Audience 90:10 Rule — What Actually Drives Growth
Only 10% of your market is ready to buy now. The other 90%? Not yet.
While most brands burn budgets chasing the 10% of people ready to buy today, sustainable growth brands play smarter. They keep costs low by building relationships with the other 90% — the future buyers who are not ready yet.
No discounts. No urgency hacks. Just brand affinity.
So, when those buyers are finally ready, your product will already be at the top of their minds, and the choice will be easy.
Most DTC brands obsess over short-term ROI — performance ads, conversions, and quick wins.
But here’s the truth: only 10% of your market is ready to buy. That means 90% of your future revenue is decided by how well you market to people who are not buying today.
Ignoring them isn’t just lazy — it’s expensive.
One of our clients aimed to scale revenue fast by increasing ad spend across platforms.
They had the basics covered — strong product, competitive pricing, solid performance team.
But here’s what happened: The spending increased by 47%, but revenue increased by only 15%.
If your product’s great, pricing’s solid, and your performance team knows their stuff, you’ll grow fast.
That’s how most DTC brands scale to ₹1–2Cr ARR. You’re selling to people already in the market.
But after that? Growth slows. You keep spending, but revenue flatlines.
Why? You’re still chasing the same 10% who are ready to buy now and ignoring the 90% who’ll buy later.
Those future buyers? They go with the brand they already know and trust.
If you’re not building that trust now, you’re handing future growth to someone else.
Here’s how to start capturing them today:
✅ Boost the content that tells your story. Not the offer posts — the ones that make people feel something. A reel, a behind-the-scenes, a founder note. Put a little spend behind those.
✅ Find one creator your audience already trusts. Don’t aim for reach. Aim for relevance. Get them to talk about your product like they use it. That’s how trust scales.
✅ Run one video ad that doesn’t sell. No CTA. Just talk about the problem you solve or when your product fits into someone’s life. Make it native. Make it feel organic.
✅ Pin the post that best explains who you are. When someone lands on your page, what do they see first? Ensure it’s something real, not a promo or discount.
✅ Show up on marketplaces before the search. If you’re on Amazon or Flipkart, don’t just wait for searches. Run brand ads there too. Get noticed early — even by people just browsing.
🧠 The Bottom Line
You can’t scale a brand by only chasing the 10% ready to buy today. That’s the short game.
Real growth—the sustainable, compounding kind—comes from winning over the 90% who aren’t ready yet but will be.
If you’re not building trust, memory, and relevance now, you won’t even be in the running for top-of-mind status when they’re ready.
Start showing up before the search. Start mattering before the moment. That’s how brands beat performance long—term.