FOCUS: BRAND STRATEGY MISFIRES | AUDIENCE: STEWARDS OF PLATEAUED BRANDS
BY: SHOBHA PONNAPPA | BRAND BREAKTHROUGH STRATEGIST | 45 YEARS | 125+ CLIENTS
I answer 6 tough questions about why glossy marketing numbers rise while revenue flatlines … and what to do about it.
I meet leaders who feel triumphant on Monday after a week of record impressions and clicks, then crestfallen on Friday when sales stay stubborn. The story the dashboards tell can be accurate yet incomplete, because not all metrics are leading indicators of revenue. Sometimes the campaign improves awareness without fixing the offer, pricing, or friction in the buying journey. In this post, I unpack six sharp questions that separate performance theatre from commercial progress.
Vanity metrics often swell when reach and frequency rise, yet they do not guarantee motivated intent. I look for signal over spectacle by prioritising metrics that prove movement, such as qualified pipeline, assisted conversions, and cohort repeat rates. It is common to see top‑funnel growth while mid‑funnel education and bottom‑funnel clarity lag, which creates a warm yet wavering audience. When offers are fuzzy or risk feels high, people engage but postpone the decision.
The remedy begins by isolating which numbers correlate with revenue in your context, not in a generic benchmark. I re‑tag events, tighten definitions, and rebuild reports so discovery, evaluation, and purchase each have crisp goals. When the measurement scaffolding is honest, the conversion gap becomes visible rather than hidden behind averages. Only then do campaigns tell you what to fix rather than what to admire.
Strategy misfires show up as consistent attraction without decisive movement across segments, products, and time. If sales calls are coherent and objections repeat, the problem is upstream where message, market, and moment are misaligned. I listen to recordings, read transcripts, and map objections to assets to see whether content actually answers the anxieties that stall commitment. When the same gaps persist, I know it is not a coaching problem … it is a strategic one.
I also run an intent tracing exercise from first touch to last touch for a sample of won and lost deals. Patterns reveal whether creative cues and offers are setting the right expectation that sales later confirms. If sales must reframe the value every time, marketing is creating the wrong promise, which shows up as polite interest and late‑stage churn. That is the signature of a strategy misfire, not a sales hiccup.
I map the journey step by step, defining the job the prospect is trying to get done at each stage. For every step, I specify a single action metric that proves progress, alongside one anxiety I must reduce to unlock that action. With that clarity, I instrument events and sample session replays so behaviour replaces guesswork. Heatmaps, on‑page polls, and email replies then confirm where the hesitation spikes.
Next, I run cohort analyses comparing those who convert within the expected window versus those who hover. I look at channel source, content consumed, offer path, and pricing exposure to see which patterns predict velocity. When I find a choke point, I write a small brief for one high‑leverage intervention rather than a sweeping redesign. One tight fix in the right place usually beats a grand overhaul everywhere.
Yes, attribution can flatter channels that mostly harvest demand you already created elsewhere. I test multiple models side by side and include simple holdouts to see whether retargeting or branded search is cannibalising organic intent. If conversions fall only slightly when I pause a channel, that channel is not a maker of demand … it is a taker. This stops me from funding activity that looks efficient while adding little net growth.
I also bring qualitative attribution into the mix by asking new buyers, in plain language, what nudged them to act. Short post‑purchase surveys and a required “how did you hear about us” field enrich the dataset without heavy lift. When qualitative and quantitative views disagree, I trust the buyer’s own words to prioritise creative and channel changes. That blend brings revenue truth into view and reduces the politics of dashboard defences.
I start at the offer, because an uncompetitive or unclear offer makes every tactic look weaker than it is. I sharpen the promise, name the trade‑offs, and package the proof so value is obvious at a glance. Then I adjust the path to purchase, reducing steps, compressing time, and moving high‑friction asks later in the journey. Often I can keep the media plan intact while reshaping the sequence and emphasis.
If the offer is sound, I re‑segment the audience using real buying triggers rather than broad demographics. I create a control path for the highest‑intent sliver and a nurturing path for the curious but not ready. That split lets me measure like for like, so improvements are not drowned by mixed readiness. Precision beats more spend when the base plan is mostly working.
I establish a revenue truth set that everyone accepts as the final scoreboard, typically pipeline created, win rate, average order value, and time to close. With that in place, I pick two to three lead indicators each function can influence, like MQL‑to‑SQL rate, demo‑to‑close rate, or activated trial percentage. We report the truth set first and only then the lead indicators, so narrative follows numbers rather than the other way round. This order keeps experiments honest and keeps stakeholders calm when a tactic wins the metric but loses the sale.
I also schedule monthly correlation reviews where we test whether the chosen indicators still predict revenue. Markets shift, competitors copy, and seasons distort, so stale metrics drift from usefulness over time. When the correlation weakens, I retire or replace the indicator without sentimentality. The discipline is simple … optimise what moves money and ignore the rest.
If these questions sting, your brand is not broken … it is misdirected by seductive but partial signals. The fix is to realign promise, proof, and path so buyers feel certainty at the exact moment of choice. Start with one decisive move where blockage is clearest, then let fresh revenue data steer the next change. Momentum compounds when measurement tells the truth and teams focus on levers that buyers actually feel.
If you’re an investor seeking momentum for your portfolio brands, this FAQ Insight Post I wrote could interest you: “FAQs: When Industry Respect Tops Buyer Urgency For Founders.“
And if you’re a solo expert looking to sharpen traction, this FAQ Insight Post I worked on may resonate: “FAQs: When Brand Narrative Feels Complete but Leaves Gaps.“
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