Brand marketing ROI
In markets where everyone sounds identical, being the known and trusted choice is the ultimate ROI.
Something strange is happening in B2B buying.
Deals are being won and lost before sales calls even happen.
Not because of features. Not because of price. But because of something most B2B companies barely think about.
Dentsu's massive 2024 B2B buyer study - over 14,000 interviews - reveals a shift that's rewriting the rules of how enterprise software gets purchased. And most companies are completely unprepared for it.
The shift? Brand marketing now drives more revenue than most companies realize. And the ROI is measurable, predictable, and massive.
Here's what keeps me up at night.
B2B buyers only evaluate 2-5 vendors on average, according to TrustRadius's 2024 B2B Buying Disconnect Report. That's it.
Once you make that shortlist, you have a 71% chance the buyer sticks with their initial favorite. The entire "evaluation process" often just validates a choice they've already made.
But here's the ROI kicker: TrustRadius found 78% of buyers select products they've heard of before starting their research.
Think about that. Brand marketing determines three-quarters of your pipeline before a single MQL is generated.
The revenue impact gets more sobering. The same TrustRadius study shows 66% of buyers choose established market-leading brands. Among enterprise buyers? That jumps to 86%.
For challengers, the math is clear: Without brand marketing, you're fighting for scraps - just 14% of enterprise deals. With it, you access the full market.
The ROI calculation is brutal. If you're not already in their heads, you're losing 78% of potential revenue before you even compete.
MarketingProfs' 2024 Customer Experience study shows something every CFO should care about.
Personal factors now drive 52% of B2B purchase decisions. Up from 35% in 2021.
We're not talking about relationships. We're talking about economic value. Buyers openly admit: "I need to feel safe with this vendor."
The same MarketingProfs research found that feeling secure with a vendor was the single biggest influence on purchase decisions. Not ROI calculations. Not feature comparisons. Security.
Here's where brand marketing pays dividends: Forrester's Business Trust survey found 77% of purchase influencers consider a vendor's brand awareness as a key factor in whether they trust that organization.
The revenue impact? Forrester found 83% of B2B influencers who trust a supplier plan to continue doing business with them. That's not just win rate - that's lifetime value.
The LinkedIn B2B Institute and Ipsos research confirms the pricing power: buyers explicitly state they'll pay premiums for trusted brands because it mitigates risk in complex B2B deals.
Brand marketing doesn't just win deals. It wins them at higher prices with better retention.
Dentsu's 2024 Superpowers Index found 68% of B2B buyers say vendors all sound identical.
This sameness has a direct cost. When buyers can't differentiate:
Harvard Business Review research found 64% of buyers struggle to see meaningful differences between suppliers. The result? Price becomes the only differentiator.
But here's the opportunity: In a sea of sameness, brand marketing that creates distinction commands premium pricing. The ROI isn't just in volume - it's in margin protection.
Here's a concept that changed how I think about B2B marketing.
Professor Jenni Romaniuk calls them "Category Entry Points" - the specific situations that trigger buyers to think of solutions.
Example: "I need to manage projects across time zones" vs. "I need project management software."
Same category. Completely different mental triggers.
The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute found that brands associated with more specific buying situations see higher acquisition rates and better retention.
But most B2B companies only own one or two mental triggers. They're invisible in dozens of buying situations where they could compete.
How do you know which triggers you own? Brand tracking studies that ask buyers: "When you think about [specific situation], which brands come to mind?" The answers often surprise companies who assume they're more known than they are.
Here's data that should terrify every startup founder.
When buyers can't differentiate between options, TrustRadius found 66% default to established market leaders. Among enterprise buyers, it's 86%.
The TrustRadius research reveals why: In complex B2B purchases with multiple stakeholders, choosing the market leader is the safest career move. Nobody gets fired for buying IBM, even in 2024.
But there's a crack in the armor. That remaining 14-34% of buyers willing to consider challengers? They're looking for one thing: distinctive value they can articulate to their boss.
The problem? When Dentsu's study shows 68% of vendors sound identical, finding that distinction is like finding a specific grain of sand on a beach.
Smart challengers use brand tracking to identify perception gaps - where the market leader is weak, where buyers want something different, where messages could break through. They track whether their differentiation efforts actually change buyer perception over time.
I sat in on a fascinating presentation about CMO and CFO perspectives on brand value.
Transmission's 2023 CMO-CFO Brand Value Gap study revealed a staggering disconnect:
Meanwhile, CMOs insist brand drives growth but struggle to prove it with data finance respects.
The Transmission survey revealed something even more troubling. While 77% of CMOs believe brand marketing drives short-term sales, only 48% of CFOs agree. That perception gap kills budgets.
TrustRadius's 2024 data shows companies devoted just 38% of marketing budgets to brand awareness versus 53% to demand generation. Yet buyers keep gravitating to brands they already know.
This misalignment creates what TrustRadius researchers call a "brand crisis." Vendors cut awareness spending while buyers double down on familiar names. It's a recipe for invisibility.
Both sides are right. And both are wrong.
Brand does drive revenue. But without measurement, it's just opinion.
After analyzing companies that successfully quantify brand marketing impact, clear patterns emerge.
They run regular brand tracking studies
Smart companies don't guess - they measure. Quarterly brand tracking reveals:
Forrester's research shows 77% of B2B purchase influencers say vendor awareness directly impacts trust. But you need tracking to connect those dots:
They track competitive dynamics
The market doesn't stand still. Regular brand tracking shows:
Without this intelligence, you're fighting yesterday's battle.
They test and validate before scaling
One company I studied uses brand tracking to test every major message with 100+ actual buyers before launching campaigns. They measure:
Their win rate improved 23% in 18 months. The ROI? Every 1% improvement in win rate meant $4.2M in additional revenue.
Ehrenberg-Bass Institute research on Category Entry Points reveals why continuous brand tracking matters.
Companies with "wider and fresher" category entry point networks - meaning they're remembered in more buying situations - see:
But here's the catch: You can't expand what you don't measure. Brand tracking reveals:
The ROI compounds. Each additional buying situation where your brand is recalled doesn't add value linearly - it multiplies it. But without tracking, you're guessing which situations to target.
Dentsu's research shows buyers now consider 62% more brands than in 2021. But TrustRadius found deal cycles stretched 54 days longer. In this environment, knowing which brands buyers recall - and why - becomes critical intelligence.
LinkedIn's 2023 State of B2B Marketing report confirms this: brand-building jumped from the #5 priority to #1 for B2B marketers. The smart ones track progress, not just activity.
Boston Consulting Group quantified something every CFO needs to understand.
Every $1 cut from brand marketing costs $1.85 to rebuild later.
That's not a 85% loss. That's a 85% penalty on top of your original investment.
Companies that maintained brand spending during downturns recovered faster. Those that cut? They're still playing catch-up, spending nearly double to regain lost ground.
One CMO told me: "We saved 2 million by cutting brand spend in 2022. We've spent 5 million trying to get back to where we were."
BCG's research shows why: Brand marketing compounds like interest. Companies investing consistently see it as a retirement fund yielding compounding returns. Those cutting it discover they've borrowed against their future at loan-shark rates.
LinkedIn's global B2B marketing survey found 6 in 10 marketing leaders report their C-suite has raised the priority of brand-building due to economic conditions. They've learned the hard way: short-term savings create long-term losses.
Transmission's 2023 CMO-CFO Brand Value Gap study revealed why brand marketing ROI remains invisible in many companies:
This measurement gap has real consequences. TrustRadius's 2024 data shows companies devoted just 38% of marketing budgets to brand awareness versus 53% to demand generation.
Yet the same research shows buyers overwhelmingly choose brands they already know. The budget allocation is backwards.
The companies seeing real ROI from brand marketing share one trait: they track brand perception consistently and connect it to business outcomes. Without ongoing brand tracking, you're flying blind - spending money without knowing if it's working.
The implications are clear and quantifiable.
First, brand marketing isn't a cost center - it's a revenue multiplier. When 78% of buyers choose from brands they already know, awareness directly equals pipeline.
Second, the ROI appears in multiple places:
Third, measurement makes the difference. Companies that connect brand metrics to revenue metrics invest smarter and see predictable returns.
Based on the data, here's what separates companies getting real returns from those guessing:
Implement quarterly brand tracking
You can't manage what you don't measure. Effective brand tracking programs measure:
The key is consistency. Quarterly tracking shows trends, not just snapshots. You'll see which campaigns move the needle and which don't.
Map tracking metrics to revenue metrics
Every brand tracking metric should connect to business outcomes:
One B2B SaaS company found through tracking that every 10% increase in "trust" scores correlated with 7% higher average contract values. That insight changed their entire messaging strategy.
Track by segment, not just overall
Averages hide insights. Segment your brand tracking by:
You might discover you're unknown in enterprise while dominating SMB. Or that IT loves you but finance has never heard of you. These insights drive targeted brand investments with predictable ROI.
Test messages before campaigns
Use brand tracking methodology to pre-test campaigns. Show target buyers your new positioning, messages, or creative concepts. Measure:
Testing 3-5 message variants with 100 buyers costs less than one failed campaign. The ROI is immediate.
Brand marketing drives measurable business impact. The data proves it.
In B2B markets where 68% of vendors sound identical, being known and trusted is worth millions in revenue. It determines who makes the shortlist (78% choose known brands). It influences who wins (71% stick with initial favorite). It impacts price (buyers pay premiums for trust).
But here's the catch: Only companies that systematically track brand perception see these returns.
Without brand tracking, you're:
With consistent brand tracking, you're:
The question isn't whether brand marketing generates ROI. TrustRadius, Forrester, LinkedIn, and BCG have settled that debate.
The question is whether you'll measure and optimize that ROI through systematic brand tracking.
Or whether you'll keep wondering why CAC keeps climbing while competitors seem to win deals before you even know they exist.
Because they're tracking their brand. They know exactly how buyers perceive them. And they're adjusting faster than you can guess.
