ground, but a new approach is needed to move from maintaining sales to capturing a larger share of the market. Growth marketing offers a way forward by focusing on long-term brand-building efforts, expanding brand awareness, and deepening customer relationships – areas that many brands haven’t yet fully explored.
Performance Marketing Holds Ground
Performance marketing is primarily designed to target the low-hanging fruit – customers who are ready to make a purchase or take immediate action. Its success is often measured by short-term metrics like return on ad spend (ROAS), cost-per-acquisition (CPA), and conversions. This approach allows early-stage businesses to maintain a steady pipeline of sales, keeping them competitive and relevant. However, the scope of this approach is limited to those who are already in-market and aware of the brand.
In other words, performance marketing excels at keeping a brand visible to those already considering it, ensuring that the company holds onto its existing share of voice in a crowded marketplace. But by focusing on these immediate, lower-funnel activities, businesses are missing the opportunity to reach entirely new audiences and unlock untapped market potential. For any brand outside of number one, and especially those that consider themselves as challengers, this approach alone to marketing simply won’t achieve their ambitions.
Growth Marketing Expands Market Share
Growth marketing, on the other hand, is about increasing market share by focusing on brand-building efforts and creating value. It’s designed to reach not just customers who are ready to convert but those who are still in the awareness or consideration phases of the funnel. By increasing brand exposure and fostering deeper emotional connections with consumers, growth marketing helps brands break through clutter and capture new customers who are not yet aware of them.
Instead of merely maintaining share of voice, growth marketing expands it. It elevates the brand beyond immediate performance-driven campaigns and invests in activity that builds visibility with new audiences. This, in turn, fuels future conversions by creating a stronger brand presence that drives sustainable growth.
Shifts For Brands Moving Toward The Next Stage of Growth
From Short-Term Sales to Building Awareness
Performance marketing has been great for driving quick sales, but for brands ready to scale, the focus needs to shift toward building awareness and attracting a broader audience. Growth marketing allows brands to move beyond short-term transactional relationships and start investing in the top-of-funnel activities that create new customer pipelines.
From Conversion Focused to Brand Equity Building
While the returns from performance marketing are beneficial in the short-term, growth marketing focuses on building brand equity to increase volume. Brands must begin investing in brand-building tactics that may not result in immediate conversions but will drive customer pipeline. These include creating engaging content, building communities, investing in sponsorship, or collaborating with influencers to reach new segments of the market.
From Visibility to Advocacy
In the performance marketing model, maintaining visibility in search engines or paid channels has been a way to stay competitive. But growth marketing goes beyond visibility to focus on advocates who will champion the brand organically. By creating meaningful experiences and fostering emotional connections with consumers, businesses can turn customers into advocates who help spread the word, driving organic growth.
From Immediate Transactions to Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)
Performance marketing has often been about driving one-off purchases, but brands aiming for the next stage of growth need to prioritize customer lifetime value (CLTV). Growth marketing builds strong, ongoing relationships with customers that lead to repeat business and referrals, which in turn increases CLTV. This means focusing on retention strategies, loyalty programs, and personalized customer engagement to drive long-term growth.
From Lower-Funnel to Full-Funnel Strategy
Performance marketing traditionally targets the lower funnel—those ready to convert. Growth marketing, on the other hand, looks at the entire funnel, from awareness to retention. This means creating a seamless customer experience across every stage of the journey, ensuring that brands not only attract new customers but also keep them engaged and loyal over time.
Setting The Stage For Sustainable Growth
For brands ready to enter their next phase of growth, transitioning from performance marketing to growth marketing is a critical step. Performance marketing may have been enough to drive early success, but it’s growth marketing that will enable brands to scale and capture new market opportunities.
In a landscape where competition is increasing, brands that continue to focus solely on maintaining sales through performance marketing will find themselves outpaced by those investing in awareness and long-term relationships. By embracing growth marketing, brands can build a foundation for sustainable growth, drive new customer acquisition, and ultimately increase their market share.
The Hive is a member of the Institute of Canadian Agencies. Report on Marketing is where leading Canadian agencies showcase their insights, cutting-edge research and client successes. The Report on Marketing provides a valuable source of thought leadership for Canadian marketers to draw inspiration from. Find more articles like this at the Report on Marketing.
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