So… with the recent market turmoil caused by a policy-tweeting President, I began to obsess over my personal investment portfolio. Mapping out my risk tolerance, allocating between equities, bonds, and even a cheeky play on thematic ETFs. Then it hit me, this is exactly how I’ve approached growth marketing for years.
Campaigns are like stocks. Channels are your asset classes. And ROI? That’s your return on capital. Whether it’s a bullish Meta campaign or a stable Google Search ad group, every move in marketing has its risk profile, expected return, and opportunity cost, just like managing a fund. It’s all the same game, just different dashboards.
And here’s where my finance training rears its analytical head: whether you’re investing $10K into ETFs or $1M into paid media, the fundamentals still hold. Know your objective. Balance risk and reward. Monitor religiously. Growth marketing isn’t about throwing money at shiny new platforms, it’s capital allocation with a creative twist.
So what happens when you start managing your campaigns like a portfolio manager? Let’s dive in. Your marketing mix may never look the same again.
1. Define Your Investment Mandate (a.k.a. Growth Objective)
Before a fund manager touches a single stock, they define their investment mandate. Income, growth, capital preservation — the goal shapes the portfolio.
Marketing isn’t any different. Are you acquiring new users? Building brand awareness? Maximising ROAS? Each objective requires a different mix of tactics, channels, and creative risk-taking.
And while I’d argue that every marketing dollar should ultimately ladder back to ROAS (let’s not pretend we’re a charity), the level of aggressiveness varies. Some brands want immediate cash flow; others play the long game with upper-funnel storytelling.
Your objective is your compass. It dictates how much you allocate to Google Search versus YouTube, branded versus performance, retention versus acquisition.
“Without a mandate, you’re just guessing with money.”
2. Diversify Campaign Bets (Like Building an Asset Allocation Strategy)
Enter Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), the finance nerd’s holy grail. MPT says investors are naturally risk-averse and should diversify across assets to optimise returns while minimising volatility. The same logic applies to growth marketing.
Every channel has its own risk-return profile. Facebook might have a 10% ROAS upside, but it swings wildly depending on algorithm changes. Google Search? A reliable blue-chip with steadier returns. Influencer campaigns? The crypto of marketing: moonshot or dumpster fire.
Let’s break it down:
If you have four equally weighted channels with expected ROAS of 5%, 8%, 12%, and 18%, your portfolio’s expected ROAS is:
(5% x 25%) + (8% x 25%) + (12% x 25%) + (18% x 25%) = 10.8%
Not bad, but here’s the kicker: thanks to channel correlation (or lack thereof), your total portfolio risk could be lower than the sum of individual risks. That’s the magic of diversification. Facebook and TikTok may perform differently during the holiday season; one could tank, the other could thrive.
So design your stack accordingly:
- Core Holdings: Your proven, high-conviction channels: Google Search, Meta, CRM.
- Growth Picks: TikTok, UGC, influencer seeding, affiliate plays.
Base channel weightings on historical performance, CAC consistency, and campaign volatility. Measure each channel’s ‘variance’ using historical data, and track cross-channel correlations to understand how one campaign’s success (or failure) might affect others.
“Diversification is not just defense — it’s intelligent offense.”
3. Monitor Performance Like Stock Positions — and Cut the Losers, Double Down on the Winners
Fund managers have Bloomberg terminals. You have dashboards, or at least you should.
Every marketer should have a real-time view of channel spend, ROAS, CAC, CPM, and variance. Not just per channel, but in aggregate. Are you up overall? Or just being buoyed by one runaway success hiding a handful of underperformers?
But data’s only useful if you act on it. Set hypotheses for each campaign, like you would set target prices for stocks.
- If Meta Ads doesn’t hit CPA targets in two weeks? Trim the position.
- If YouTube starts outperforming by 20% with lower CPA? Scale it.
Here’s the tough love part: detach emotionally. The fact that “Instagram always worked before” doesn’t mean it’s a forever hold. In both markets and marketing, rational detachment is your moat.
“Be a performance pragmatist. Love the result, not the channel.”
4. Rebalance Regularly
The market changes. So should your marketing mix.
Just as fund managers rebalance portfolios quarterly, smart marketers reassess their stack frequently. What’s working? What’s stale? Are you overexposed to a declining channel? Is there a new ad format or beta worth testing?
Your media mix should reflect today’s consumer behaviour and not last quarter’s case study. Stay close to martech developments, algorithm shifts, and platform evolutions. What’s volatile today might be a stable performer next month (and vice versa).
Rebalancing isn’t just housekeeping. It’s strategic foresight.
“Past performance is not indicative of future results — in finance and in marketing.”
Final Thoughts: From Markets to Marketing – ROI Is All About Discipline
At the end of the day, growth marketing and investing share one simple truth: results come from discipline, not gut feel.
Thinking like a portfolio fund manager forces you to zoom out. It pushes you to look past the shiny new platform or viral ad and ask: Is this worth the risk? Does this align with my objective? How does this play with the rest of my mix?
It’s a mindset shift — from reactive tinkering to strategic capital allocation. It removes emotion, enforces structure, and most importantly, keeps your decisions grounded in risk-adjusted returns.
“The best marketers don’t just launch campaigns. They manage capital. Thoughtfully. Strategically. Relentlessly.”
So the next time you’re about to drop $100K on a campaign, pause. Take a breath. Ask yourself — would your portfolio manager do the same?
And now I want to hear from you.
👉 What’s your current “blue-chip” channel? The one you’d bet the farm on?
👉 And what’s your “high-risk, high-reward” play? The TikTok of your portfolio?
Drop them in the comments or DM me. Let’s compare portfolios. Who knows, your next winning bet might just come from someone else’s allocation.
🫶🏻 Thanks for reading till the end.
➡️ Follow Mervyn Chua and reshare to help others.
📌 Save this post for future reference!