(ROAS = Return on Ad Spend)

If you knew for every $50 you invested, you’d get $500 back instantly, how much would you invest? You’d probably mortgage your house and sell a kidney to go “all in,” right?

This is how Google (and others like Meta, YouTube, and Bing) want you to think advertising with them works. “You put money in and get more out, here are your analytics to verify and optimize each step.”

What Is the Return?

In some ways, this might have been true 15 years ago, before bots, cookie blockers, and GDPR (privacy protection laws) started blocking about 50% of impressions and clicks.

Google’s empire is built on you believing that “investing” in their marketing is a sure thing, yet even they admit to their partners internally that you’re lucky if you can confidently track more than 50% of conversions. This means digital advertisers are working with a narrow sample and making guesses from there. And that’s assuming everything is wired up correctly—which is seldom the case.

Is ROAS Still King?

Here’s the truth: getting results isn’t hard if you don’t care about quality. There are plenty of ways for digital marketers to make their metrics look good, but the only metric that truly matters is revenue.

Let’s assume you’re working with top-tier digital marketers, none of your site visitors block cookies, and you have perfect visibility into tracking from ad to revenue. In that perfect world, is ROAS the crown jewel?

Well, it depends on your business and whether trust is an important part of your customer’s buying decision.

If you’re selling something that’s an impulse buy (say, under $200 and low risk) and you don’t plan to build a long-term relationship with the customer, ROAS might be a fantastic metric.

The game here is simple:

  1. Cast a broad net to reduce cost.
  2. Optimize ads and landing pages.
  3. Test, improve, and repeat.
  4. When you find what works, scale it up.

But if trust is essential to your customer, or if they’re likely to research before they buy, ROAS becomes far less effective.

The Trust Factor

What does the customer have to lose if they make a mistake in their buying decision?

Review the examples below and think about the answer for your business:

  • Home Services: Being left without water/power etc, theft, personal danger/fear, unexpectedly high bill for service.
  • Funeral Services: Deep frustration, headache for surviving family, tainted legacy.
  • Property Management: Lawsuits, destruction of property, loss of revenue

Trust isn’t something most digital ads can build well. Here’s why:

  • Lack of personality: Digital ads are often sterile and focused on the product/company, not the customer’s emotions.
  • Lack of frequency: You can’t control whether someone sees your ad once or 100 times.
  • Lack of deepening relationships: Ads don’t evolve to show customers more about your brand over time.

Think about it: when was the last time you felt a genuine connection to a digital ad? Probably never. Trust takes time and repeated positive experiences to grow. This is why digital ads struggle so much with trust-based businesses.

Relationships—whether personal or professional—are either growing or fading. Even if someone sees your ad multiple times, if they’re not learning something new about you, the relationship stagnates. Eventually, they learn to ignore you altogether.

Mass Media and the Long Game

So, what’s the alternative? This is where relational marketing via mass media comes in. Think TV, radio, billboards, direct mail etc. Sure, you can’t track these efforts in neat little dashboards and their impact can’t usually be measured in days or weeks; but they can drive significant growth over years.

Mass media is powerful when it’s not just about immediate conversions. It’s usually best at shaping how people feel about your brand over time. They might not remember the exact ad they saw/heard, but they’ll remember your name when it matters.

Focus on What Matters

At the end of the day, revenue growth is the ultimate goal. Micromanaging metrics like conversions, impressions, or even ROAS can distract you from the bigger picture. Think of these metrics as tools, not the destination.

Invest in strategies that build trust and long-term relationships. Don’t just aim for short-term wins. Because while ROAS might dazzle in the short term, sustainable growth comes from bonding with your customers.

Remember: a crown jewel is only as valuable as the kingdom it represents. Focus on growing the kingdom.

Message me with how you’re marketing your business and we can discuss how to maximize your investment.

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