How to build a cross-channel approach to marketing for sustainable growth

The other road leads to a holistic cross-channel strategy. This involves patient digital brand building, balanced between search and social investment. It may seem daunting to some, but this is the most effective pathway to sustainable growth. It can also revitalize the effectiveness of paid search and other BOF activity.

Decline of PPC

For years, paid search has been the cornerstone of e-commerce marketing. Its ability to capture purchase intent, coupled with its measurability, made it a reliable source of sales.

I’ve worked in performance marketing for 20 years and have witnessed so much of the journey. The period has been defined by Google’s market dominance, from the launch of its revolutionary AdWords to the growth of Google Shopping – which marked a shift from keywords to products – and the more recent development of AI-powered search.

But it’s becoming increasingly clear that overreliance on BOF tactics, with search at the core, can no longer sustain long-term growth. A series of factors have led to this conclusion.

Firstly, costs in search advertising have risen consistently, particularly in the years since COVID, as ad spend has tipped ever more towards digital (and often focused on BOF, short-term tactics). In 2020, the average cost-per-click (CPC) on Google Ads was $1.98 – in 2024, this has risen to $2.53.

Meanwhile, the landscape of digital marketing has undergone a significant transformation. Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) update and growing deprecation of third-party cookies both fundamentally impacted the measurement and targeting capabilities for BOF tactics, blunting the effectiveness of search.

On the face of it, paid social and paid search have similar histories as performance channels. E-commerce brands embraced both platforms for BOF advertising, using tools like Dynamic Product Ads on Meta and Product Listing Ads ads on Google to target consumers showing high purchase intent.

However, over the past few years, social platforms have been more effective at encouraging advertisers to move from BOF to full-funnel investment. This can largely be attributed to the visually driven, video-centric direction of travel from platforms like TikTok and Instagram. They offer businesses a powerful tool to build brand awareness and engage customers at every stage of the buying journey.

Successfully transitioning

While it might seem daunting, transitioning to a multi-channel strategy can significantly boost growth. By learning from successful direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, we’ve identified three key strategies for a smooth transition.

Firstly, start with the business objective. It can be tempting to become overly focused on short-term efficiency metrics like Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). While important gauges of financial health, overreliance on them can limit long-term growth and strategic direction. Think of these as your rudder, not your compass.

For a successful marketing setup, establish a North Star metric. This is a clear, overarching business goal aligned with your long-term vision that guides all marketing efforts. This could be increasing customer volume or market share by a defined amount. Many forward-thinking advertisers also pair this with quick-to-read success signals, like increasing branded search volume.

Secondly, put funnel before channel. Fixed investment in a particular channel can hinder your ability to reach customers where they are, wasting your marketing budget. A channel-agnostic approach ensures that every pound works effectively. Instead of pre-determining channel allocations, map out the entire funnel, identifying the best channels for each stage.

For example, building brand awareness requires top-of-funnel activity. Determine the most effective platforms and campaign types for your brand and target audience (Meta, YouTube, or TikTok). Similarly, for immediate sales, evaluate which channels deliver the most effective bottom-of-funnel results. Answering these questions should guide your budget prioritization.

Lastly, strive for incrementality. If your efforts aren’t delivering measurable results, it might be time to reallocate your budget. However, don’t rely solely on in-platform metrics that focus on short-term impacts.

Testing methodologies, such as lift studies, can help. They validate the incremental impact of any bottom-of-funnel investment, isolating the true uplift in conversions among users exposed to your campaigns. The same method can also be used to isolate the impact of brand advertising.

For example, a recent study among Nest clients saw a month-long investment in awareness ads on Meta drive a 22.3% increase in branded search visits and a 9.4% lift in non-branded search visits to these brands’ websites.

The transition to a new strategy may be daunting, but the rewards are substantial. The road to sustainable growth is a cross-channel approach engaging customers at every stage of the funnel. Time to get moving.