Rethinking ROI: Why High ROI Can Still Mean Low Growth & How to get to a Profitable Growth Strategy

Getting to a Profitable Growth Strategy

ROI has become one of the most over-trusted metrics in modern marketing.

Dashboards glow green, campaigns report strong returns, CAC looks healthy and yet the business still feels… stuck. Growth is incremental, momentum is fragile, and board-level confidence is patchy.

This is the paradox many scaleups find themselves in: high ROI and low impact.

At OSER, we see this repeatedly, particularly in businesses that have become very good at optimising short-term performance, but are less confident about long-term growth.

The problem isn’t ROI itself, but rather what leaders assume ROI is telling them.

High ROI Is Easy When You’re Playing Small

ROI rewards efficiency, not ambition.

It favours channels where demand already exists, audiences already know you, and conversions are easiest to attribute. Retargeting. Branded search. Lower-funnel paid social. CRM-driven nudges.

All of these are useful and all of these are necessary, but these channels tend to recycle existing demand, not create new growth. They squeeze more value out of what’s already there, rather than expanding the opportunity.

That’s how you end up with:

• Strong ROI

• Flat revenue curves

• Limited category reach

• Rising dependence on the same audiences and tactics

In other words, growth stuck in first gear.

ROI Doesn’t Measure What Actually Builds Enterprise Value

Boards and investors don’t back dashboards; they back confidence. Confidence that:

• The brand can scale beyond its current audience

• Demand will continue, not spike and drop

• The company has a clear, credible growth narrative• marketing investment reduces risk, not just spend

• Short-term ROI rarely captures this.

It doesn’t show whether your brand is becoming easier to choose, whether your message is landing with future buyers, or why growth slows the moment spend is paused.

That’s why many leadership teams feel uneasy even when the numbers look good.

The Shift: From ROI to Profitable Growth Thinking

This isn’t an argument to ignore ROI. It’s an argument to rebalance it.

The question leaders should be asking isn’t: “Which channel gives us the highest ROI?”

It’s: “Which investments unlock sustainable, profitable growth over time?” ie, how can we get to a profitable growth strategy?

That requires looking at:

• Contribution to long-term margin, not just immediate return

• Growth in addressable demand

• Brand familiarity and mental availability

• Sales efficiency six to twelve months out

• confidence at the board and investor level

When marketing is framed this way, decisions change. So does behaviour.

Why Scaleups Get Trapped Here

Most scaleups didn’t choose this problem. They inherited it.

As pressure increases, teams naturally double down on what can be measured quickly, ROI dashboards become comfort blankets, and performance becomes safer than possibility.

But optimisation without direction eventually becomes a constraint.

At OSER, we often step in when businesses are doing “well enough” on paper. But leadership knows the growth engine isn’t strong enough for the next stage.

That’s where senior judgment matters.

The Role of Strategic Marketing Leadership

Moving beyond ROI obsession isn’t about spending more; it’s about deciding better.

It requires:

• Clarity on what growth actually means for the business

• Confidence to invest beyond the immediate funnel

• Alignment between marketing

• Leadership and commercial goals

• A narrative that makes sense to boards, investors and teams

This is why many scaleups bring in a senior, external perspective to reframe decisions. ROI tells you how efficiently you’re operating today, but strategic clarity tells you whether you’ll still be growing tomorrow.

If your marketing looks strong on dashboards but growth feels fragile, this isn’t a performance issue. It’s a leadership one. And it’s usually the moment where stepping back (before pushing harder) unlocks the biggest gains.

This is often the point at which leadership teams bring in a senior, external perspective not to optimise further, but to make decisions more confidently. If you’d like to explore what that could look like for your business, you can get in touch with OSER here.