The Non-Linear Customer Journey Reimagined
From Funnel to Influence Map: A 2025 strategic guide to video content, budget allocation, and customer engagement in a multi-touchpoint world.
The End of the Linear Funnel
The traditional marketing funnel —a tidy model of awareness, consideration, and decision—is an obsolete framework. Its primary flaw is assuming a controlled, predictable progression in an era where brands no longer guide consumers through limited touchpoints.
Today's consumer is in control, navigating an ever-expanding network of streaming services, online shops, AI search, and social platforms. This shatters the customer journey into a multitude of unpredictable, non-linear patterns, demanding a more fluid and realistic model.
AdVids Defines: The "Influence Map"
To replace the outdated funnel, we champion a more accurate model: the "influence map." This reimagines the journey not as a sequence, but as a dynamic ecosystem of potential touchpoints, reducing artificial barriers between awareness, consideration, and decision.
It accepts that consumers move fluidly between states, influenced by a web of interactions in no prescribed order. This ensures strategy is planned based on what truly drives influence, allowing for AI-powered customization for each unique journey.
Mapping Video to the Influence Map
Objective: Visibility and Introduction
Capture attention and introduce the brand to new audiences with engaging, emotionally resonant content.
Objective: Provide Value and Build Trust
Educate potential customers who are actively researching solutions and demonstrate product benefits clearly.
Objective: Convert Interest into a Sale
Nudge customers close to purchase with highly persuasive content that removes final barriers to conversion.
Objective: Build Loyalty and Encourage Evangelism
Ensure customer satisfaction post-sale and transform buyers into loyal advocates for the brand.
The New Discovery Ecosystem
Search is no longer synonymous with a Google search bar. YouTube is the world's second-largest search engine , while 40% of Gen Z now use TikTok as their primary search tool. A modern video strategy is now inseparable from a search strategy.
The "Hero" Video Fallacy
Retailers must abandon creating single, monolithic "hero" videos. A single customer will likely encounter a brand across numerous, unpredictable touchpoints on platforms that reward vastly different content formats (short-form vs. long-form, vertical vs. horizontal).
The "Multimodal" Content System
A single core message must be atomized. Strategy should be built around a central "pillar" piece of content (like a webinar), designed from its inception to be systematically deconstructed into dozens of smaller assets for different platforms.
The New Economics of Attention
In 2025, video is the dominant language of digital commerce, rooted in its unique ability to capture attention, convey complex information, and drive emotional connection.
Video's Share of Internet Traffic
Projected to account for a staggering 82% of all internet traffic by 2025.
Message Retention Power
Viewers retain 95% of a message from video, versus only 10% from text.
Positive Marketing ROI
93% of marketers report a positive ROI from video, the highest figure ever recorded.
Business Adoption Rate
89%
of businesses report using video as a core marketing tool in 2025.
The Primacy of Short-Form
+75%
Increase in global consumption, driven by Gen Z and Millennials. For these demographics, it's a primary tool for product discovery.
The Rise of Live Commerce
15x
Projected market growth, blending entertainment with transaction to boost conversion rates by up to 10 times.
The Resulting Shift in Ad Spend
Consumer attention shifts are causing a commensurate reallocation of advertising budgets. Social video platforms have become the center of gravity for media investment, capturing over half of all US ad spending.
$111 Billion
Projected global spending on short-form digital video advertising alone in 2025.
Video as a Business Intelligence Tool
The value of video extends far beyond marketing; it has evolved into a core business intelligence tool . While analytics were once limited to vanity metrics like views, modern platforms provide granular data and one of the richest sources of first-party customer intelligence.
Precise Watch Time
Drop-Off Points
Heatmap Interactions
Click-Through Rates
When integrated into a Customer Data Platform (CDP) , this data provides profound insights into preferences and intent. For example, analyzing drop-off points in a demo can identify a confusing feature, fueling product innovation and customer service.