Setting the context

Conversion is the name of the game but too often the groundwork that makes conversion possible, consideration, is ignored. Demand does not suddenly appear at checkout; it builds in the messy middle of fragmented ecosystems long before a brand’s funnel even activates. If your brand is not in those consideration moments, you are not just invisible, you are handing the sale to your competitor.

This is why understanding how consideration shapes outcomes is critical, and why performance needs to be reframed through the lens of context and intent.

Performance pulse

Behind every conversion lies a web of research, reviews, and brand preferences. The numbers speak for themselves.

In focus

Conversion is the North Star for performance marketers. Clicks, leads, and sales are the currency of efficiency and yet pipelines remain volatile, budgets feel brittle, and growth is anything but predictable. The problem isn’t that marketers aren’t working hard enough at conversion. The problem is that most of the heavy lifting has already happened before the consumer ever lands in a brand’s pipeline.

That heavy lifting is called consideration.

Most potential buyers are out of market most of the time. They’re not clicking “buy now.” They’re not even on your website. Instead, they’re in what Google once described as the “messy middle”: a fragmented web of search results, comparison engines, video reviews, creator recommendations, and now AI-driven answers. It’s in these environments that intent is shaped, shortlists are built, and the eventual purchase is won or lost.

Yet most performance strategies only activate once buyers are visibly in-market. By then, the wave has already formed. Think of it like surfing: the swell of consideration is coming whether you’re ready or not. If you’re in position, you can ride it all the way to growth. If you’re not, your competitor rides it to shore while you’re left paddling.

The false trade-off between brand and performance

Part of the problem is structural. Marketing has long been split into “brand” and “performance,” as if one can exist without the other. Brand building is treated as a long-term play, measured in awareness and equity. Performance is positioned as a short-term lever, measured in conversions and ROAS. But real-world growth doesn’t work in neat silos. When brand signals are absent, conversions are fragile and cost more to acquire. When performance ignores the environments that build trust and relevance, pipelines dry up.

Consideration is where the two sides meet.
It’s the connective tissue that allows brand equity to flow directly into performance efficiency.

Consideration is where the two sides meet. It’s the connective tissue that allows brand equity to flow directly into performance efficiency. It’s the moment when context, suitability, and intent converge – when buyers are receptive not just to messages, but to meaning. Ignore it, and you’re left with a performance model that delivers activity without outcomes. Invest in it, and every conversion becomes more intentional, more qualified, and more repeatable.

Why context matters more than clicks

Not all media is created equal. Where a message lands is as important as the message itself. Context shapes perception. A car ad on a trusted review channel carries more weight than the same creative on a random click farm. A beauty tutorial on YouTube has more influence than a generic pre-roll on unrelated content.

In the messy middle, context is the difference between being ignored and being shortlisted. Conversions that originate in trusted, relevant environments don’t just deliver sales; they reinforce brand signals, making the next conversion cheaper and the pipeline more stable. In other words, consideration makes performance sustainable.

From volume to curation

For too long, performance marketing has been driven by volume. Buy at scale. Optimize for clicks. Hope for leads. That model might deliver activity, but it rarely delivers stability. What marketers need now is not more conversions, but smarter ones.

Curated strategies place brands in the right environments,
with the right signals of intent, and the right alignment to brand values.

That’s where curated conversion comes in. Instead of chasing impressions, curated strategies place brands in the right environments, with the right signals of intent, and the right alignment to brand values. It’s performance that doesn’t just convert; it compounds.

Curated conversion means:

Contextual alignment: matching placements to product, audience, and market priorities.
Brand suitability: ensuring environments reinforce the equity you’ve worked to build.
Audience intent: activating based on real signals of research and comparison, not cold impressions.

This isn’t about replacing a brand’s funnel, it’s about extending it. By managing consideration, marketers intercept buyers earlier, strengthen their own lead gen, and stabilize pipelines that might otherwise stall.

The payoff: growth that lasts

When marketers prioritize consideration, conversion becomes intentional, not accidental. Pipelines become predictable, not volatile. Budgets stretch further, because every conversion builds brand as well as revenue. And perhaps most importantly, growth becomes repeatable because the messy middle is no longer a black box, but a managed, measurable stage of the funnel.

When marketers prioritize consideration,
conversion becomes intentional, not accidental.

The brands that win over the next decade won’t just be the ones that tell the best stories or bid the highest for clicks. They’ll be the ones that master consideration: curating the environments, contexts, and signals that turn performance from fragile to future-proof.

Because if you’re not present when buyers are weighing their options, you’re not really in the game at all.

Suitably equiped

Five ways to win in the messy middle and strengthen consideration:

Map the research journey: Identify where your buyers are exploring and evaluating outside owned channels, from search to comparison sites to video reviews.
Prioritise brand over retailer: Since shoppers are less likely to switch brands than retailers, invest in visibility and equity that keeps your brand the anchor.
Shift from volume to value: Measure outcomes in terms of qualified, brand-aligned demand, not impressions or clicks.
Curate your environments: Choose placements that align with your audience’s intent and reinforce your brand’s positioning.
Leverage trust signals: Reviews, social proof, and authority content carry disproportionate weight in the messy middle. Make them part of your media strategy, not an afterthought.

This post was originally published by Channel Factory on LinkedIn