Editorial
The Gist
-
Brand vs. performance. Short-term wins often take priority over brand-building, but lasting growth depends on long-term investment.
-
Habits over goals. Planning for consistent improvement matters more than chasing hard-to-reach quarterly targets.
-
Small efforts compound. Marginal gains in everyday marketing work can lead to measurable impact over time.
I see many conversations today in marketing circles about how important it is to drive long-term sustainable revenue growth. This contrasts with performance marketing, which delivers a quick surge in sales but requires constant effort to maintain.
This is a welcome reminder of the seminal work that academics, authors and marketing practitioners have completed on the subject. For example, think of the “Long and Short of It” framework by Binet and Field, which shows the link between brand investment and long-term or accelerated growth.
The obsession with demonstrating a return for every marketing dollar spent has also given rise to the chief revenue officer, who often replaces the CMO, or the emergence of the revenue operations function. It’s commendable, but it’s often driven by CEOs, owners and investors who operate under short-term financial goals. It downgrades the marketing voice at the table. Or worse, it takes marketers out of the equation all together.
No one would argue that marketing shouldn’t be accountable or that investment should be linked to a return. Just as important, no one would argue that the money spent on brand marketing at IBM, Lego or Coca-Cola was wasted, even though it couldn’t be directly tied to revenue.
Table of Contents
Habits Beat Goals
I was thinking about this after re-reading the great book by James Clear, Atomic Habits. I found a few habits I needed to start, a few I needed to stick to, and more than one I needed to kick. In the opening chapter, Clear writes about forgetting goals. Goals aren’t motivational in the sense that they actually help you stick to your habits.
The reward (revenue) is too far detached from the action (marketing) to encourage habit forming. Marketing plans are often framed around a link between the actions we intend to take and the outcomes we expect to achieve. That’s fine. But how many plans focus on the habits of good marketing? The real value lies in showing up consistently and getting better over time, often in small, unnoticeable ways, but with compounding impact.
As Clear outlines in his book, while the British Olympic Cycling team did have a goal of winning gold medals, that wasn’t their main focus. They focused on every aspect of their system, including finding marginal gains in everything from lightening bike components to optimizing sleep habits with better pillows.
By putting in the reps and improving everything by 1%, they enjoyed the compounding effects that followed—along with a massive haul of gold medals.
The Value of Consistency
Now apply this thinking to marketing. Outside of performance marketing. where abundant data can be used for A/B testing to get that 1% increase in conversions, few marketers obsess over making that next social post 1% better than the last. And few marketers develop habits like consistently requesting client testimonials or writing thought-leadership articles, which often are pushed back because more urgent tasks like answering internal emails take priority.
It's a leap. You need the confidence to believe that consistent improvement will eventually lead to meaningful results. Even if you cannot see the impact today or next quarter, your effort may lead to one more buyer choosing your brand in the future.
This brings me back to planning. Sure, good planning requires breaking down corporate goals into achievable components. It also requires making informed choices about where to invest finite resources, having a structured approach to execution and regularly reviewing progress. But I would add one more critical step to the planning phase. Define the good marketing habits you need to embody.
Related Article: The Forgotten Art of Planning in B2B Marketing
Core Ideas for Sustainable Marketing Growth
This table summarizes key themes from the article, emphasizing the strategic shift from short-term performance marketing to long-term brand consistency and habit-building.
| Main Concept | Summary | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Brand vs. performance | Brand marketing supports long-term growth, while performance marketing drives short-term wins. | Over-indexing on performance can devalue marketing’s strategic role and lead to burnout. |
| Habits over goals | Forming consistent marketing habits is more impactful than chasing quarterly targets. | Good habits compound over time, while goals are often detached from daily work. |
| Marginal gains | Small, incremental improvements in marketing tasks lead to measurable progress. | Consistent 1% improvements can create competitive advantage over time. |
| Marketing voice erosion | Revenue-driven roles like CROs often replace CMOs in short-term focused orgs. | This trend sidelines marketers and reduces emphasis on long-term brand value. |
| Systematic consistency | Like elite athletes, marketers benefit from optimizing the full system—not just the outcome. | Building consistent practices like client outreach or thought leadership enhances brand equity. |
| Planning for habits | Marketing plans should define not just goals, but the habits required to reach them. | Embedding habit thinking in strategy helps future-proof the brand and reduce reliance on performance campaigns. |
Planning With Habits in Mind
As well as researching the market, customers and competitors, also spend some time thinking about the links between good marketing habits and long-term brand performance. Be bold. Adopt a strategy that invests time and energy into doing the right thing consistently, and improving steadily for its own sake.
Future marketers in your organization will appreciate this foundation as they see revenue grow while relying less on performance marketing.
Learn how you can join our contributor community.
