5 Tips for Building a Real Growth Engine

For a long time, performance marketing has been judged by what we measure at the end of a campaign. ROAS, CPA, pipeline, revenue. 

Those numbers matter. But on their own, they only tell us what happened, not what made it happen. Growth doesn’t come from what you pull out of a campaign, it comes from what you put into the system around it. When programs are optimized only to capture existing demand, performance can look efficient month to month while becoming harder to scale year after year.

If you want compounding results, the focus has to shift from channels to the strength of the entire growth engine.

1. Stop managing channels in isolation

Organizing marketing by channel creates clean reporting, but it fragments the customer journey. Platforms closest to conversion get the most credit and the most budget, while the channels that create demand are pushed to prove short-term ROI.

That works for a while, then scale stalls. Search volume plateaus, retargeting pools shrink, and conversion costs rise.

Compounding can only happen when each stage of the journey strengthens the next.

Tip #1: Plan budgets and success metrics across the full funnel, not by platform.

2. Build your strategy around the customer sequence

Customers don’t experience your marketing in channels. They move through stages: discovery, exploration, understanding, developing preferences, deciding, THEN becoming a customer

When those moments are disconnected, the journey becomes slower and more expensive. When they’re intentionally sequenced, each interaction makes the next one more efficient, and performance improves everywhere.

The goal isn’t more campaigns. It’s smoother progression.

Tip #2: Map your touchpoints to buying stages and identify where momentum is breaking.

3. Treat high-intent channels as capture, not as the engine

High-intent media converts demand that already exists. It doesn’t create it.

A real growth engine connects prospecting, nurture, capture, and retention. When one is underdeveloped, everything downstream becomes more expensive. When they work together, performance becomes more predictable and repeatable.

Tip #3: Fund demand creation and customer value at the same level of rigor as conversion.

4. Measure the health of the system — not just the output

Revenue is the result of a healthy system, not the sole indicator of one. If success is only measured at the point of conversion, investment will always flow toward what captures demand rather than what creates it.

Look for signals that future performance is getting easier: growth in branded search, faster movement from first touch to opportunity, higher repeat purchase rates, deeper engagement from new audiences.

Tip #4: Add system-health KPIs alongside your efficiency metrics.

5. Invest in the soil, not just the harvest

The soil and the harvest operate on different timelines. The soil is where familiarity is built, creative improves, audiences grow, and future demand is formed. None of that shows up immediately as revenue, but all of it determines whether revenue can scale.

Efficient campaigns can produce results for a period of time. A strong system produces momentum.

Tip #5: Protect budget for upstream programs even when short-term efficiency is under pressure.