It’s the end of October, which means 2025 planning is well underway. As you prepare for strategy meetings and budget conversations, we’ve put together resources to help you converse with senior leaders to secure buy-in for a brand marketing investment for the next year.
What’s working & what’s not:
When you kick off planning sessions, it’s a good place to start with what in your program is working well, and what is not. If we look at B2B SaaS on the whole, we’re seeing the emergence of late stage demand generation. This means the demand generation tactics we once knew are showing diminishing returns. It’s not uncommon for marketing leaders to see a decline in quality or quantity (or both) in the pipeline.
Why brand marketing:
Brand marketing is much more than logos and color ways. Brand marketing is about building mental availability and recognition among the 95% of buyers who are not currently in active buying cycles. These buyers dictate their sales cycle and no amount of demand generation tactics will effectively push them down the funnel. Brand marketing secures you in their consideration set, so when they are in the market, you’re top of mind. In fact, a report from 6Sense reveals 84% of buyers purchase from the brand they contacted first.
In simple terms, brand marketing is the key to building sustainable, long-term demand for your brand.
How to convince your executive team/board
While we want marketing leaders to understand the foundational principles behind brand marketing, that’s a bit too in the weeds for a CEO or CFO. They’re likely wanting to understand a simplified why, how, and specifically how much for a brand marketing investment. They are also likely interested in the measurement and ROI of brand marketing.
While we have our opinions on measuring brand marketing and tying it to ROI, we do understand that’s the reality for many marketers. Here are three tools to help communicate the measurement piece of brand marketing:
- Download the Revenue & MRR template: This calculation looks at the correlation between advertising spend and revenue calculation, helping to assess if your company revenue goals can be reached. While this doesn’t tell the full story of brand marketing impact, it is a good way to show your CEO or CFO how the metrics ladder up to OKRs.
- Value for CEO/CFO: Highlights how brand marketing impacts overall company revenue
- How to use: Make a copy of the template and follow instructions at the top
- Download the ESOV template: ESOV stands for excess share of voice, which measures how much a brand’s share of voice (SOV) exceeds its share of market (SOM). This matters because it can outline your marketing budget ROI and is a key factor in marketing share growth. For example, a brand with a positive ESOV will typically grow its market share to match its share of voice. For example, if a brand has a 10-point difference between its SOV and SOM, it can expect to gain 0.5% market share.
- Value for CEO/CFO: Outlines potential marketing budget ROI and market share growth
- How to use: Make a copy of the template, and follow the sheet instructions
- Download the 95:5 Calculation template: This rule is fundamental to a successful marketing program. While demand generation tactics focus on the 5% of in-market buyers, brand marketing focuses on building mental availability with the 95% of out-of-market buyers, so your brand is top of mind when they become in-market consumers.
- Value for CEO/CFO: Defines potential prospect pool for 2025 and beyond
- How to use: Make a copy of the template and input data in the green boxes to receive output of percentage of customers in-market for the year
Putting it all together
The calculations are only one part of the equation when it comes to putting together a business case for brand marketing. We’ve been there, done that, and have your back. We’ve created a slide deck template that outlines how to communicate the brand marketing investment to senior leaders. This makes sure you’re using the same language as executives, while keeping the conversation high-level yet practical.
We hope these tools help further your conversations when it comes to brand marketing and transforming your marketing program in 2025. Looking for a practical step-by-step guide on how to implement brand marketing? Stay tuned for the next installment of our series, Planning for 2025, coming soon!
About Storybook Marketing
Built with your business in mind, Storybook Marketing helps you write your brand story so you’re who they think of first. We’re a full-service brand & demand agency, guiding your brand story through strategy development to campaign execution.
Need guidance implementing your brand marketing strategy and making the most of your investment? Let’s talk.
| Perspective | Short-Term | Long-Term |
|---|---|---|
| Acquisition | Cost/Acquisition Pipeline/Opportunities Conversion rate at each buyer stage New revenue | ROI/ROAS Prospect pool growth |
| Retention | Retention rate Churn rate Product adoption rates | NPS Referrals Customer lifetime value Avg customer lifetime |
| Brand Awareness | Reach and frequency metrics Share of voice (digital) Brand mention sentiment Social media engagement rate | Brand awareness Brand recall Brand salience score Unaided brand recall Media mix optimization index Brand association strength |
| Customer Journey | Touchpoint engagement rates Lead quality score Website conversion rate CTR | Buyer persona profile alignment Sales cycles |
| Internal | Campaign execution time Lead response time Content production rate Campaign Innovation rate | Cross-functional collaboration scores Employee satisfaction and retention Thought leadership production Awards and recognition Partnership and collaboration growth |
| Perspective | Short-Term | Long-Term |
|---|---|---|
| Acquisition | Cost/Acquisition: 8% MoM Conversion rate at each buyer stage: 5.5% MoM | ROI: 7x |
| Retention | Churn rate: 2% Product adoption rates: 4% | Customer lifetime value: 1% MoM Avg customer lifetime: -5% |
| Brand Awareness | Share of voice (digital): 6% MoM Brand mention sentiment: 13% YoY | Brand awareness: No change Unaided brand recall: No change |
| Customer Journey | Website conversion rate: -6% CTR: No change | Buyer persona profile alignment: No change Sales cycles: No change |
| Internal | Campaign execution time: 5% MoM Lead response time: 10% MoM | Employee satisfaction and retention: -10% YoY Thought leadership production: No change |