Why Brand Will Outrank Performance in 2025 (And What to Do About It)

For the past decade, performance marketing has ruled B2B. 

Clicks, conversions, CPL, and ROAS took the spotlight. Brand was something you worried about later after the funnel was filled, after the numbers were hit, after the board stopped breathing down your neck.

But that era is fading fast.

In 2025, growing brands won’t be the ones with the best retargeting ads or highest form-fill conversion rates. They’ll be the ones buyers already trust before the ad, before the form, before the demo.

You could call it ‘the brand-first B2B revival’…

Why the Shift Is Happening

1. Performance Marketing is Getting More Expensive and Less Effective

LinkedIn CPMs have doubled in many verticals.
Google Ads are oversaturated.
Paid channels are now table stakes, not differentiators.
Worse, they’re often optimizing for short-term clicks, not long-term conversions.

2. Attribution is Broken

Your analytics dashboard might say that ad or landing page drove the lead. But the real buyer journey? It started in a Slack group. Or a podcast. Or a peer’s LinkedIn comment 3 months ago.

Buyers are influenced long before they’re trackable and brand is what creates that influence.

3. B2B Buyers Are Done Being Sold To

The modern buyer is skeptical, independent, and allergic to salesy content. If they don’t trust your brand, no amount of A/B-tested CTAs will save you.

They want:

• Proof, not promises.
• Clarity, not complexity.
• Familiarity, not friction.

Brand Marketing Isn’t Just Picking Fonts and Values Statements. A brand isn’t your logo, your color palette, or a set of core values buried in some footer link.

Your brand is the gut feeling buyers have when they hear your name.

It’s the story they tell when your company comes up in a meeting, the experience they’ve had with your team, your product, or your content, it’s the reputation that precedes your outbound email.

When done right, brand marketing builds trust at scale. It turns cold leads warm before you ever reach out.

Tips for 2025:

1. Own a Bold, Memorable Narrative

Stop saying the same thing as your competitors. Take a stand. Be specific. Be a little dangerous.

Ask:

• What’s our unique view of the future?
• What problem are we solving differently than anyone else?
• Why should our ICP care right now?

Your narrative should punch above your product.

2. Create Content That People Actually Want to Consume

Replace static whitepapers and gated PDFs with:

• Short-form videos and explainers
• Unfiltered customer stories and behind-the-scenes posts
• Podcast-style thought leadership from your internal experts

Think distribution-first, value-first, audience-first. Not lead form first.

3. Measure Brand with the Right Proxies

You won’t get perfect attribution. That’s fine. Instead, track:

• Share of search for your brand terms
• Branded keyword traffic
• Direct traffic trends
• Podcast downloads, content shares, and community mentions

If people are talking about you, your brand is working even if your CRM doesn’t give it credit.

4. Train Your Entire Org to Be Brand Ambassadors

It’s not just marketing’s job. Everyone from sales, to CS, the founders, even product managers can amplify the brand message.

Make it easy by giving teams:

• Sharable stories and snippets
• Clear talking points
• Strong social and event presence

When your whole org is aligned around the same narrative, you create gravity that ads can’t replicate.

5. Think Long-Term (Even if the Quarter Is Screaming)

In 2025, the most sustainable growth will come from being the brand people think of first, not the one they found in a sidebar ad.

Buyers are craving trust and authenticity. Channels are crowded. Attribution is foggy.

And the most underrated growth lever in B2B right now? Brand.

Build it. Invest in it. Defend it.

Because if people don’t believe in your brand your performance ads are just noise.

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