When Short-Term Tactics Eclipse Long-Term Vision
The allure of immediate metrics often drives us toward short-term sales activation—those promotions, limited-time offers, and tactical campaigning efforts that produce quick wins but rarely build lasting value. I've witnessed this firsthand throughout my career in digital marketing, where the pressure for immediate results can overshadow strategic thinking.
During my leadership of the Sunrise Young and Youth initiative, I faced precisely this tension. The conventional wisdom pushed for aggressive short-term acquisition tactics, but I recognized an opportunity to apply the principles pioneered by marketing effectiveness researchers Les Binet and Peter Field.
My Journey with Brand Building: Sunrise Young & Youth
When I led the repositioning of Sunrise within the Young and Youth segment in 2024, we deliberately shifted our budgets away from the industry's obsession with short-term gains. Instead of pouring our entire budget into tactical promotions, we worked with Binet and Field's 60/40 principle and media usage studies focuing on the target group to come up with a tailored brand-heavy approach - allocating around 60% to brand building activities and 40% to sales activation.
This wasn't merely a theoretical exercise or a test based on curiosity. Our youth segment faced declining brand KPIs across the board within the young target group driven by an intensely competitive market. By investing significantly in emotional brand connections rather than just price-driven acquisition, we took a bit of risk and most of all I trusted my experience and instincts. And it paid off. We achieved what many considered impossible: Substantial growth on both brand and sales metrics, including a 6 pp. increase in TOM Awareness and 29% increase in order volumes within the segment.
Feel free to get in touch or check out my projects page for more insights.
The Science Behind Balanced Marketing Communications
The 5% statistic isn't from Binet and Field directly - it comes from research by Peter Weinberg and Jon Lombardo at LinkedIn's B2B Institute. Their "95:5 rule" emphasizes that in B2B contexts, 95% of potential customers aren't actively looking to buy at any given moment. This perfectly complements Binet and Field's findings on the essential balance between immediate activation and long-term brand building.
Recent studies have reinforced these principles:
System1 Research (2022) demonstrated how brand-building investments significantly contribute to long-term profitability
Marketing Week's analysis across sectors confirmed that balanced strategies consistently outperform activation-heavy approaches
LinkedIn's B2B Institute found that sustained brand investment creates "mental availability" that directly translates to business growth when prospects enter the market
Tailoring Your Content Marketing Strategy
While the 60/40 rule provides an excellent foundation, my experience at Sunrise taught me that effective content marketing requires nuanced application based on your specific context:
B2B marketing often requires a split closer to 46% brand-building and 54% activation, according to LinkedIn's B2B Institute research
Startups may need to initially focus more on activation before gradually increasing brand investment
Low-frequency purchase categories (like telecommunications, which I worked in) demand heavier brand investment to maintain mental availability between purchases
High-frequency purchase categories can tolerate slightly more activation-focused spending
At Sunrise, we recognized that telecommunications represented a relatively low-frequency purchase category for young consumers. This insight led us to emphasize emotional storytelling and cultural relevance in our brand building efforts, creating connections that transcended the typical price-focused telecommunications messaging.
Moving Beyond the Delusion
The most dangerous trap in modern digital marketing isn't ineffective tactics - it's effective tactics applied to the wrong objectives. By focusing exclusively on converting the 5% already in-market, we sacrifice the far larger opportunity of nurturing relationships with the 95% who represent our future.
From my years in telecom marketing and particularly through the Sunrise Young and Youth success story, I've learned that true marketing effectiveness comes from balance. The immediate dopamine hit of activation metrics feels good, but sustainable growth requires patience and consistent brand building.
Your Marketing Communications Roadmap
If you're ready to escape the 5% delusion, consider these steps:
Assess your current marketing budget allocation between brand and activation efforts
Evaluate your industry dynamics and brand maturity to determine your optimal balance
Develop content marketing approaches that serve both immediate conversion and long-term relationship building
Establish measurement frameworks that account for both short and long-term impacts
Commit to patience—the most powerful brand effects typically manifest over years, not quarters
The lesson from my Sunrise experience is clear: by embracing a balanced approach to digital marketing that respects both the science of marketing effectiveness and the nuances of your specific context, you can achieve breakthrough results that tactical approaches alone simply cannot deliver.
I invite fellow marketing professionals to connect and discuss these insights further. Reach out via my LinkedIn profile or through my contact page.
For a deeper dive into this topic, consider exploring these resources:
The Long and the Short of It - Les Binet and Peter Field's groundbreaking research
The B2B Institute: 95:5 Rule - Peter Weinberg and Jon Lombardo's research on B2B marketing
Sunrise Young and Youth Project Case Study - My personal experience applying these principles
