The Growth Plateau: Why Investing in Brand Awareness Is Your Next Strategic Move

After decades in digital marketing, I’ve seen it time and time again.

A brand hits a wall.

And not because their acquisition strategy isn’t working. On the contrary, it’s working too well. They’ve optimized their paid search and social campaigns, maxed out impression share, and scaled their performance budget with precision. But growth has stalled. Every incremental dollar returns a little less.

💡 Pro Tip: Maxed Out? It’s Time to Widen the Funnel

“If your paid search campaigns are maxed on impression share and performance is plateauing, you’re not only spending inefficiently—you’re limiting your growth. Investing at the top of the funnel expands your audience, bringing in net new users you can nurture into future converters.”

— Bethany Driskill, Paid Media Lead

So, what now?

This is the moment where the smartest marketers shift their focus from harvesting existing demand to creating new demand. And that means one thing:

It’s Time to Invest in Brand Awareness

💡 Pro Tip: Awareness Matters to Humans and AI

“Brand Awareness isn’t just for humans—LLMs reward recognition, not just relevance. Brand awareness gives AI models a reason to find and feature you.” 

— Nick Haigler (Read more about Nick’s study here)

If you want to grow your bottom-funnel acquisition pool—your “ready to buy” audience—you need to start further up the funnel. Brand awareness builds the mental availability that fuels future conversions.

When executed well, brand-building does more than boost visibility. It multiplies the effectiveness of your performance channels—reducing cost per acquisition, increasing branded search volume, and improving trust across your funnel.

Why it matters: Without brand awareness, bottom-funnel tactics often get more expensive over time. But when users recognize and trust your brand, they convert faster (and cheaper). That’s why brand familiarity is one of the strongest levers for improving acquisition efficiency.

💡 Pro Tip: Before You Shout Louder, Make Sure You Know What You’re Saying

If your brand awareness campaign doesn’t have a strong brand platform, it’s time to consider one. It’s your north star — aligning brand strategy, positioning, personality, voice, and tone. With a solid brand foundation, every touchpoint builds a better brand and user experience — strengthening trust, consistency, and long-term loyalty.

- Natalie Price, Director of Creative Services

Early Signals That You’re Ready to Invest in Brand Awareness

Here’s a quick diagnostic checklist to help identify if it’s time to pull this lever:

✅ If You Checked YES to 3 or More:

You’re likely tapped out on existing demand and hitting the early signs of performance plateau.
→ Recommendation: Start allocating budget to brand-building initiatives. Test awareness tactics and layer on measurement tools to evaluate impact.

✅ If You Checked YES to 5 or More:

You’ve probably already hit your growth ceiling.
→ Urgent Move: You’re overdue for an upper-funnel strategy. Brand demand is likely the unlock to get you back on a growth trajectory.

✅ If You Checked NO to Most:

💡 Pro Tip: Lead With Video to Spark Connection

“Video lets your brand do more than advertise—it lets it connect. You can be funny, heartfelt, bold—whatever makes you stand out! It's the best tool we have to build awareness with intent.”

— Bethany Driskill, Paid Media Lead

Don’t Stop at the Top: Creative Should Flow Down the Funnel

One of the biggest mistakes I see? Brands pump money and content into awareness—then leave users hanging mid-journey. Great storytelling introduces the brand… AND it guides and converts.

Here’s how to build a full-funnel creative journey that meets your audience where they are:

Full-Funnel Creative Journey Example

Let’s say you’re marketing a plant-based protein powder:

Let’s say you’re marketing a time-tracking and productivity analytics tool built for distributed teams, freelancers, and agencies who bill hourly or want better visibility into where time is spent.

💡Pro Tip: Your Audience Isn’t One-Dimensional—Your Creative Shouldn’t Be Either

“Personalization isn’t only about using a name, it’s about showing up where your audience is, with what they need. Tailor your message to their mindset by persona, stage, and platform. Someone might scroll Meta for social proof, hop on LinkedIn to learn, or hit YouTube to explore. Match that energy.”

- Brittany Sager, Sr Paid Media Lead

How to Measure the Impact of Brand Awareness

Awareness isn’t untrackable, it just requires the right tools and expectations. You’re not looking for instant conversions. You’re looking for signals of growing demand.

Here’s how I advise measuring:

• Brand Lift Studies on Programmatic DSPs, YouTube, Meta, or TikTok
• Analytics tools like Tracksuit, Croud, or Google Brand Interest
• Growth in Branded Search Impression Share (use Google Ads & GSC)
• Direct + Organic Traffic Increases (especially new users)
• Engaged-view conversions for YouTube & Demand Gen (a new Google Ads feature that credits conversions driven by non-click views, perfect for awareness-focused creative)
• Improvements in aided/unaided recall or NPS (via surveys or partner tools)
• Engagement rates on top-of-funnel creative (watch time, shares, saves, comments)
• Retargeting pool growth as awareness campaigns scale
• Media Mix Modeling or Incrementality Testing for larger budgets
  

💡Pro Tip: Awareness isn’t a Guess—It’s a Signal

“Just because awareness doesn’t convert overnight doesn’t mean it isn’t working. You need to measure what moves before the sale—things like branded search lift, AI mentions, or engagement depth. These are your early signals.

- John Lovett, VP Analytics

Real Results: When Awareness Fuels Business Growth

Need proof? Here are just a few success stories where a shift in strategy unlocked serious growth: