Marketing Channel Evolution
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A breakdown of how companies evolve their marketing strategy from performance-focused to brand advertising as they mature and scale.
Two Main Types of Marketing
-
Performance Marketing
- Click-based tracking
- 100% attribution visibility
- Direct response focused
- Measurable ROI
-
Brand Marketing
- Billboards, TV commercials
- Building awareness vs direct sales
- Harder to measure direct impact
- Focus on long-term influence
Marketing Evolution Path
-
Early Stage Companies
- Start with performance marketing
- Focus on measurable channels
- Usually tech/internet savvy companies
- Direct response focused
-
Mature Companies
- Transition to brand advertising after exhausting performance channels
- Goal shifts to broad awareness
- Indicates company has strong fundamentals
- Sign of financial strength ("like buying art - if you're buying brand ads, your company is rich")
Examples of Brand Marketing Success
-
Manscaped advertising on UFC
- Indicates strong business fundamentals
- Willing to spend on brand vs just performance
- Shows confidence in unit economics
-
Watch Gang
- Advertising during UFC fights
- Running contests and giveaways
- Likely doing significant revenue ($200M+ suggested)
- Marketing company masquerading as watch company
Key Insight
- Companies doing heavy brand advertising often signal they've mastered performance marketing and have strong underlying business metrics to support broader awareness spending
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.