Winning on just Meta or Google isn’t enough to scale anymore

For most of the past decade, Meta and Google dominated the digital ad space. However, the emergence of new channels like retail media, as well as younger demographics switching to TikTok, means that for the first time since 2014 this is fading.

Increasingly, users are splitting their time and attention between multiple channels. This brings both challenges and opportunities. While each channel has its own barriers to entry, these are steadily diminishing as platforms automate more elements of media buying. Meanwhile, you can apply best creative practice from formats like Reels to TikTok or YouTube Shorts.

Ensuring that you are playing to the strengths of each channel, and that your strategy for each is working in tandem, is key. This is where having the right channel diversification strategy comes into play.

Knowing which channel split is right for your brand depends on your AOV and the demographics that are targeting. That said, you should definitely be testing on other channels, especially discovery channels like TikTok, if you want to grow your brand.

When tactics and channels that used to drive growth start delivering diminishing returns, or if your ROAS is flatlining while your CAC skyrockets, you likely have an audience diversification problem.

No matter how good your set-up is for one tactic or channel, eventually you will exhaust its potential. In a competitive environment, with fewer consumers in market, having the right strategy to find new audiences becomes crucial.

Once you have accepted your brand needs to find new audiences, there are different approaches that we suggest:

• finding similar audiences on new channels

• widening your brand’s appeal to attract different audiences

• developing your product for new audiences

• scaling your brand into new geographies

It’s likely that you are only hitting a small percentage of your potential future audience. The opportunity here is significant, while the risk of overrelying on a single demographic is greater than ever in the current climate.