Accept that last touch attribution will always credit the search ad and never the reason someone searched, and then measure the leading indicators instead. Track branded search volume, direct traffic, share of voice in your category, win rate against the incumbent, sales cycle length and the percentage of closed won deals where the buyer knew you before the first call. Add one qualitative instrument that actually works: a self reported How did you hear about us field, read as a trend rather than as truth. Report these on a quarterly rhythm, because judging brand monthly guarantees you kill it before it compounds.
4 hand-picked resources, 1 India-specific, 4 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.
Why we picked it Laja built a business on testing B2B messaging with real buyers, and here he explains how he balances the what and the why in a single line. Useful before you commit a category name to the homepage.
On Grow & Tell by Alex Kracov with Peep Laja 55 min
Open dock.us →Why we picked it The source of the 95-5 rule: at any moment only about 5 percent of your buyers are in market, so most brand spend is aimed at future demand. It is the evidence base for arguing brand budget with a CFO.
From LinkedIn B2B Institute by LinkedIn B2B Institute with the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute Report hub
Open business.linkedin.com →Why we picked it Median marketing spend around 8 percent of ARR and sales around 15 percent, split by funded versus bootstrapped, from a survey of over 1,000 private B2B SaaS companies. Numbers to anchor a brand versus demand budget argument.
From SaaS Capital by Nick Perry 15 min read
Open saas-capital.com →Why we picked it Carries the stat that matters for brand budget arguments: 92 percent of B2B buyers pick a vendor from the list they had on day one. Uses Indian companies (JustCall, Uniqode) rather than the usual US case studies.
From Think with Google by Think with Google APAC 8 min read
Open business.google.com →How brand and narrative reads from a different seat.
The same ground, over in Brand, web & content, our Starting Up track.
The same ground, over in Find your idea & build the brand, our D2C track.
