By Kim Leary
The short version
- Lead generation shows up in this month’s numbers. Brand building shows up in next year’s. So one looks like an investment and the other looks like a cost.
- By the time a buyer gets in touch, they’ve usually already picked a favourite.
- Stop building the brand and nothing breaks straight away. That’s what makes it easy to cut.
- Most of the objections you’ll hear sound sensible. They just aren’t true for B2B.
- Yes, and the UK evidence is worth having in your back pocket.
- A clear story, told consistently, where your buyers already are. And a business case that gets it signed off.
“Why would we spend money on something that isn’t bringing in business straight away?”
If you’ve been asked that, you’ll know how hard it is to answer in a sentence. The honest answer is that most of your future customers aren’t ready to buy yet. Brand building is how you make sure they think of you when they are.
Why the question keeps coming up
Lead generation shows up in this month’s numbers. Brand building shows up in next year’s. So one looks like an investment and the other looks like a cost.
Only about 5% of B2B buyers are in the market in any given quarter, according to Professor John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute. The rest aren’t ignoring you. They just don’t need you yet.
If every pound is aimed at the 5% ready to buy today, you’re competing with every rival for the smallest, most expensive audience there is. And you’re doing nothing to be remembered by the other 95%.
Why it matters more than it used to
By the time a buyer gets in touch, they’ve usually already picked a favourite.
6sense’s 2024 research found that 81% of B2B buyers already had a preferred supplier when they first made contact. The shortlist is decided long before anyone fills in a form, often with an AI tool’s help. The work that gets you on it is the work that doesn’t sell this month.
What it’s costing you
Stop building the brand and nothing breaks straight away. That’s what makes it easy to cut.
What doesn’t fix it
Most of the objections you’ll hear sound sensible. They just aren’t true for B2B.
“It’s not our first priority.” It rarely is, until the pipeline drops. By then you’re a year behind.
“Brand is for big consumer companies.” B2B buying is a group decision with real risk attached. People choose suppliers they’ve heard of. That’s brand.
“It’ll pick up.” Waiting for the market to come back while competitors stay visible just hands them the shortlist.
“Just post more.” Brand building without a clear story is noise. More of it doesn’t help if nobody can tell what you stand for.
Does it pay back?
Yes, and the UK evidence is worth having in your back pocket.
The Advertising Association’s Advertising Pays 2025 report found every £1 spent on advertising returned £4.11 in profit for medium and large businesses, counting effects over up to two years. For businesses turning over less than £10 million, it was £1.89.
Smaller firms still make a profit, just less of one. That’s an argument for spending well, not for stopping. We’ve looked at the evidence on cutting marketing in more detail.
What fixes it
A clear story, told consistently, where your buyers already are. And a business case that gets it signed off.
Brand building only works if you know what you’re building. If your team can’t agree what makes you different, that’s the first job, and our brand strategy workshop settles it in a day. From £2,800 + VAT.
From there, content and campaigns turns that story into content buyers find before they need you: articles that answer their real questions, campaigns that point the same way, and a plan that’s measured against a baseline you’ve already agreed.
And if the hard part is getting it past the board, start with our business case calculator. It works out what the work is worth and what waiting is costing you, in numbers your MD will recognise.
Sources: Ehrenberg-Bass 95-5 rule; 6sense 2024 Buyer Experience Report; Advertising Pays 2025.
Keep reading
- Thinking of cutting marketing this year? What the evidence says
- Measure campaigns, not channels
- Why your team can’t agree on what you do
Questions
Yes, if it’s consistent. Most of your future buyers aren’t looking yet. Brand building makes sure they think of you when they are, which makes every later lead cheaper to win.
Lead generation reaches people ready to buy now. Brand building reaches the much larger group who’ll be ready later. You need both, in a balance you’ve chosen on purpose.
Show what’s coming in now, what it costs to win a lead, and what happens to both if nobody new hears of you this year. Then agree how you’ll measure it before you start.
It’s Professor John Dawes’s finding, from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, that only about 5% of B2B buyers are in the market in any given quarter. The other 95% will buy later. Brand building is how you’re the name they remember when they do.
Longer than a quarter, which is why it’s so easy to cut. The Advertising Pays figures above count returns over up to two years. Agree a baseline before you start, such as branded search, AI visibility and enquiries that already know your name, so every review shows the trend instead of a debate.
Free resource
Build the business case. Work out what brand building is worth and what waiting is costing you, in numbers your MD will recognise.
The one thing to do next
Strategy workshop
Brand building only works if you know what you’re building. One day to agree what makes you different, from £2,800 + VAT.
