Founders and scale up leaders face what feels like an impossible paradox to keep their investors happy.

On one hand there’s the need to turn traction into meaningful market share at speed, maintaining the growth trajectory that attracted investment in the first place. But it’s equally important to manage burn rate and demonstrate the kind of capital efficiency that your investors expect.

This tension between maximising growth and maintaining efficiency is particularly evident when it comes to advertising spend. Rather than “risk” costly broadcast channels like TV, radio or outdoor poster sites, many frugal founding teams have bought into the “dream” of digital or performance marketing that promises the ability to measure results, optimise creative, and get a clear picture of customer behaviours.

But does that mean founders are potentially leaving value on the table? And is ignoring “old-school” options like outdoor a recipe for your business to be overlooked by purely playing in a saturated digital space?

I chatted to Joe Hills, Head of the Nurture programme at JC Decaux, the outdoor specialist media owners, Simon Hewitt, founder of the strategic and creative marketing agency thirty6 (previously known as the Orange Panther Collective) and Dan Flemming at Tracksuit, an always-on brand tracking platform that helps businesses grow by providing real-time insights into customer engagement and brand performance, to find out how outdoor media have evolved to meet shifting customer behaviours, and what that means to founders used to tightening their belts when it comes to advertising costs.

Not all that long ago, brands hoping to build awareness of their business had a limited menu of channels and formats to choose from.

Options were few and competition was fierce, so business leaders had two choices – spend more, or invest in being distinctive. And often, it was the latter that won out.

That’s not really changed. While the world is awash with “wallpaper” adverts that are instantly forgotten – if they’re noticed at all – iconic ads can still become part of pop culture. Ever find yourself saying “Domino-hoo-hoo”, fondly remembering Hovis’ iconic “Bike ride” commercial from 1973 (directed by Ridley Scott of all people) or anxiously looking forward to John Lewis’ annual Christmas ad? We’re all living proof to just how memorable distinct advertising can be.

And in an age where the average human attention span has allegedly dropped below that of the notoriously forgetful goldfish^1,2, being remembered is everything, because it builds brand affinity that might translate into recall, and one day, potential sales.

The problem with creating this kind of recall, and the ads that build it, is that it takes time, and can come with a hefty price tag. Even the most ambitious brands can find it difficult to justify the cost of producing and pushing an expensive film spot or boredom-busting billboard in the hope of seeing returns years down the line.

For cash-strapped tech startups, the level of reach these channels offer can feel, well, out of reach.

Instead, most marketing spend now goes to “performance marketing” – a hold-all term for digital adverts that target users online or on their devices and push them to take a specific action.

The difference between the old and the new is stark. In addition to lower upfront costs, digital channels also afford businesses the benefit of tracking user behaviour, the ability to optimise adverts in near real-time, and the chance to keep re-targeting the same user. With a heady mix of formats ranging from playable ads, video, branded content, search, display ads, push notifications and so on, it’s easy to see why penny-pinching founders have gone the route of surgical spend on digital.

While performance marketing has been a hit with brand builders desperate to show a return on their marketing investment, minimal barriers to entry mean that competition is extremely fierce. Worst of all, as many as 89% of the adverts are ignored³ because they’re more distracting than distinctive, with generative AI threatening to lower the standard even further⁴.

In some ways, marketing has gone full circle. Once again, brands need to either increase investment, or focus on really standing out.

But what does that look like on a startup or scaleup budget?

Performance marketing is designed to identify an audience and target them with increasing efficiency, so it’s subject to the law of diminishing returns.

With the digital market reaching an inevitable point of saturation, and user disdain for ads in general – almost 50% of UK adults between 25 and 34 use an ad blocker⁵ - many brand builders are moving away from an exclusive focus on digital and exploring formats such as outdoor as they seek to zig where others zag.

The rationale makes sense. Performance marketing has become almost mandatory in making short term gains and sparking growth, but the key to building sustained brand affinity is to start thinking about ways of creating future demand early.

Playing the long game can pay off in unexpected ways. Not only did Cadbury’s famous gorilla TV advert drive a 9% increase in sales⁶, it lives on in memes and GIFs - despite being published in 2007. That’s almost 20 years of brand awareness, relevance and returns for a rumoured investment of £6.2 million⁷.

I’m not suggesting that every business needs an out-of-this world creative idea either. The tech and way in which people experience outdoor media have evolved and, when used tactically, these placements may be the ideal counterbalance to paid digital spend. Fintech looking to target top banks? A clever placement in Canary Wharf could mean your target customers see the spot on the way in to work. Make it distinctive, and it might even stick with them, or spark a conversation with other decision makers. Remember, all ad formats still speak to human beings – and getting them talking means you’re top of mind.

Simon Hewitt from thirty6 also shares a perspective on the psychological boost that posters have.

It’s also worth noting that outdoor media placements have advanced too. Not only are they more affordable than might be expected, there are new audience mapping capabilities to ensure the use of the most relevant poster sites, and ways to measure their impact. Gone are the days of “spray and pray” outdoor. Instead, the worlds of outdoor and online have fused to present an array of high-impact, focussed, measurable options.

So, how might an ambitious brand create a “goldilocks” marketing matrix?

There’s no universal rule when it comes to developing a more holistic marketing strategy, but there are 3 key factors that might signal it’s time to step up efforts:

1. Budget
2. Timing
3. Expertise

Building a showstopping brand on a shoestring

Many business leaders have an allergic reaction to the perceived costs of broadcast and outdoor display advertising, but the truth is that these campaigns needn’t break the bank.

The secret is strategic thinking. Leveraging low-cost broadcast packages, or focusing on a targeted area for your placement while running alongside well-constructed, effective performance allows you to expand reach while stretching every cent.

Timing is (almost) everything: Act bigger to get bigger

Deciding whether your business is ready for the “big time” depends largely on your situation and ambitions, but in general businesses fall into two categories: those who make the move early to build a perception they’re established and trustworthy, and those who wait until they have the funds to add additional arrows to their marketing quiver.

Expertise is everything

While most marketers fancy themselves as creatives, the truth is that creating a sustainable, omnichannel strategy to grow in the short-term using digital channels while building brand affinity in the long term requires a rare blend of expertise and specialist knowledge.

The ability to present the right message, in the right format, at the right moment is a blend of art and science that requires real rigour and guidance – particular outside of the familiar world of performance marketing.

It can be jarring for tech-focused, technical founders to consider “outdated” out-of-home advertising formats, but when it comes to attracting customer attention, the truth is all that matters is finding the right mix of platforms to effectively reach your target audience, and then presenting something that sticks with them.

As Joe points out:

“Exploring offline marketing, particularly outdoor advertising, can be more affordable than it seems, especially with targeted strategies. By concentrating ads in a specific neighbourhood, challenger brands create the impression of a large campaign and can effectively measure its impact. This approach allows startups to adopt a 'test and learn' strategy similar to online marketing.

Additionally, our Nurture programme makes outdoor advertising even more accessible by matching startup spending in the first year, without taking equity; providing a way to ensure brands are not just seen, but remembered!”

Building long-term brand affinity pays off, and is a powerful tool to overcome the inevitable saturation that leads to performance marketing plateaux. After all, when was the last time you stopped in your tracks because of a banner on your phone?

Taking an omnichannel approach that distributes budget across a considered mix of channels might just take your business to the next level and doesn’t need to strike fear into the CFO holding the purse strings.