“The new B2B go-to-market playbook is an increased investment in brand” - Jon Miller, Cofounder at Marketo and Engagio

In today's B2B marketing landscape, rethinking brand building has never been more critical. Jon Miller, a respected thought leader in the industry, recently shared some valuable insights on the importance of brand investment and the key components of building a strong brand. In this blog post, we'll explore his ideas and discuss how generative AI can complement and enhance each aspect of brand building.

The Data: Brand Investment vs. Demand Generation

According to a study by Benchmarker, which analyzed the marketing strategies of over 200 B2B SaaS companies, high performers invested more in brand awareness (29%) compared to demand generation (23%). In contrast, low performers who fell short of their goals spent more on demand generation (31%) and less on brand (25%). This data suggests that a greater focus on demand generation alone does not guarantee better outcomes, and that investing in brand can make demand generation efforts more effective.

The Five Tasks of Building a Brand

Jon Miller breaks down building a brand into five essential tasks, emphasizing that the most important ones don't necessarily require a significant financial investment.

1. Emotion: Define the 1 to 5 words you want people to feel when they think of your brand.
2. Galvanizing Story: Create a compelling narrative that explains the "why" for your product and its impact.
3. Copy and Tone: Establish how you talk about yourself, including taglines, boilerplates, and a style guide.
4. Activations: Develop memorable ways to share your brand's emotion and story through advertising, content, experiences, events, and community.
5. Visual Identity: Create a unique look for your brand to convey your emotion and story, including logo, colors, typography, and visual language.

Generative AI's Role in Brand Building

Generative AI can play a significant role in supporting and enhancing each of these brand-building tasks:

1. Emotion: AI-powered sentiment analysis tools can help marketers gauge the emotional response to their brand across various channels, allowing them to refine their messaging and ensure it aligns with the desired emotion.
   
2. Galvanizing Story: AI-assisted content creation tools can help marketers craft compelling narratives by generating ideas, suggesting story structures, and providing data-driven insights to support the story's key points.
   
3. Copy and Tone: AI-powered writing tools can assist in maintaining a consistent brand voice and tone across all marketing materials by suggesting appropriate language and phrasing based on the brand's style guide.
   
4. Activations: Generative AI can help create personalized content, ads, and experiences at scale, allowing marketers to reach their target audience more effectively and efficiently.
   
5. Visual Identity: AI-powered design tools can generate visual assets that align with the brand's established look and feel, ensuring consistency across all touchpoints.

As B2B marketers navigate the challenges of driving growth in an increasingly competitive landscape, finding the right balance between brand investment and demand generation is crucial. By allocating resources strategically and leveraging the power of generative AI to support brand-building efforts, B2B marketers can create a strong, emotionally resonant brand that drives long-term success.

Credit: The ideas and insights in this blog post are based on Jon Miller's LinkedIn posts on brand investment and the key components of building a brand.