Balancing Brand and Performance: Eight Steps to More Resilient Marketing

In a time when every dollar is under scrutiny and economic signals remain mixed, it’s tempting to chase short-term results. Performance marketing offers quick wins and clear metrics—but over-prioritizing it can undermine long-term growth.

Marketers who buck the all-in performance push and take a more balanced, brand-forward approach are often the ones who emerge stronger. Here are eight key steps to help marketing leaders realign strategy and spending with a more resilient long view:

1. Reevaluate the Budget Split
Ideally, most marketers would split budgets evenly between brand and performance. But in 2024, nearly 70% of budgets leaned toward short-term performance—a shift from 60% the year prior. The pressure to show results quickly is real, but chasing short-term gains at the expense of brand investment limits future growth.

2. Start with Performance—But Don’t Stop There
Performance marketing has its place, especially when pressure is high to prove value quickly. But it works best when paired with brand investment. Performance can harvest demand, but brand creates it.

3. Invest in Brand to Sustain Results
Performance alone won’t fuel lasting momentum. Strong brands improve click-through rates, conversion, and loyalty. If brand investment disappears for too long, performance inevitably declines across the board. It’s not a trade-off—it’s a momentum loop.

4. Stay Visible When Others Pull Back
When competitors go quiet during economic lulls, visibility becomes cheaper and more impactful. Keeping your brand out there—even with modest investment—can meaningfully increase share of voice and build long-term equity.

5. Align Messaging Across the Funnel
Your brand story should be consistent and cohesive from awareness to conversion. That means connecting creative and messaging strategies across touchpoints—making sure brand values shine through even in performance-driven executions. Integrated messaging builds trust, recognition, and momentum.

6. Capitalize on Seasonal Moments and Trends
Consumers still spend around key moments—holidays, cultural events, product cycles. Use these seasonal peaks to strengthen both brand and performance efforts. Smart marketers time messaging and offers to ride the wave of relevance, not swim against it.

7. Think Integration, Not Either/Or
Brand and performance aren’t two separate tracks. The most effective campaigns combine them—embedding brand storytelling into lower-funnel ads, and letting performance data guide broader creative strategy. This integrated “brandformance” model can boost overall returns by up to 90 percent.

8. Let Data Build the Case
When budgets tighten, measurement matters even more. Invest in reporting frameworks that span both brand and performance channels. A unified view of impact helps win stakeholder trust, defend investment, and refine strategy.

Economic headwinds make performance spending feel safe—but it’s not a long-term or sustainable strategy. Marketers who protect their brand while optimizing performance are building not just campaigns, but durable competitive advantages. In a world focused on short-term gains, balance is the bold move.