Why Brand Awareness Breaks For Scaleups and How Smart Strategy Fixes It
- Laura Derbyshire
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
Brand Awareness Strategy for Scaleups
There’s a moment most scaleups hit, between early traction and serious growth, when brand awareness quietly stops doing what it’s supposed to do.
You’re spending more on ads, producing more content, and your paid channels are “on,” yet growth feels heavier. Slower. More expensive. In short, you're not seeing the returns you're used to.
Founders often describe it as a performance marketing problem, whereas Investors usually describe it as a commercial efficiency problem.
In reality, it’s a memory problem.
At scale, growth no longer comes from being seen once. It comes from being remembered; clearly, consistently, and for the right reason.
The 60/40 rule (and why scaleups misunderstand it)
The idea that scaleups should split budgets roughly 60% brand building / 40% performance marketing is not new. But it’s also one of the most misinterpreted ideas in modern marketing.
Brand building is not:
Glossy campaigns
“Nice to have” awareness work
Expensive TV ads you can’t justify
At scale, brand is the system that:
Lowers long-term acquisition costs
Shortens buying cycles
Increases conversion before the click even happens
Performance marketing works brilliantly when demand is elastic, and attention is cheap. But at scale, both assumptions break down, and this is often where founders and CEOs get stuck and confused, and come to us for help.
What replaces them is mental availability - how easily your brand comes to mind when a buyer is ready.
This is why scaleups that over-index on performance (which is a necessary part of growth, of course) eventually see:
Rising CAC
Flattening conversion rates
More spend for the same results
Not because performance is broken, but because the brand hasn’t been doing its job upstream.
Consistency beats creativity (most of the time)
One of the biggest myths in scaleup marketing is that brand growth comes from being more creative.
In reality, it usually comes from being more consistent.
Most scaleups don’t suffer from a lack of ideas. They suffer from:
Inconsistent visual identity
Multiple tones of voice across channels
Campaigns that look unrelated to each other
To a buyer, this doesn’t feel “dynamic”.It feels confusing.
Strong brand awareness is built when people can recognise you before they read your name. That requires:
A clear visual system
Disciplined use of colour, typography and layout
Repetition that feels intentional, not lazy
Consistency compounds.
Video works, but not for the reason most founders think
Scaleups are often told to “do more video” because algorithms like it. Yes, video can be an important part of a sophisticated content plan because it:
Builds familiarity faster than static content
Humanises complexity
Reduces perceived risk
But at scale, buying decisions are rarely about features; they’re usually about confidence, and video can accelerate confidence - especially when it’s repurposed intelligently through:
Long-form becomes short-form
Short-form becomes stills
Insights become blogs and audio
This is how scaleups build brand awareness through strategy-led videos, without constantly reinventing the wheel.
Retargeting is about reinforcement
Retargeting is one of the most misunderstood tools in the scaleup growth stack.
It is not there to magically convert cold demand.
Its real role is memory reinforcement - smart retargeting that:
Keeps your brand familiar during long buying cycles
Reinforces key messages over time
Increases the chance you’re chosen later
When used well, retargeting behaves more like brand media than performance media, even if it sits inside a performance dashboard.
The real differentiator: clarity of value
In our experience, most scaleups don’t actually have a brand awareness problem; they have a clarity problem.
If your own employees and your customers can’t easily explain: what you do, who you’re for and why you’re different, then awareness just amplifies confusion.
This is where brand stops being about logos and starts being about positioning.
Distinctive brands grow faster because:
They’re easier to remember
They’re easier to choose
They’re cheaper to grow over time
This is the heart of OSER’s Be More Zebra philosophy. In a world of AI-generated sameness, distinctiveness is no longer optional - it’s a growth advantage.
Where OSER fits
OSER works with scaleup leadership teams and investors at exactly this inflection point.
When:
Performance marketing starts to plateau
Brand feels important but vague
Growth needs to stand up to investor scrutiny
We help rebalance brand and performance, clarify positioning, and build awareness that translates into revenue, valuation, and long-term demand - not just impressions.
FAQs (for founders, CEOs and investors)
How do scaleups increase brand awareness without wasting budget?
By focusing on consistency, clarity and memory rather than constant reinvention. Awareness compounds when brand signals are repeated deliberately.
What is the best brand awareness strategy for Series A and B companies?
One that balances long-term brand building with short-term activation, typically around a 60/40 split, adapted to category and growth stage.
Does brand awareness really drive growth for scaleups?
Yes - especially over time. Brand reduces acquisition costs, improves conversion efficiency and supports sustainable growth beyond paid channels.
Why does performance marketing stop working as companies scale?
Because demand becomes harder to generate on demand. Brand creates mental availability, enabling performance to continue converting efficiently.
How long does brand building take to show results?
Brand impact is cumulative. Early signals appear within months, but the strongest effects compound over the years, especially at scale.
