Proving the Commercial Impact of Brand Building in B2B Marketing

In the complex and competitive landscape of B2B industries, the role of brand preference in driving business success shouldn’t be underestimated. CEOs must recognise that your brand is your business. It’s not fluffy or airy fairy. Rather, it's a tangible force that influences buyer behaviour and, consequently, impacts your bottom line. However, when it comes to proving the commercial impact of brand building, it can feel a bit like crystal ball gazing. It shouldn't. Brand marketing can be tracked and measured, it just takes a little more time and effort to gather the data and insights needed.

This blog delves into the importance of measuring and understanding brand preference, and the methods and metrics that demonstrate its effectiveness and impact on your business.

Measuring the impact of brand 

When it comes to gauging brand preference and its drivers we need to quantify the changes in customer behavior that result from an affinity with our brand. Research by the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) shows a correlation between brand preference and market share across 120 brands spanning 12 categories.

Despite growing evidence that brand affinity is a driver of market share, skepticism persists among Execs when it comes to investing in brand building. The root of the problem lies in the inability of most businesses to accurately measure the impact of brand on their financial performance, in financial terms.

A strategic approach to measuring impact

Thanks to all of our marketing tech, marketing teams are awash with quantitative data. While this is great at giving us the ‘what’ (and sometimes the 'who'), it lacks the ‘why’ that qualitative data provides.

We need both qualitative and quantitative data to help us understand the relationship between brand preference and business outcomes.

Here are some of ways to gather the data that we need:

1. Customer surveys and feedback
   Customer satisfaction surveys are foundational for assessing and benchmarking brand preference, as well as other key insights
   Competitor comparison surveys can uncover reasons behind brand selection and the key drivers behind preference for your brand (or not)

2. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
   Whilst not super useful in providing actionable insights, elevated NPS scores typically correlate with heightened brand preference

3. Customer retention and churn rates
   The correlation is often clear but make sure you understand and scrutinise the difference between brand preference and retention, and turn this understanding into action

4. Conversion rates
   Monitoring conversion rates throughout the sales cycle helps to uncover whether prospects with stronger brand preference are more likely to evolve into loyal customers, and at what level of preference do prospects typically convert into customers

5. Deal size and lifetime value
   Explore the impact preference for your brand has on deal size and customer lifetime value

6. Win rates
   By comparing sales success and brand preference you can demonstrate to the business the influence that brand perception has on sales and revenue

7. Market share analysis
   Shifts in market share often mirror fluctuations in brand preference

8. Brand perception studies
   These studies Involve identifying the attributes e.g. reliability, innovation, or customer service that underpin preference for your brand and play an important role in influencing changes in behaviour - i.e. purchasing your product/service or switching from a competitor

9. Inside intel
   Harness the insights from your frontline – sales, customer success, support

By combining the methods above and analysing the data collected, we begin to get an understanding of how brand preference impacts commercial business outcomes, and why investing in brand marketing is critical to future business success. It can be challenging to establish direct causality immediately but overtime the relationship between brand preference and business success will become clear.

At SwayTech we work with CEOs, Founders and marketing leaders of Kiwi tech companies to help them to unlock the power of brand building to support business growth.
If you need help, or just have questions, then please get in touch👇.