Positioning, Messaging, and Branding for B2B tech companies. Keep it simple. Keep it real.
Being “Better At” focuses on selfless improvement—helping yourself and others grow while you grow. Here’s a quick recap of my appearance on Lori Jones’ StrategyCast podcast, where we covered 13 ways marketing teams can develop a “Better At” strategy in 2025, from active listening and data literacy to curiosity and leadership.
There are a couple of reasons for Better At.
First, back in 2021, I was inspired by a great quote by the Greek Philosopher, Epictetus.
“These reasonings do not cohere: I am richer than you, therefore I am better than you; I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am better than you. On the contrary these rather cohere, I am richer than you, therefore my possessions are greater than yours: I am more eloquent than you, therefore my speech is superior to yours. But you are neither possession nor speech.”
Epictetus
Second, in This Is Marketing, Seth Godin opens Chapter 20 with a summary of The Public Narrative, a three-step action framework created by Harvard Professor, Marshall Ganz.
In other words, Public Narrative says, “Here’s who I am, this is what we have in common, and here’s what we’re going to do about it.”
It’s about being “Better At” versus “Better Than.” The difference matters.
Being better at something together with others is selfless. Being better than someone, especially when it takes advantage of people or thrives on an uneven playing field, is selfish.
Following is a recap of 13 “Better At” ideas I discussed with Lori Jones, on her StrategyCast podcast.
Check out the full episode for all the details and examples
These ideas are not about doing more—they’re here to help us think about how to be a better teammate, leader, vendor, etc. When we’re better together, we make things better for others.
“When we make things better, we make better things.”
Seth Godin
Start with the one you feel you can have the most impact with. Try to get better at it together with others. If you can do all 13, great! If you want to come up with your own, even better!
A year from now, you’ll not only be better at your craft—you’ll have helped others get better too. That’s the real goal.
To hear the full conversation, check out the episode on Lori’s podcast.
To learn more about “Better At” reach out. I’d be happy to share more.
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AI was a much bigger deal in 2024. It’s pushing B2B marketing towards accountability, better decisions, and bringing back the importance of brand reputation—a good thing! Tools like Causal AI are making it easier to measure what really matters, helping marketers align with sales, prove ROI, and earn trust. Heading into 2025, success will belong to those who embrace AI to stay accountable, focus on long-term brand value, and deliver clear, effective results.
2024 was a year of massive change in B2B marketing. AI is everywhere, on everyone’s mind, reshaping how we approach Go-To-Market (GTM).
A few things stand out since officially “turning the lights on” my consulting business in April. If I had to choose one, it would be this:
Causal AI will make it easier for the C-suite to hold everyone, especially GTM teams, more accountable for the promises they make and the incentives they are paid.
If this year taught us anything, it’s that the rules of engagement have radically changed. And those of us who see opportunity will adapt and thrive; those who resist will be left behind.
Here are four things I learned and how they can guide you in the coming months.
We know Generative AI’s impact on marketing with tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney. But Analytical and Causal AI will force more transparency and accountability in ways we’ve never seen.
In 2024, it became clear that AI tools are making GTM efforts more measurable—and as a result, more scrutinized. This is a wake-up call for anyone who’s been skating by on BS knowingly or not.
The days of making up shit, “cooking the books” and ass-covering are quickly coming to an end. And it won’t just be the C-suite calling it out—AI will also enable buyers to expose this stuff in minutes. This isn’t just a GTM thing—it’s a company-wide thing.
One of the byproducts of accountability is empathy. That’s a win-win for everyone.
Takeaway for 2025: Get up to speed on Causal AI but don’t forget the power of fundamentals and evidence-based strategies. The runway for most B2B GTM programs is longer than the tenure of the CMO and CRO. Marketers who adapt and use causal analysis to prove GTM investments will be in high demand and keep their jobs longer.
Dive Deeper: AI and the Accountability Era: GTM and Marketing in 2025
Mark Stouse and I spent a lot of time in Q4 discussing how AI is amplifying GTM accountability and risk.
Buyers will be able to spot inconsistencies in messaging or promises at the click of a button. Brand reputation will be on the line at every touch point and trust will become currency.
Marketers who succeed will not just build pipelines but actively mitigate reputational and legal risks for their companies.
Takeaway for 2025: Double down on aligning sales and marketing—your messaging has to be tight. Don’t make promises you can’t deliver. It takes years to earn confidence and trust but only minutes to destroy it. And once misinformation is out there, it’s hard to reverse it. Just don’t go there.
Dive Deeper: Proving Marketing’s Value in 2025 and Beyond
It’s easy to forget the fundamentals when AI is all the rage. But the fundamentals coupled with evidence-based strategies always deliver lasting results.
Many B2B tech companies continue to overinvest in short-term sales tactics at the expense of their brand reputation.
That’s largely due to GTM teams not providing any analytical basis for investing in the brand. And because the C-suite views Brand as “a blank slate on which no one has written any sort of convincing rationale,” as Mark Stouse recently said, it has been in a free fall since 2009.
That’s about to change in 2025—brand is making a comeback because short-term performance marketing like lead and demand generation have done everything but perform.
Takeaway for 2025: The best time to build your brand was yesterday. The second-best time is today. Confidence and trust are earned. The more B2B tech GTM teams prove the value of investing in brand reputation, the stronger the brand will become and the more it will be remembered.
Dive Deeper: Why B2B Tech Needs Brand Marketing to Earn Trust and Grow
Over the past decade, GTM teams have been overwhelmed and paralyzed by too much data mostly because of the crazy pressure to drive immediate results. It’s easier and faster to pick a number that looks and sounds good.
And although AI is making it easier to measure, not every metric matters.
Causal AI helps GTM teams model various scenarios, incorporating often ignored factors that impact the business, like headwinds and tailwinds, and time lag. These models can show how different investments in brand reputation and other long-term strategies affect growth over time.
Marketers can prove their value in tangible ways, earning confidence and trust—and keeping their jobs. Rather than obsessing over productivity and efficiency, they help Sales be more effective. And with strong marketing support, Sales is 8x more effective and 5x more efficient.
Takeaway for 2025: Audit your metrics. Eliminate the noise and zero in on KPIs that directly impact sales efficiency, growth, and brand strength. Use AI for predictive analytics and accountability, but don’t forget the human element: clear goals and evidence-based strategies are still essential.
Dive Deeper: Watch the Data Literacy Video Series with Liam Moroney and Dale W. Harrison. They discuss what to do, what NOT to do, and why every B2B marketer needs to level up their data skills in 2025.
Like every industrial revolution since 1784, the pace of change isn’t slowing down—BTW, we’re still in Industry 5.0 but soon heading into the next one.
AI is changing how we measure success, earn trust, and approach strategy. But the fundamentals—clear positioning, relevant messaging, and a strong brand reputation—matter more than ever.
AI is raising the stakes, making accountability and transparency non-negotiable. We’ll need to focus on empathy in everything we do going forward because people will only care about the brands that genuinely care about them.
The year ahead will challenge us all, but it’s also full of opportunity for those who are willing to adapt.
Make it a great year!
LAST BUT NOT LEAST: A FREE GIFT FOR YOU
If you’re ready to take your brand to the next level, I’m sharing my Brand Playbook Template to help you clarify your positioning and strengthen your brand in 2025. Reach out if you have any questions.
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Photo credit: iStock: natrot
AI and causal analytics will quickly change B2B marketing as we know it in 2025 and beyond, turning guesswork into measurable outcomes. Marketers who adapt and adopt AI-driven analytics tools will be able to clearly show their impact, improve results, and amplify growth. Accountability and transparency are the new normal.
Last week, I sat down again with Proof Analytics CEO, Mark Stouse, to talk more about the coming GTM changes in B2B marketing. This time, we dove into the multiplier effect.
As we got deeper into the topic, one thing is certain: go-to-market teams are under the microscope like never before. Budgets are tight, expectations are high, and the C-suite wants proof that every dollar spent delivers a return.
And as AI gets better, transparency and accountability will be easier to evaluate and scrutinize. Guesswork won’t cut it anymore. That’s a tough reality, but it’s also an opportunity.
With AI-driven marketing accountability and causal analytics, marketers have the tools to show their value more clearly than ever—and win a seat at the table.
Here are four key takeaways from our LinkedIn Live event.
The age of radical accountability and transparency is here, and it’s changing how businesses operate. AI can now analyze data in seconds, pinpointing inefficiencies and inconsistencies that were once hidden in plain sight.
For marketers, this means every strategy, campaign, and dollar spent will be scrutinized. Proving marketing ROI to the C-suite won’t be such a long shot.
This level of transparency forces teams across the entire company to work closer together for the greater good. Budgets aren’t just numbers anymore; they’re reflections of trust and accountability. When every business unit can see how resources are allocated, collaboration becomes the only way forward.
“Radical transparency means it will be impossible not to know how effective you are and how cost-effective your programs are.”
Mark Stouse
For marketing teams, this is a chance to prove their worth with data, not gut feel. It’s a shift from defending the budget to earning it.
Mark’s Pro Tip:
Start by aligning with your CFO or CEO to agree on what success looks like. Ask: “What questions are burning a hole in your pocket?” Then tailor your data and reports to answer them directly.
Unlike linear functions like Sales, where you might need to double your headcount to double results, marketing, like product, is a non-linear multiplier that amplifies results without the same proportional investment. It’s a force multiplier that makes sales teams more effective and efficient.
“Marketing makes Sales about 800% more effective and 500% more efficient than it would be by itself. That’s the multiplier effect and you can take that to the bank.”
Mark Stouse
But there’s a catch. Marketing’s impact isn’t instant. It has a time lag, and this is where many businesses get caught with their pants down.
Cutting marketing might seem harmless at first, but it’s like running on the fumes of past investments. Within 12 to 18 months, businesses often feel the fallout in lost revenue and higher churn.
A good example is Airbnb ditching its marketing in 2020. What seemed like a good idea at the time wasn’t so great 18 months later when revenue fell like a rock.
Marketing momentum erodes like a half-life. Eventually, you lose the trust and confidence of customers. And because it takes them longer to make up their minds now, the average deal velocity goes way down.
Understanding this dynamic can mean the difference between market success and failure. And with the right measurement tools like Causal AI, organizations can model how marketing drives long-term growth while protecting their investments and delivering immediate value to the business.
Contrary to popular belief, marketing is not a cost center.
Mark’s Pro Tip:
Map out your current marketing spend and overlay your sales performance data. Use causal analytics to identify where marketing amplifies sales results and optimize those channels first.
Balancing short-term wins with long-term marketing success is one of the toughest challenges for any business leader. The pressure to show immediate results often clashes with the need for sustained growth. Marketing sits right in the middle of this tension.
“Anyone can manage for the short term or the long term. The trick is doing both at the same time.”
David M. Cote, former CEO, Honeywell
Causal analytics is a game-changer here. It helps companies model the ripple effects of their decisions—good or bad—on revenue, customer retention, and brand reputation.
This is about seeing the big picture—no more guessing. What is driving results today? What is setting us up for tomorrow? Why? The right data helps us see things more cleary. That insight helps us make better decisions to balance immediate wins with future potential.
Mark’s Pro Tip:
When presenting your marketing strategy, show both immediate wins and long-term impact side by side. Think of it like GPS navigation—adjust the route as needed but always keep the destination in mind.
For years, marketers have operated in a gray zone—where results were difficult to measure, and decisions were often based on intuition and bias. That’s changing fast. AI, data analytics, and transparency are eliminating the gray zone.
“The gray zone is shrinking. Probabilistic insights are starting to feel like certainty, and marketers must step up to prove their value.”
Mark Stouse
This is a good thing. It’s more of an opportunity than a challenge. It raises the bar for GTM teams to show clear, measurable impact. It also gives us the tools we need to prove how much value we add to the business.
Causal analytics enable GTM teams to measure their impact, optimize their efforts, and earn the trust of the C-suite. For marketing leaders, this is the moment to step up and show how marketing drives tanglible outcomes.
Mark’s Pro Tip:
Stop the guesswork by embracing causal modeling. Start small: test one campaign or channel, measure its ripple effect on revenue, and build from there. If you’re a start-up and not currently collecting CRM or MA data, use mock AI data to build your models.
GTM teams have a choice: embrace AI-driven accountability or resist it. Those who embrace it will lead the way, using causal AI to demonstrate the real value of their efforts. They’ll be able to show the C-suite how marketing multiplies growth, makes sales more effective, and earns trust.
Those who resist risk being left behind. The tools and insights are already here. The businesses that succeed will be the ones that measure what matters, adapt to what they learn, and prove their worth every step of the way.
“You’ll either be running the AI that shows your value, or it will be running on you. The choice is yours.”
Mark Stouse
Watch The Multiplier Effect—Proving Marketing’s Value on LinkedIn.
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AI is about to massively change marketing and GTM strategies. It’s exposing weak spots and demanding proof for every claim. Empty promises and vague metrics are no longer enough. To succeed, marketers must use AI tools to find real insights, earn trust, and show measurable results. This isn’t a threat—it’s a chance to raise the bar and be better.
Last week, I sat down again with Mark Stouse, CEO at Proof Analytics, to talk about The Accountability Era in GTM and how AI going to massively change the way GTM teams handle accountability and risk.
B2B marketing is at a crossroads, especially in tech. The SaaS industry has muddied the waters by overpromising and underdelivering. Sure, the marketing might look great, but what good is it if the product doesn’t actually do what marketing claims?
In the next two to three years, AI will change the way we think about GTM accountability and risk. The days of operating in the “grey space” of aspiration and fuzzy metrics are rapidly coming to an end. Products that fail to deliver will be exposed in minutes.
“This is not about suppression of free speech. It’s more about suppressing bullshit.”
Mark Stouse, Proof Analytics
This shift is raising the bar for everyone—and that’s a good thing. The C-Suite is tired of guesswork, and customers want proof. If marketing and sales teams can’t back up their claims, they’ll face the consequences.
And while it might feel like a reckoning, it’s really an opportunity to level up. The tools to prove what’s possible and earn trust are already here.
If there’s one thing marketers and GTM teams should focus on right now, it’s this: embrace every aspect of AI—not just to work faster, but to think smarter and ask better questions.
AI can uncover patterns, reveal truths, and challenge assumptions. This goes beyond generative AI. Tools like analytical and causal AI can help figure out what’s working, what’s not, and why.
“AI is revealing connections we’ve taken for granted and holding us to higher standards.”
Mark Stouse, Proof Analytics
Start using these AI tools to explore new ideas and validate strategies. The sooner you get comfortable with them, the sooner you’ll add real value to your team and your business. You’ll also empower yourself and your organization to operate at a higher level.
AI is going to shake things up fast. Here are five things you need to know to get ready and stay ahead according to Mark Stouse.
Exaggerations and embellishments won’t work anymore. AI will expose the truth. If your product doesn’t deliver, people will find out faster than ever.
“By 2027, we are all going to be substantially more accountable than we probably ever have been in our lives. That grey space that we play in is historically shrinking.”
Lofty claims won’t cut it. Customers and executives will want to see hard proof. You’ll need real data to back up what you’re saying.
“We will need to be more thoughtful, less speculative and more oriented towards what is provably true or factually accurate versus our opinion or our aspiration.”
AI will push us to listen more and care more. Brands that genuinely understand and act upon customer needs will stand above the rest.
“Under the rubric of risk and accountability, one of the positives here is that AI might actually foster empathy.”
Being great at one thing won’t be enough. You need to understand the other areas of the business—like finance, data, and operations—to make smarter decisions.
“Marketers need to become T-shaped—experts in their field but also knowledgeable about the rest of the business to properly contextualize their decisions.”
AI gives you the tools to show real results. Use them to connect with executives. Speak their language, focus on risk and growth, and they’ll pay attention.
“The C-Suite is fed up, customers want proof, and AI will make sure they get it.”
Adapting to these changes won’t be easy. Here are five truths every GTM team needs to accept according to Mark Stouse.
Every promise you make will be put under a microscope. Whether it’s product claims or marketing messaging, AI will connect the dots. If you can’t back it up, it won’t fly.
“We’re going to really discover what is real and what is not in ways that haven’t been possible before.”
Executives are done with spending money on uncertain outcomes. They want clarity. Show them how you reduce risk and drive results, or they’ll question your value.
“CEOs and CFOs are done. I mean, they are done in terms of continuing with the status quo on go-to-market and not knowing if it’s working.”
Your actions influence your brand, but customers control how they see it. AI is making it easier for people to call out any gap between what you promise and what you deliver.
“We control what we say and do, but we don’t control how the market decides to believe it.”
Automation and spray-and-pray tactics have eroded trust. Buyers are skeptical, and AI-driven tools will only make them more cautious. It’s time to rethink how we activate sales.
“Marketing automation and demand generation have poisoned the well. Trust is gone.”
AI can call out bad data, false promises, and misleading claims in seconds. There’s no hiding. Don’t exaggerate. Stick to the facts.
“The time of being rewarded for bullshitting customers just to make a quick buck is coming to a close.”
For B2B tech companies and marketers who are ready to adapt, there’s a lot to look forward to.
AI won’t take your job if you make it part of your job. It will help you work smarter and make better decisions by helping you find patterns, solve problems, and prove what’s working and why. Use it well and you will become a stand out.
Here’s how to thrive in the coming years:
This might feel like a big change, but it’s also a huge opportunity. Marketing that’s honest and backed by data will win. The sooner you adapt, the stronger you’ll be.
“You are not a victim. No generation in the history of the world has had the tools and the power that are being handed to each of us. If you lose your job to anybody, it's going to be to somebody else with a better understanding and a better ability to use the tools than you.”
Mark Stouse, Proof Analytics
The Accountability Era isn’t here to punish us—it’s here to help us do better work.
AI is changing everything, especially in B2B tech. It’s raising the bar, closing the grey areas, and exposing gaps. But it’s also giving us tools to earn trust, prove value, and deliver real results.
It might feel like a reckoning, but it’s really a chance to get better and be better for the people we seek to serve.
The tools we need to succeed are already here.
This is our chance to level up, lead, and make marketing better.
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B2B tech has an ongoing problem. Too much is spent on performance marketing and not enough on brand building. This imbalance drives up customer acquisition costs and diminishes results. Brand marketing earns trust, builds mental availability, and drives long-term growth.
Even with years of data showing that short-term tactics like demand generation aren’t delivering, B2B tech companies keep doubling down on them. They chase leads instead of building brand reputation. And they still spend more on R&D than on marketing.
The latest Deloitte Fall 2024 CMO Survey Report shows the trend isn’t slowing. This year, companies increased short-term performance marketing budgets by another 10%. And since 2022, R&D budgets for B2B products jumped 34%, while B2C R&D budgets for products fell by 12%.
What’s troubling is how little is being invested in brand reputation—29% less in 2024. Rising customer acquisition costs, diminishing returns, and leaky funnels aren’t a formula for sustainable growth. The more money we pour in, the more pours out. And when we keep skipping the part that makes marketing stick—building a reputable brand—how do we expect to scale?
“If you simply move half your budget to good brand awareness building, you will make more revenue in total.”
Mats Georgson, Ph.D.
Seth Godin backs this up in Chapter 19 of This Is Marketing. Trust isn’t static. It’s earned at every opportunity. And building trust is more important than just getting clicks.
Dale W. Harrison breaks it down further in a recent LinkedIn post. Great marketing does two things:
A strong brand sticks. It earns trust over time. It makes buying simple. But too often, we chase instant results instead of committing to lasting growth.
This is why B2B tech needs brand marketing—to fix leaky funnels, earn trust, and drive sustainable growth
Chapter 19 in This Is Marketing is all about The Funnel. It’s important to understand that funnels are internal process tools. Customers never see themselves in a funnel. They come and go as they please at any stage, any time, and as often or as little as they choose.
Between the top and bottom of every sales funnel, most people leak out. As Seth Godin explains, it’s because trust changes as customers move through the funnel—trust isn’t static.
At the top, we’re creating attention. In the middle, we’re building credibility. But as buyers get closer to purchase, trust starts to erode. Maybe their needs don’t align. Maybe your brand isn’t the right fit. Or maybe life just gets in the way. It gets worse when saying yes feels more stressful than walking away—and that’s often the case.
So, what’s causing the leaks?
Fixing leaky funnels with B2B brand strategies starts with the right customers and making it easier for them to trust you.
To be effective, sales and marketing funnels need the support of B2B brand marketing for trust, ensuring customers feel confident in their decisions. Together brand marketing and performance marketing create better funnels, bringing in the right people and making it easy for them to take the next step.
Here’s how to fix yours:
We can’t fix our funnel by patching every hole. We build it intentionally, creating a system that attracts the best-fit customers, earns their trust, and removes the barriers to saying yes. And short-term performance marketing alone can’t do that. We also need a reputable brand that gets remembered.
A strong funnel relies on B2B brand marketing for trust, ensuring customers feel confident in their decisions
Not all marketing is worth the spend. To know if our efforts are paying off, we need to understand our customer’s lifetime value (LTV).
LTV tells us how much a customer is worth over time. Without it, we’re flying blind—spending money on ads and hoping it works out. That’s no way to grow.
Seth Godin offers a great example: Imagine spending $1,000 to run ads that reach 1 million people. Out of those, 20 people click ($1,000 / 20 = $50 CPC), and 2 people buy ($1,000 / 2 = $500 cost per sale). If those customers’ LTV is higher than $500, great—keep buying ads. If it’s less, stop and fix your funnel.
The math might seem simple, but:
LTV isn’t a one-and-done deal. It needs regular updates as your business grows. The customers you attract today might have a very different LTV as your business scales.
The latest Deloitte Fall 2024 CMO Survey Report validates the findings from a 2013 study, The Long and the Short of It by Les Binet and Peter Field. Most companies spend too much on short-term performance marketing and not enough on building their brand.
This imbalance has been growing for years. Customer acquisition costs keep rising, while the returns from performance ads shrink.
Mats Georgson, Ph.D. recently posted some excellent insight about this on LinkedIn, “Skipping brand marketing is like skipping the factory in manufacturing. Without a factory, you can’t produce the product.”
And without brand marketing, performance marketing eventually stops delivering.
Companies that balance both brand and performance marketing drive more sustainable growth. Brand marketing builds mental availability—ensuring your company comes to mind when buyers are ready to purchase. Performance marketing builds physical availability—making it easy for buyers to act on that awareness.
Overspending on performance ads is like harvesting demand without planting the seeds to create it. The solution? Shift more of your budget into long-term brand building. You’re not just investing in awareness—you’re building trust, recall, and future customers.
Investing in long-term growth through B2B brand reputation is essential for sustainable growth. Performance marketing might bring quick wins, but it can’t sustain your funnel without trust, recall, and reputation.
Think about it: What if Apple had only run “Think Different” for one quarter? Would Nike still be iconic if “Just Do It” lasted only six months? Would SAP be synonymous with business success if “The Best-Run Businesses Run SAP” wasn’t a decade-long commitment? Probably not.
These campaigns worked because they were consistent, long-running, and focused on building trust. The same principle applies to your business. Short-term ads might drive clicks, but brand marketing builds the foundation that makes people choose you when it matters.
The question isn’t whether you can afford to invest in brand marketing. The question is: how can you afford not to?
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Scaling a B2B tech brand takes time. It’s about building momentum, not quick wins. Always-on brand campaigns create lasting memories, making your brand easier to trust and harder to ignore when buyers are ready. Here’s how to create a brand that earns trust, reduces risk, and drives sustainable growth.
In B2B tech, a brand’s reputation depends on being remembered and trusted. A good product and clever ads might get some attention, but trust takes time and consistency.
Think of brand marketing as planting seeds. It takes months, sometimes years, to see the payoff. But when those seeds grow, the rewards are huge—as long as we don’t let the weeds like inconsistency or weak messaging take over.
A strong brand opens doors. It gets us noticed, helps win deals, and keeps customers coming back.
Remember IBM? People didn’t say, “No one ever got fired for choosing them” by accident. That reputation was earned, not bought.
A strong B2B tech brand builds recognition, trust, and credibility, making it the obvious choice when buyers are ready.
Many of us know how Apple reinvented itself in the late 1990s with “Think Different.” But SAP offers a more relevant B2B tech example.
In 2002, SAP launched “The Best-Run Businesses Run SAP.” Over the years, they evolved this message into “Run Better,” “Run Simple,” and “The Best Run.” This consistency reinforced their position as the go-to ERP solution.
SAP’s success was more than good marketing. They tied consistent brand marketing with performance marketing and product innovation (think Peter Drucker), creating trust with even the most risk-averse decision-makers. Buyers remembered their message, recognized their value, and believed in their credibility.
In B2B, buyers take months—or years—to decide. Often, they choose not to buy at all. A strong brand reduces risk, giving buyers the confidence to act before they even meet you.
Brand marketing gives your company the air cover it needs to build trust and drive long-term growth.
Dive deeper: SAP Advertising Evolution over 5 Decades , by Tom Pfister
Great brands stand for one thing and one thing only. In B2B tech, this is even more important because of the inherent complexity and lengthy buying cycles.
Buyers don’t want to decode a maze of product brands. If your company and products serve the same audience or share a common purpose, let one brand take center stage.
Take SAP. All their solutions tie back to the SAP brand. Their consistent use of brand identity, positioning, and messaging strengthened their reputation as a trusted ERP leader.
It wasn’t always this way. Before their 2002 campaign, SAP’s marketing was product-led. Hiring their first CMO, Marty Homlish, changed everything.
“One Voice, One Brand came only to fame after the year 2000 when SAP hired its first CMO Marty Homlish. It was the time when the press and analysts said that SAP missed the Internet, Marty came and changed everything. Marty gave SAP the ‘it’ look and generated billions of dollars in brand value over more than a decade.”
Tom Pfister, Amazing Experiences
Sticking to one brand also avoids “name-creep.” When product features start masquerading like separate brands, it confuses buyers, weakens trust and stretches marketing resources thin.
“If you’re Toyota, your product needs its own name. But if you’re a new B2B SaaS platform, resist the urge. You've probably heard the old chestnut that the moment you introduce a second name is the moment your marketing efficiency drops by a factor of two. I’d argue it’s more like five or ten, maybe 20.”
Andy Raskin, The Strategic Narrative
One brand, one message, makes it easy to buy.
Dive deeper: Stop naming stuff, by Andy Raskin
Brand and performance marketing are tied at the hip. Brand builds trust. Performance drives action. Together, they create a multiplier effect that’s tough to beat.
Performance marketing works best when our brand is strong. It’s like a movie release—buzz builds months ahead, so that when opening night comes, people are ready to buy tickets.
When people know and trust us, they’re more likely to engage. Without that trust, we’re stuck relying on cold outreach and expensive ads that can feel spammy and scammy.
“The most significant impact of prior brand marketing is to reduce the cost and increase the effectiveness of your short-term lead-gen performance marketing.”
Dale W. Harrison
Dale’s research shows how brand marketing creates pre-existing memories that boost performance campaigns:
It all comes down to recall. Buyers notice, trust, and select the brands they remember.
Dive deeper: Brand Marketing is what Makes Performance Marketing Function, by Dale W. Harrison
Dive deeper: Grab my B2B Brand Playbook Template. It’s free and ungated.
Building a scalable B2B tech brand takes commitment. Companies like IBM and GE have stood the test of time because of their brand equity. Strong brands build trust, reduce risk, and make every part of your business work better.
If you’re ready to scale, focus on being remembered and trusted. Always start with insight, stay consistent, and keep your best-fit customers at the center of your decisions. Play the long game, simplify where you can, and never stop creating momentum.
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