Why being everywhere, all at once, in 2026 is not a viable strategy
Many marketers are choosing too many media channels, argues Affinity’s CEO Angela Smith. The cost isn’t limited to a waste of media budget and creative opportunity, but millions lost in business growth.
Angela Smith - author
“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.” The line, coined by economist and strategy pioneer Michael E. Porter, couldn’t be more relevant to marketing today.
It’s also an idea that not all modern marketers seem enabled to apply. The idea that a good strategy, by conscious design, should remove options from the board. In media terms, it means saying no to some channels so the ones that remain can truly deliver return on investment.
Yet adland often buys into the notion that more channels automatically equal more growth. And let’s face it, agencies have a vested interest in creating more stuff – especially in this noxious age of “content at scale”. Despite shrinking budgets, many brands still throw “a little something” at everything in the hope it sticks — and in some cases, a lot of something at everything, in a kind of pester-power approach.
