by John Sampogna
John Sampogna is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Wondersauce, an agency specializing in brand storytelling, paid media, e-commerce, and digital experiences.
One of the most common questions asked by startups and small businesses when they’re ready to make their first substantial investment in paid media is: "How much of a media budget do I need to make this a success?" The answer, as is often the case, depends on your comfort level and business goals. Thousands of brands will spend more than you, and thousands will spend less. What’s important is agreeing on a budget that allows you to sleep well at night and endure the challenges faced in the early stages of a business's lifecycle.
Building brand awareness early on is essential for the success and longevity of any business. By focusing on top-of-funnel growth from the onset, you can more quickly establish different audiences, define how to nurture each group effectively, and guide them toward conversion.
The 80/20 Breakdown of Media Spend
For digital-first businesses, our team at Wondersauce often sees brands taking a similar, almost “templated” approach, with about 80% of the ad budget allocated to established platforms like Google and Meta, each commanding around 40%. These platforms are tried and true for driving immediate results, making them comfortable choices for many businesses. However, this also means heightened competition and increased acquisition costs as brands battle for the same audience. With so many players in the same space, it’s becoming incredibly difficult to stand out creatively.
In my experience, the real magic happens in the 20% of “what’s left” in your budget—the part that gives you room to experiment and explore new platforms.
Where to Allocate Your 20% for Maximum Impact
Today, brands often let short-term metrics like immediate return on ad spend (ROAS) and cost per acquisition (CPA) drive their decisions and strategies. While these are important, they can often be short-sighted and don’t result in building long-term brand equity. Leveraging “the 20%” in new and creative ways provides an opportunity to return to the fundamentals of marketing, where data and creativity work hand in hand to craft engaging, memorable content that resonates on a deeper level.
So, where should a brand experiment?
There are no “shoulds”, that’s the fun part. However, experimenting with cross-platform campaigns that integrate less saturated channels can be highly effective. Examples of such might include ad placements in podcasts or audio channels, Connected TV (CTV), influencer partnerships, metaverse activations, or point-of-sale placements. These platforms allow you to get more creative with media format and enable you to engage with an audience in more intimate, immersive environments. For example, CTV is experiencing explosive growth as consumers shift from traditional TV to on-demand, personalized content, while podcasts provide a highly targeted way to reach niche audiences.
Consider Wondersauce’s recent campaign for Dairy Pure, a Dairy Farmers of America brand, as an example. We were tasked with promoting heavy cream and half & half. Targeting a 5% lift in product volume sales, the campaign leveraged an integrated media strategy across social, point-of-sale (POS), and Connected TV (CTV), underpinned by irresistible cross-platform content. For CTV, we focused on crafting a distinctive sound design that enhances the audio, adding an extra layer to the ASMR experience. This highlights how the emerging platform enables brands to creatively reach customers directly in their homes. This approach led to an increase in New To Brand (NTB) purchasers for Dairy Pure and a surge in sales that far exceeded all targets. This success highlights how allocating a portion of your budget to creative experimentation can drive significant results.
The Impacts of the 20% at Scale
The impact made by a brand’s “20%” can vary drastically. And like most things, it comes down to budget. For example, when you have a $1 million budget, that 20% provides you with a $200,000 budget to experiment with. Increase your ad budget to $10 million, and suddenly you’re working with $2 million, and your ability to get creative drastically increases.
With increasing budgets, the landscape of media spending transforms into an exciting realm of opportunity. You may find that certain platforms offer substantially better engagement or return on investment (ROI) than mainstream options like Google or Meta.
We also see strengthened importance in top-of-funnel brand awareness and getting more comfortable not spending most of your budget on mid to lower-funnel tactics. While top-of-funnel and brand awareness are more difficult to track on a week-to-week basis, we feel that many brands have almost abandoned top-of-funnel completely, leading to increased costs in lower-funnel tactics.
The Risks and Rewards of Experimentation
Of course, experimenting with 20% of your budget carries some risk. Not every initiative will pay off, and that’s to be expected. The key is to approach these opportunities with a mindset of learning and iteration. For example, a small business might test a niche influencer partnership or a geo-targeted podcast ad. If it doesn’t yield the desired results, the lessons learned can inform future decisions, making each experiment a stepping stone to greater success.
Budget allocation often feels like a guessing game, and the lack of transparency can lead to misaligned expectations. Starting from a clear and transparent budget discussion is critical to building a strong partnership between an agency and a brand.
Rather than asking, "What’s your budget?" a better question might be, "How can we make the most of what you’re comfortable spending?" This approach shifts the focus from trying to match a competitor's budget to maximizing impact within your means, fostering trust and collaboration from the outset.
So, as you plan your next media budget, I encourage you to challenge your assumptions, embrace experimentation, and remember that sometimes, the biggest wins come from the boldest moves.
Winning with the 20% isn’t just about spending differently; it’s about breaking the standard marketing template many of us have defaulted to.
