Unpopular Opinions [Marketing Edition]

Marketing is full of “truths” everyone repeats like gospel. But sometimes, the unpopular opinions - the ones that make your peers tilt their heads are the ones worth exploring. After 15 years of working in the field and now focusing my energy on growth and performance marketing, I’ve learned that challenging assumptions isn’t just fun - it’s profitable. Here’s a list of some of my favourite unpopular opinions, with my real-world examples to prove the point.

Not Every Brand Needs TikTok

Sure, I get it. I scroll TikTok mindlessly sometimes, too. Viral dance trends, lip-sync challenges, 15-second fame… but if your brand is B2B software or insurance, you might be wasting resources chasing trends your audience doesn’t care about. TikTok has become one of the most engaging and influential channels globally, with over a billion active users, primarily in the Gen Z and Millennial demographics.

One SaaS client I worked with was tempted to start a TikTok “how-to” series. After evaluating their audience and determining they were not on TikTok, we decided to focus on LinkedIn thought leadership posts and high-intent search campaigns. The result? Lead generation increased 35% in 3 months, without ever learning the latest trending dance.

Takeaway: Know where your audience actually spends their time. ROI > FOMO.

Email Marketing Isn’t Dead

Despite what every social media guru says, email is still king when it comes to conversions. More so than conversions, email is an audience you own, not one you rent like on social media.

A retail client we worked with had a 1.2% conversion rate on social media ads. But a well-timed, segmented email campaign converted 9% of recipients in just one week. Why? Because we spoke directly to their needs and had a clean, compelling call-to-action. Why else? An email list is a warm, engaged segment of your customers - they know your brand and offerings and typically are loyal and have purchased in the past.

Takeaway: Build, segment and nurture your email list. Social media is great for acquisition strategies and brand awareness, but using email to speak with the audience you own is irreplaceable.

More Data Isn’t Always Better

Dashboards are seductive. I once worked with a Founder who had me spend numerous hours in Mixpanel creating dashboards for our BOD only to find out 6 months later she wasn’t using it because she had feedback that there was too much without a clear story. Charts, graphs, widgets - it’s like being a kid in a candy store. But if you can’t answer “so what?” your metrics are just clutter.

I once inherited a client account with 15 dashboards and 200 metrics tracked. After a strategic audit we narrowed it down to 5 core KPIs: Cost per Acquisition (CPA), Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), Lead Quality, Churn and Retention. Focusing on these KPIs allowed the team to optimize campaigns in real time, increasing ROAS by 32% in 6 weeks.

My advice? Draw out your funnel and map out the business goals you have in your funnel. Then you can map out the marketing channels you are using and thennnn you can identify the metrics that will actually move the needle.

Takeaway: Measure less, measure smart. Data without purpose is just noise.

Pretty Campaigns Don’t Always Work

It’s tempting to obsess over aesthetics. But a campaign that moves no needle is basically digital wallpaper.

A client wanted a sleek, minimalist ad for their new product launch. It looked amazing - but click-through and conversions were low. We redesigned the same ad with clearer messaging, stronger CTAs and user-focused benefits. Conversions tripled.

I’ve struggled with with most of my career… clients who don’t understand that value of what we really do often say they can’t see the work we are going. The creative you use in a campaign is a sliver of the whole effort - there’s still targeting, ad scheduling, budget and optimizations along the way.

Takeaway: Design matters - but clarity of intent, showcasing value to the customer and execution behind the curtain matter more.

Less Content Can Win

The content-is-king mantra has gone too far. Bombarding your audience with blogs, social posts and videos can feel spammy. Quality > Quantity.

A D2C brand was publishing daily Instagram posts with minimal engagement. We cut the frequency in half, focused on content that educated, entertained or inspired, and optimized for their top-performing formats. Engagement rose 40%, and website conversions increased 15%. Social algorithms need consistency in posting but they also look at performance.

Takeaway: One thoughtful, strategic piece beats five generic posts every time.

Trust Your Gut, But Listen to Your Marketing Team

There is a balance to be found in every business between data-informed decisions and intuition and experience. Before you come for me, hear me out. After a decade of working with founders to grow their businesses, there is a consistent trend that some founders are too close to their businesses and need a fresh set of eyes. That is not to say that they don’t know their businesses, customers, or industries well. But a fresh perspective and different set of experience goes a long way.

We started working with a consumer good client years ago - they had been in business for decades and were convinced their customer base was the same as it was in the beginning. We ran a thorough audit and discovered that the loyalty was still there but that a new customer segment has emerged. We ran targeted ads toward this new customer segment to drive them toward product exploration and engagement on the website and over time saw a a 3x increase in qualified leads at a lower CPA. Sometimes, your gut sees the patterns but you need dedicated marketers to come in and assess what has changed and what to do next.

Takeaway: Combine intuition with marketing execution and analytics for smarter, faster decisions that deliver results.

Reddit is Reality

Forget focus groups - Reddit is the new crystal ball for marketers. The most honest insights, trend spotting and real-time feedback aren’t coming from surveys or ads - they’re happening in niche communities where users don’t hold back. Brands that lurk, listen, and participate authentically win. Brands that spam? They get roasted. If you’re not paying attention to Reddit, you’re missing the real pulse of your audience. Also with new changes in SEO and GEO, Reddit is where search query traffic is coming from.

Final Thoughts

Marketing is part science, part art and part common sense. Questioning assumptions, breaking rules wisely, and focusing on what really moves the needle is what separates great marketers from the rest.

If you take one thing from this post: Don’t follow trends blindly. Test. Listen. Optimize. And remember - sometimes the unpopular opinion is the one that actually works. Or if you’re working with me, I just believe in a no-BS approach to saying it how it is and getting it done.