As algorithms automate more decisions and dashboards grow louder, the real challenge for marketers isn’t scale—it’s judgment. In this conversation, Hitesh Lalwani, Founder and CEO of Intent Farm, reflects on how performance marketing has changed after the loss of manual control, why creativity now carries real weight, and how growth must be evaluated beyond platform-reported numbers. 

From rethinking intent in a broad-targeting world to easing the tension between brand governance and rapid experimentation, Hitesh shares a grounded view of what truly compounds in 2026. His core belief is simple but sharp: performance today isn’t about pulling more levers—it’s about designing systems that actually work. 

In 2025, algorithmic targeting replaced most manual audience segmentation. With the technical levers gone, does the role of a “performance marketer” still exist in 2026 or are we all creative strategists now? 

In 2025, algorithmic targeting didn’t eliminate the role of the performance marketer—it redefined it. Performance shifted from controlling the system to directing it, as platforms absorbed manual levers like audience layering, bid micromanagement, and granular targeting. 

In 2026, performance marketing still exists, but the center of gravity has shifted. The advantage is the ability to send the correct signals to the algorithm, not the ability to create the most sophisticated audience. 

That means sharper creative strategy, clearer business inputs, and stronger systems thinking. Creative is no longer just a brand layer; it’s the primary optimization lever. Messaging, format, hooks, and velocity now determine how algorithms learn and scale. 

However, this doesn’t mean everyone is “just” a creative strategist.The contemporary performance marketer operates at the intersection of business context, data, and creativity. They create experiments that the algorithm can truly learn from,translate business objectives into quantifiable inputs, and know when to trust automation—and when to intervene. 

So the role hasn’t disappeared; it has matured.
“Performance marketers in 2026 aren’t pressing buttons. They’re exercising judgment, building creative systems, and aligning automation with business outcomes.”
In an automated world, judgment—not control—is the performance skill. 

Intent Farm is built on the philosophy of harvesting “intent,” yet broad targeting often ignores traditional user signals, which won big last year. Has “intent” shifted from finding the right audience to manufacturing demand through storytelling and creativity? 

Intent Farm is built actually on the philosophy of creating and harvesting “intent.” Creating intent is very much a job of creativity and storytelling, which has gotten a much bigger role in the performance marketing universe now.

Harvesting intent is much more about how precisely you can provide signals to algorithms that allow the algorithm to find the best audiences and deliver ads to them at the right moments when their “intent” is maximum to convert. 

Both of these phases of intent remain strong pillars of performance marketing. We are actually much better positioned now because of the higher weightage given to these fundamentals of marketing—creativity for creating intent and precise signaling for harvesting it. 

As the platform reported ROAS lost credibility in 2025, what metric has replaced it as the true daily source of truth for measuring growth and why? 

By 2025, platform-reported ROAS lost its position as the primary growth metric—not because performance declined, but because attribution broke. With privacy changes, modeled conversions, and black-box reporting, ROAS became directional at best and misleading at worst for day-to-day decision-making. 

The metric that replaced it as the true daily source of truth is incremental revenue efficiency, most commonly tracked through a blend of MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio) and incrementality-aligned leading indicators. MER—total revenue divided by total marketing spend—forced teams to step out of platform silos and evaluate growth at a business level, not a channel level. It aligned marketing with finance, not dashboards. 

However, MER by itself isn’t quick enough for daily optimization. A signal stack—creative-level engagement (hold rate, hook rate), qualified traffic quality (new user rate, assisted conversions), and short-window revenue response—is what actually drives choices in 2026. These metrics show whether demand is being created and captured before attribution systems attempt to assign credit. 

The shift is philosophical as much as technical. Growth is no longer measured by what a platform claims it drove, but by whether total revenue and customer quality move when spend changes. In a post-ROAS world, the question isn’t “What did this ad convert?”—it’s “Did the business grow because we spent here?” 

Brand teams think in quarters; performance teams think in hours. As these functions merge, how do you resolve the real world friction between brand governance and rapid creative experimentation? 

Brand teams are accountable to consistency and long-term equity, while performance teams are accountable to speed and short-term results. As these functions merge, the solution isn’t compromise; it’s collaborative operating system design. 

High-performing teams in 2026 resolve this by separating what is defined from what is flexible. Brand teams define the non-negotiables—tone, visual identity, claims, legal boundaries, and narrative pillars. Performance teams are then allowed to experiment quickly with hooks, formats, pacing, and sequencing within those boundaries. Instead of becoming a bottleneck, governance becomes a framework.

The second shift is moving brand approval upstream. Rather than approving every execution, brand teams sign off on modular creative systems, visual components, and creative hypotheses. This enables hundreds of variations to be tested without repeated brand-fit checks. 

Finally, shared metrics close the gap. When brand teams see how consistent creative systems compound demand, and performance teams see how brand signals improve efficiency over time, alignment follows naturally. In a world where speed is essential, clarity—not control—enables both brand integrity and performance growth. 

We love setting up systems and metrics that allow this collaboration to work seamlessly and elevate overall brand growth. 

In 2025, influencer and creator led content consistently outperformed polished studio ads, especially on short form platforms. How should brands structure influencer programs in 2026 so they drive measurable performance, not just reach, while still protecting brand consistency? 

Influencer- and creator-led content surpassed studio advertisements by 2025 because it reflected the natural, flawed, and trust-driven way people consume content. Treating creators purely as a reach channel was a mistake many brands made. In 2026, high-performing brands structure influencer programs as storytelling systems rather than awareness campaigns. 

The first shift is moving from one-time posts to always-on creator systems. Brands partner long-term with a smaller group of creators, giving them deeper product exposure and clear commercial context. This leads to more authentic content, while also improving consistency and learning over time. 

Second, creators are briefed on outcomes, not scripts. Brands define non-negotiables—claims, tone, visual identity, and legal boundaries—but give creators freedom on hooks, storytelling, and delivery. This protects brand consistency without killing the native feel that drives performance. 

Measurement is where most programs break. In 2026, creators are evaluated on downstream signals such as assisted conversions, save and share velocity, and how their assets perform when repurposed into paid media. Influencer content that scales through paid amplification becomes a true performance channel. 

The winning model treats creators as distributed creative teams—aligned to brand, optimized for performance, and measured on business impact, not just reach. 

With CAC rising and efficiency harder to sustain, is the obsession with 100 percent year on year growth finally outdated? In 2026, how should founders redefine healthy growth in a way that actually compounds?

Founders are redefining healthy growth as compounding momentum over time, not headline percentages. The focus has shifted to whether growth actually strengthens the business with each cycle. Metrics such as cohort-level contribution margin, retention-adjusted LTV, and payback consistency now matter more than short-term spikes in growth. Healthy growth improves efficiency, not just scale. 

Another critical change is prioritizing revenue quality. Customers who retain, expand, and advocate reduce future CAC and create natural leverage. This allows growth to compound through product value and word of mouth, rather than through increasing spend alone. 

By 2026, the strongest companies aim for repeatable growth ranges instead of dramatic one-year surges. Healthy growth is no longer about winning a single year—it’s about building a system that keeps winning.