Why Marketing To The General Market Is Slowing Brand Growth In 2026

"For years, marketing to the "general market" was a reliable path to growth. Broad reach, consistent messaging, and scale-driven efficiency helped brands build awareness and momentum."

"As customers become more fragmented, more informed, and more selective about the brands they engage with, general market strategies are increasingly capping growth rather than accelerating it. What once drove efficiency now creates friction - higher acquisition costs, weaker differentiation, and faster erosion of trust."

"Trust allows us to eliminate friction. And we know in economic sense in business, friction becomes really expensive. If it's too much for you to acquire a customer, that's the friction."

"If it's too much to maintain a customer, if your brand has to spend more money to overcompensate for performance in the marketplace, those are all areas in which trust shows up. Well, you may not say the word 'trust', but those are the costs."

Marketing to a broad, general market previously delivered growth through wide reach, consistent messaging, and scale-driven efficiency. That approach is now losing effectiveness as customers fragment, become more informed, and grow more selective about the brands they engage with. General-market strategies increasingly cap growth instead of accelerating it. The shift creates friction manifested as higher acquisition costs, weaker differentiation, and faster erosion of trust. Trust reduces friction by lowering costs to acquire and maintain customers and by avoiding overcompensation for marketplace performance. Building brand trust is essential to navigate diverse identities and expanding influences that shape consumer behavior.

Read at Forbes