For most of the last 20 years, marketing has revolved around channels. We’ve been focused on search, social, display, CTV, etc., adjusting our creative and budgets to achieve reach and scale across whichever channel might yield the best returns. We’ve been so focused on optimizing platforms, budgets, and algorithms, without realizing that we may be compromising our connection with the people we’re actually trying to reach. 

Performance marketing made this easy to justify. If the data looked good, it was easy to connect the dots and assume the strategy was sound. But even high-performing campaigns aren’t guaranteed to create meaningful connections. The fact is that the metrics in our reports tell us what worked after the fact, but not why it worked in the first place. 

The limits of a performance-first mindset 

When brands build around channels, audiences are lost in the shuffle. They become an output of the media plan. Our customers, consequently, are defined by targeting parameters or platform behaviors, not genuinely human motivations. 

That means you, as a marketer, probably aren’t thinking about the customers you’re targeting. You’re thinking about the data, but not the people. The result is that you end up optimizing endlessly for incremental gains, like more clicks and impressions, or a lower CPA — without ever gaining a deeper understanding of your audience. 

It’s efficient, but not effective. 

When you design around audiences, everything changes 

An audience-first approach starts with the why: what people believe, what motivates them, and how those motivations shift across contexts. It’s not about creating “personas” (although, by all means, create personas!) and pushing messages to them, it’s about designing communication flows that reflect and respond to real audience behavior. 

When you start from that foundation: 

• Creative becomes more empathetic. You’re marketing addresses audience needs, not channel algorithms. 

• Media becomes more strategic. Channels follow the audience, not the other way around. Sometimes following the money matters, but more often, following the people matters. And sometimes, your audience is more niche than you think.  

• Measurement becomes more meaningful. When you follow audiences over channels, your KPIs reflect how well your message resonated, not just how far it traveled. 

That’s what happens when you start marketing to people vs. platforms.  

Why it matters now 

Marketing (and advertising) is at an inflection point. The next phase of marketing transformation isn’t about more data; it’s about better data. Good data helps businesses understand audiences in context and anticipate behavior across relevant channels, not within them. 

Audience insights should serve as more than just another dashboard or targeting tool. They are a bridge between research, creative, and activation that can help brands ground every decision in human insight. 

It’s important to remember that when you design around audiences instead of channels, performance doesn’t disappear; it improves. It becomes sustainable, intentional, and rooted in understanding, not just optimization.