The 80/20 Rule of Marketing Performance: Where Are You Wasting Budget?
You’ve likely heard of the Pareto Principle, better known as the 80/20 rule.
In marketing, you can see this principle show up loud and clear, with roughly 80% of your results coming from 20% of your efforts.
But here’s the kicker: most teams don’t know which 20% is working, and they’re wasting budget trying to make the other 80% “perform.”
Let’s fix that.
Where to look first
If your campaigns feel bloated or your results are flatlining, start with these three areas:
1️⃣ Channels. Are you spending equally across Meta, Google, LinkedIn, and email… even though one wildly outperforms the rest? Shift budget toward the channels that consistently convert, not just the ones that look good on paper.
2️⃣ Audiences. Are you targeting a broad list when only a small segment is actually buying or inquiring? Focus your efforts onyour highest-intent audience, then refine from there.
3️⃣ Creative. Which ad, headline, or landing page version actually drives action? Letdata, not opinion, guide your iterations.
Quick tip: Pull a “winners and wasters” report
Once a quarter, we recommend pulling a breakdown of:
Top-performing campaigns by ROI Lowest-performing efforts by spend Any tactics that look “busy” but don’t perform well (think: low-engagement blog series or top-of-funnel traffic with zero conversion)
This is all to say: kill your underperformers and double down on what’s working.
At Noetic Marketer, we’ve seen small shifts in budget allocation lead to major wins, such as:
➡️ Scaling down from 5 ad sets to 2 and watching CPL drop.
➡️ Replacing generic nurture emails with just one well-targeted sequence and seeing engagement double.
The bottom line? You don’t need more; you need better.
Want help finding your high-performing 20%? Let’s talk strategy that moves the needle.
When to Stop Chasing Trends and Start Doubling Down
From AI-generated everything to the newest TikTok feature, it can feel like there’s a new “must-try” tactic every other week.
So, how do you know when to jump in and when to just observe?
Here’s how we help our clients decide what’s worth the bandwidth:
If it doesn’t serve your goals, it’s noise.
Before testing any new platform, format, or tactic, ask: Does this trend support our strategic goals for lead generation, conversion, or brand positioning?
Why CRO Deserves a Permanent Seat at the Strategy Table
At its core, conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the science (and art) of turning more of your existing traffic into action (think: form fills, purchases, downloads, demo bookings, etc).
Instead of pouring more money into traffic, CRO helps you maximize the value of the traffic you already have.
Think about it:
Improving your website’s conversion rate from 2% to 4% doubles your revenue, without increasing ad spend.
Reducing checkout friction can mean thousands in recovered sales every month.
A/B testing your lead form copy might lift submissions by 30%, just by shifting a few words.
If your team is running paid campaigns, publishing landing pages, or launching lead-generating efforts without a dedicated CRO strategy, you’re leaving growth on the table.
Simple ways to start integrating CRO into your strategy:
Run quarterly audits of your top-performing landing pages. Where are people bouncing? Where are they clicking?
Prioritize mobile UX.Over 60% of traffic is mobile, yet many sites still have forms that are hard to complete on a phone.
Start small with A/B testing. Headlines, CTAs, or image swaps can reveal what actually resonates with your audience.
Look beyond aesthetics. A beautiful site that doesn’t convert is a liability, not a brand asset.
At Noetic Marketer, we emphasize your CRO right from the start. It’s built into how we design strategy, create content, and structure campaigns.
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