Why demand capture isn’t the same as demand creation

When revenue is under pressure, most nonprofits do the same thing: they double down on what converts.

Paid search is usually at the top of that list. It’s measurable. It’s efficient. It captures intent that already exists. And during tough times, it feels like the responsible choice.

No one gets fired for investing in search.

But in my conversation with Vlad Chubakov, he raised a challenging question.

What if the channels that feel safest are simply just picking up demand that was created somewhere else?

Search works best when someone already knows who you are. When they’re already looking and intent exists.

Which means, if most of your investment sits at the bottom of the funnel, you’re optimizing for people who are already leaning in. You’re capturing demand — not building it.

Vlad shared data suggesting that incrementality in paid search can be far lower than many teams assume. In other words, you’re likely spending money on converting people who would have found you anyway.

All this doesn’t mean search doesn’t matter (it does). But it does mean growth doesn’t come from capture alone.

Over time, if you’re not investing in awareness, storytelling, and upper-funnel visibility — the part of your system that creates new interest — the pool of people searching for you begins to shrink.

That’s what’s causing many of the cracks in the Giving Pyramid.

It’s not that conversion has stopped working. It’s that fewer people are entering the funnel in the first place.

And when revenue pressure rises, the response can be to pull back from demand creation because it’s harder to measure, harder to defend and slower to show results.

But that approach could be exactly what stops growth from happening.

More insights from Vlad’s episode

• 02:03 – What is programmatic advertising?
• 16:35 – Making YouTube work programmatically
• 55:52 – Are you letting algorithms decide your strategy?

▶️ Watch my full chat with Vlad

🔗 Follow Vlad on LinkedIn

🔗 Subscribe to Vlad on YouTube

In case you missed it

🧑‍💻 Listen to a previous episode of Giving Growth with Francesco De Flaviis — the leadership mindset most marketers get wrong

🎬 Watch this trailer for the next episode of Giving Growth with NoKidHungry New York’s Rachel Seballa