How to save on advertising without hurting your brand: 5 steps from a media agency

During economic, political, and financial crises, businesses look for ways to optimize costs. And despite market growth (the ad market is expected to be +18% in 2025 per VRK data), the trend toward cautious spending remains.

Businesses face a paradox: without marketing and advertising there’s no growth, yet every hryvnia must be justified. Advertisers are investing more actively but more thoughtfully—choosing effectiveness over “raw reach.” This is the new normal.

The illusion of simplicity: why “quick-and-dirty” ads are a trap

Some companies try to handle advertising on their own. Automation tools—Google Performance Max, Meta Advantage+, TikTok Smart Targeting—create the illusion of simplicity: click a few buttons and the campaign “runs.”

Others flood the market with broad-reach campaigns just to “rub in” frequency and avoid being forgotten.

But these strategies often resemble building a house without an architect. You can find a plumber, a mason, a painter, a locksmith, sketch your “dream house” on a napkin, and hand out tasks. Something may get built—but will you want to live there?

It’s the same with advertising. You can launch it yourself. But an irrelevant strategy, unjustified budgets, and lack of optimization can lead to:

  • Over-investment — buying media far above market benchmarks.
  • Low ROI — when campaigns don’t serve the business goal (e.g., driving sales or brand awareness).
  • Brand damage — when formats, channels, or messages miss the target audience.

Common mistakes when trying to “save”

  • No clear objective. Running ads “just because” = spend without results.
  • Over-reliance on performance only. Neglecting brand activity erodes trust—and lowers conversion long-term.
  • Doing everything in-house. Leads to media overpayment, leaky funnels, and even reputational risk.

How to optimize ad spend without losing effectiveness

Five steps to cut costs while protecting performance and brand equity:

1) Build a media strategy tailored to your brand’s needs

A media strategy isn’t just a budget split. It answers: Where are we going, why, and how do we get there? Define:

  • Clear, measurable goals (from marketing to media).
  • Audience differentiation by channel.
  • Competitive context.
  • An effective investment level.

2) Use the most effective relevant tools and partners for that strategy

The cheapest channel ≠ the most effective. Savings show up in outcomes, not in starting CPMs. TV may look pricey, yet for FMCG it often delivers the best reach–frequency balance. For B2B, LinkedIn’s CPM can be higher but traffic quality much better.

3) Experiment with a TEST & LEARN approach

Start small, test, analyze, then scale:

  • A/B test creatives with different emotional hooks.
  • Trial new audience segments.
  • Compare dayparts/time slots.
  • Pilot new formats.

4) Track during the campaign and optimize continuously

Markets, behavior, and competition shift daily. Ongoing monitoring reveals what truly works—and what just burns budget.

5) Analyze all campaigns in one place and measure business impact

Unify results into a single ecosystem (dashboards/attribution/MTA/MMM) to see how each decision affects the business, not just channel KPIs.

And remember: “saving” doesn’t always mean spending less. Often it’s about re-allocation, focus, and partnerships. In advertising, the winners are the ones who… (the original sentence was cut off; provide the ending and I’ll translate it too.)