The 95%

Over the past few months, we’ve noticed a familiar pattern in conversations with clients. Campaigns are running smoothly. Dashboards look healthy. Acquisition costs haven't blown up. But when you zoom out, growth feels… flatter.

That’s not a failure of performance marketing. It’s what happens when growth efforts lean too heavily on a single tactic. Once targeting, creative formats, and budgets are optimized, returns begin to level off. You’re mostly reaching the same segment of in-market buyers—roughly 5% of your market at any given time.

Research by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, in collaboration with the LinkedIn B2B Institute, shows that approximately 95% of potential buyers are not actively shopping at any given moment. The implication is that most marketing activities are targeting people who are simply not ready to purchase yet.

That’s where brand and creative become essential. The framework from the Kantar “advertising multipliers” research indicates that creative quality is one of the biggest drivers of advertising profitability, second only to brand size. That means the brands with distinctive, emotionally resonant creative aren’t just making better ads—they’re buying future cash flow.

So no, performance marketing isn’t broken. It just can’t win alone. When all your budget chases the same small window of buyers, you start competing on cost-per-click instead of meaning. The fix isn’t abandoning performance; it’s balancing it. Pair short-term efficiency with long-term creativity: build memory, distinctiveness, emotional connection now — so your brand is the easy choice later.

If your results have plateaued, it may be time to recalibrate your approach. Reach out to us to evaluate your marketing mix and uncover where the next wave of growth is hiding in your 95%.