A provocation for marketing leaders who believe their brand carries every deal. The data — and the buyers — disagree. Here's how to reset.
Every brand workshop we've run in the last 12 months opens with the same belief: 'our brand is our biggest asset'. Sometimes it's true. Mostly, it's a story marketing tells itself because brand is the bit marketing actually controls.
What buyers actually remember
When we interview 200+ buyers a year across SaaS, manufacturing and financial services, the unprompted recall of vendor brand rarely cracks 12%. What does crack 60%? A salesperson who said something useful. A piece of content that made them look smart in a meeting. A reference call that wasn't a sales pitch.
- →Brand is a multiplier, not the engine. If the product, the people and the proof aren't there, brand can't carry the deal.
- →Distinctive assets matter more than logos. A point of view, a recurring format, a signature event — those compound.
- →Stop measuring brand only with aided awareness. Measure it with reply rates, inbound velocity and price elasticity.
"Strong brands don't shout louder. They make their buyers feel smarter for choosing them."
If that hurts to read, good. It means there's room to do better work — and to spend less arguing about colour palettes.
