Does resonating with consumers feel harder than it used to? You’re not imagining it — it is harder: customer acquisition cost (CAC) is rising, customer lifetime value (CLV) is falling, and MarTech investments have delivered little clarity or growth. But it’s not because marketers lost their edge; it’s because the way consumers discover, decide, and buy has fundamentally changed.
What many marketing teams are experiencing today isn’t the result of a lack of effort or creativity (in fact it’s just the opposite). It’s a growing disconnect between how consumers behave and how marketing systems still operate.
That disconnect creates a one-two punch: a major shift in consumer behavior paired with MarTech stacks that limit visibility into intent and the ability to action on it. The result is complex workarounds, bolted-on solutions, siloed data, and fragmented workstreams that ultimately make it harder to resonate with consumers.
Consumer behavior has changed
The reality is that consumers no longer move through neat, predictable buying journeys. Discovery now happens across more moments — search, social, browsing, comparison, recommendation, and conversational AI search engines — often long before a consumer ever identifies themselves. Journeys are fragmented, non-linear, and shaped by context in real time.
At the same time, marketers can capture intent earlier than ever before through more available data: subtle behavioral signals like repeat visits, category exploration, on-site search, or cart activity offer a goldmine of insights. The trick is actioning on these insights at the right moment. The challenge is that these subtle signals peak and pass faster than most marketing systems can recognize.
It all comes down to this: today’s consumers decide on their own timeline, guided by immediate needs and shifting preferences, not by campaign calendars or predefined funnels.
Yesterday’s MarTech can’t solve for tomorrow’s consumer
The problem isn’t just outdated technology. It’s about the limitations marketers face when systems no longer align with how consumers actually make decisions. Campaign-led thinking — fixed plans, static segments, and delayed analysis — assume journeys are linear, intent is stable, and insights can be acted on later without consequence. We know this approach doesn’t resonate with today’s consumers. Generalized messaging and weak personalization is easy to spot — and easier to ignore. And consequently, revenue takes a hit.
It’s tempting to try to solve this problem by adding additional tools. Bolting these on might improve efficiency at the surface, but it doesn’t address the root issue. It just becomes a “more is more” situation without solving the core problem. Channels multiply, creating parallel workstreams. Data lives in more places and arrives at different speeds. AI accelerates execution, but it still operates on delayed signals and static structures. And that’s because legacy MarTech stacks were built to react to behavior after it happens. They weren’t built to continuously identify, interpret, and act on intent as it forms.
Over time, this leads to a gap between how consumers act and how marketing responds. The wider that gap grows, the more opportunities slip through it — even as teams invest more time, tools, and budget.
A catalyst for change
The gap between intent and action keeps widening and it exposes a hard truth: marketing models built around campaigns can’t keep up with behavior-driven journeys. They weren’t designed to sense intent early, adapt in real time, or act dynamically as interest shifts.
As consumers began signaling intent earlier, moving fluidly across moments, and deciding on their own timelines, campaign-driven systems built for slower, predictable journeys will continue to fall behind. Breaking out of outdated MarTech stacks requires more than bolted on workarounds; it requires an Intent-Driven Marketing model designed for how consumers behave today — and a purpose-built platform.