Media planning should be more like long-term investing, not day trading

When marketing budgets are tight and quarterly reports loom large, the pressure to deliver immediate sales performance can feel intense. But when it comes to advertising, focusing too closely on short-term gains is like day trading — the quick returns might grab headlines, but they usually lack staying power. Sustainable business growth requires pairing performance with building brand equity, brick by brick, just like you’d invest in a retirement account. There may be ups and downs in the short run, but consistent investment over time (allocated strategically, of course) can keep your returns growing up and to the right.

Gary Vaynerchuk asserts in his latest book that brands can, and should, focus on “day trading attention.” The foundation of his argument is that by harnessing social trends, a brand’s social media content will generate the attention and audience reach necessary to build a brand and drive sales. But while going viral is great, it isn’t — not now, nor has it ever been — a sustainable brand strategy.

Day trading — whether in stocks or social media — is risky. The data just doesn’t support it: In an analysis of 22 social media-based DTC companies, over half have seen their stock price drop more than 50% since they went public. These brands gave over control of when and how their brands appeared to a handful of media platforms (Meta, Google), and gave social influencers control over the creative. In their advertising strategy, foundational elements got lost: the quality of the audience reach, the contextual environment, the distinctiveness of the brand asset, and the consistency and longevity across platforms — all proven elements of successful brand growth.

When it comes to investing, one thing remains tried and tested: staying invested patiently over the course of market ups and downs is the best way to pursue your long-term financial goals. And the same is true of marketing investment. Exverus’ proprietary analysis looked at the difference between a brand investing $10 million in advertising for just six months versus investing the same $10 million over the course of 12 months. When media spend was distributed across the longer time frame, the result was a 51% increase in ROI​.

Why is this true? Every time an audience sees your brand, it reinforces brand recognition. This is like compound interest for your brand value. These exposures accumulate with repetition, and as Emory University’s Michael Smith put it, “Brand familiarity breeds trust.” Trust, of course, is the very foundation of customer loyalty, advocacy and repeat business. Blitzing your audience with a short-term barrage of ads may seem like the most impactful approach, but it could actually lead to ad fatigue and turn customers away from your brand. It’s more effective to gradually integrate your message into multiple different media channels, or touchpoints, nurturing consideration and keeping your brand top of mind when a target consumer has a need for it in the future.

Advertising trends evolve so quickly, it’s easy to get distracted by shiny new objects — a viral social media trend or an exciting new technology. We’re big believers in innovation, but reaching your ideal customers where they are (and better yet, where they’ll be a month or a year from now), with a consistent message and a relevant solution to their needs, is a much more constructive (and cost-efficient) way to think about allocating your advertising budget. Rather than changing course every day or week, develop a long-term paid media strategy informed by precise audience data and centered around cohesive messaging. Make sure the KPIs you’re using correctly measure your brand’s goals — ROI tends to favor short-term performance, and so it should be complemented with metrics like brand perception lift and customer lifetime value, which measure the long-term effects of your paid media investments. You wouldn’t measure your personal wealth by simply looking at the cash in your checking account every day, right? Marketing data analysis should be approached the same way.

Numerous studies support the importance of customer-based brand equity as a measure of positive brand image, a predictor of customer loyalty and advocacy, and a basis for premium pricing. It’s also important for engendering brand differentiation — if a customer perceives all the brands in your category as basically the same, they’ll probably go with the cheapest option. It takes a deeper connection and a perception of higher value for them to choose your brand over the competition, and fostering those takes time.

And there’s certainly room for adjustment along the way. Just like a 401(k) or IRA statement tracks progress toward your retirement goals, advertising platforms provide comprehensive campaign analytics that can allow for regular optimization, and ultimately, the maximum possible ROI. But making changes too often or too quickly will short-circuit your efforts; campaigns need sufficient time to run in order to gather enough data to make informed decisions.

In the words of Selwyn Gerber, founder and chief strategist of RVW Wealth, a leading money management firm: “Stars and comets may look the same, but the stars keep shining every night while comets come burning back down to Earth.”

Ask your organization: Which would you rather be? Day trading in attention may sound exciting, but it won’t cultivate brand equity that lasts.

This op-ed represents the views and opinions of the author and not of The Current, a division of The Trade Desk, or The Trade Desk. The appearance of the op-ed on The Current does not constitute an endorsement by The Current or The Trade Desk.