Over ten years of working with PE-backed companies, and still nobody has ever asked me: “How is the brand building going?”
Pipeline. MQLs. Inbound-generated ARR. Always on the agenda.
Brand equity? Crickets.
There’s a gap between investor expectations and the day-to-day reality of running a GTM function, and nowhere is that gap larger than when it comes to brand. You can close it by treating brand like any other investment: baseline it, track it, and review it against what you agreed.
What is brand equity?
Brand equity is the commercial value of being known, trusted and chosen.
The word “commercial” matters. Brand gets called fluffy because it hasn’t always been tied to commercial value. Today it can be. Known shows up in branded search and AI mentions. Trusted shows up when buyers come to you on their own. Chosen shows up in your win rate and your CAC.
Why does brand equity matter more now?
Because the alternative keeps getting worse. Paid costs more every year, 68% of Google searches end with no click, and AI answers the question before buyers reach you.
Meanwhile, only about 5% of B2B buyers are in market at any given time. Paid captures that 5%. Brand decides whether you’re on the shortlist when the other 95% are ready.
It also shows up in valuation. Brand Finance found that stronger B2B brands get about a 45% higher valuation than weaker brands with the same profit.
AND YET only 24% of marketers say they’re very aligned with finance on how to evaluate brand ROI, and 45% have shifted budget from brand into paid, largely because paid is easier to measure. In every role I’ve had, I’ve been asked to do exactly that, especially at the end of a quarter.
Which metrics should you use to baseline brand equity?
Start with a dated snapshot of where you stand. I use six metrics, two for each word.
Known: do buyers know your name?
- Branded vs non-branded search
- AI visibility and mentions
Trusted: do buyers come to you on their own?
- Organic and direct traffic
- Brand-sourced share of pipeline
Chosen: do buyers pick you faster, for less?
- Win rate, from lead to closed-won
- CAC by channel
What should you expect, and when?
First, keep your lead generation running. Nobody lives in a world where you can say, “Sorry, sales, no leads this month, we’re building the brand.” Brand runs in parallel.
If the brand money comes out of paid, agree up front that inbound will dip, by how much, and when it will recover. Investors are a lot more patient when they know what to expect. It’s the surprises they don’t like.
Check your early signals weekly, but report them monthly. That means branded search, organic and direct traffic, and AI mentions. Report the business proof quarterly, because it lags: brand-sourced pipeline, win rate and CAC by channel.
Then set two gates, so nobody panics at month 2:
- Month 3: are the early signals moving against the baseline? Adjust tactics if needed.
- Month 6: is brand-sourced pipeline up and paid share down? Decide what to keep, adjust or cut.
How do you protect the brand budget?
Cut brand because it “isn’t working”, and it never will. Brand compounds, and every raid resets the clock. Three rules help:
- Ring-fence the budget. Agree a fixed budget for a fixed period, and don’t raid it because pipeline looks thin at quarter end.
- Measure brand against its own baseline. Measure it against paid and brand will lose, because you’re comparing apples with oranges.
- Change things only at the gates. Between gates, the budget and the initiatives stay put.
Why does brand equity matter at exit?
A buyer’s diligence team will want to know if growth is getting more efficient, how much pipeline depends on paid, whether demand is owned or bought, and whether buyers will find you as search moves to AI. Your six metrics answer all four.
You can’t build that evidence in the six months before a sale. Start now, and start by asking one question at your next meeting: how is the brand building going?
Sources: Brand Finance, ANA and IAA, World’s Most Valuable B2B Brands 2026. MMA Global and Wpromote, State of Brand Marketing Accountability (March 2026). LinkedIn B2B Institute, 95:5 Rule. SparkToro (2026).