brand vs performance marketing

You know where your best clients come from, it’s usually a referral or a warm intro, someone who trusted you before they ever picked up the phone.

And yet most of your marketing money goes somewhere else: ads, lead forms and campaigns you can put a number against. Some months they work, but most months you’re spinning your wheels, chasing enquiries that were never going to be the right fit.

If that sounds familiar, there’s now Australian data that explains why.

Content Chemistry has just released the State of B2B Marketing ANZ 2026, a benchmark of senior B2B marketing leaders across Australia and New Zealand, surveyed between May and July 2026. The sample leans toward businesses turning over $1M to $20M, which means businesses a lot like yours. It’s the clearest picture I’ve seen of the brand vs performance marketing problem playing out in our own market.

Below I unpack what the report found, what brand and performance marketing each do, why I think the real issue is positioning and what to do about it if you’re the founder holding the budget.

Contents

What the State of B2B Marketing ANZ 2026 report found

The State of B2B Marketing ANZ 2026 found that Australian and New Zealand B2B marketers believe brand drives growth, but most still put more of their budget into short-term demand generation.

A few numbers stood out to me:

  • 48% name building pipeline as their number one priority for 2026, while only 19% name brand.
  • 42% spend more on demand than brand, while just 16% lean the other way.
  • Referrals are the single biggest primary lead source at 32%, roughly double paid Google Ads at 16%.
  • 90% use generative AI to create content, yet the biggest AI concern is content turning bland and generic (42%).
  • Only 29% can confidently prove marketing’s contribution to revenue to their board.
  • More than half run marketing with three people or fewer.

It’s a well-made report and worth reading in full. It’s also a curated first edition rather than a mass survey, so treat the numbers as a strong signal rather than gospel. I read it as a brand strategist rather than a marketer, so what jumped out wasn’t the AI numbers. It was the gap between what these people believe and where they put their money.

What’s the difference between brand and performance marketing?

Brand marketing builds memory and preference over time, so the right people think of you and trust you before they need you. Performance marketing captures demand that already exists, so people who are ready to buy right now take action.

Performance marketing is Google Ads, paid social lead forms and retargeting, stuff you can measure it this quarter. Brand is your positioning, your reputation, a consistent point of view and being known for one thing, it compounds slowly and resists a neat dashboard.

The research says you need both. Professor John Dawes at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute described what’s become known as the 95:5 rule in a 2021 paper for LinkedIn’s B2B Institute. At any given time, only around 5% of B2B buyers are in the market. The other 95% won’t buy for months or even years. Dawes himself says the figure isn’t meant to be a precise rule, more a way of thinking. Performance marketing talks to the 5%, while brand is how the 95% remember you when it’s their turn.

It happens to be one of my favourite pieces of marketing science, partly because it came out of Adelaide.

Les Binet and Peter Field’s 2019 B2B research for LinkedIn’s B2B Institute landed in a similar place. The strongest results came from a split of roughly 46% brand to 54% activation, which is close enough to half and half that the lesson is balance rather than picking a side.

Why ANZ marketers believe in brand but fund demand

ANZ marketers fund demand over brand because demand is easier to measure and defend in a budget meeting, not because they think it works better.

That’s the report’s conclusion and I agree with it. In the open comments, respondents kept saying the brands cutting through are the ones investing in story, creativity and human connection. They clearly know it, but the budget hasn’t followed.

For a founder, I’d add one more reason. Demand feels safe because a lead feels like progress, while brand feels like a leap of faith.

That’s especially true if you’ve been burned before. Maybe you paid for a rebrand, got a new logo and a PDF, then watched nothing change. That isn’t evidence brand doesn’t work. It’s evidence that what you bought wasn’t brand work at all: it was a surface fix.

It’s a positioning problem, not a budget problem

The brand vs performance marketing debate usually hides a deeper issue: the business hasn’t decided what it wants to be known for, or who it’s for.

Two voices in the report said this better than the data could. Caroline Herrick from Grappler argued that many problems B2B businesses try to solve with marketing “are actually positioning problems.” She’s clear she means strategic positioning, not just brand positioning, which is exactly the point. Matt Gudge from GRPL pointed out that in a market this small, where buyers all talk to each other, “positioning starts doing the selling before your funnel ever gets a look.”

Now look at the market’s biggest reported challenge, which is converting leads to pipeline at 45%.

My read is that when leads don’t convert, it’s often because the marketing is attracting the wrong people. The message doesn’t filter. It invites everyone, so everyone turns up. That’s where the familiar complaint about attracting the wrong clients comes from. It’s also the reason you’re forever justifying your rate.

Spend more on performance marketing with unclear positioning and you don’t fix that. You amplify it, paying more to reach more of the wrong people faster.

If your work is better than your competitors’ but you keep losing on price or polish, start with your brand strategy, not your ad budget.

Referrals are your best channel. Your brand is where they land

Referrals were the biggest primary lead source in the report at 32%, which makes your brand the thing that decides whether a referral turns into a client.

A referral gets you a look, but it doesn’t get you the job.

Think about what happens after the intro. They google you, check your LinkedIn and open your website. In a networked market, that’s the moment of truth.

If you hesitate before sending your own link, that hesitation is costing you. The referrer did their part and your brand fumbled the handover.

The report recommends making the relationship engine systematic by tracking which partners and intros convert. It’s good advice. I’d add one thing: make sure what a referral lands on matches the business they were promised. Clear brand messaging will do more for your referral conversion than another round of networking.

AI made content cheap. It made sameness cheaper

AI hasn’t made B2B content better. It’s made average content effortless, which makes a distinctive point of view more valuable.

In the report, 90% of respondents use AI to create content, yet 42% say their biggest fear is bland, generic output. Mass-producing the thing you’re most worried about is quite a trick.

I use AI too and I’m not about to pretend otherwise. But AI averages: it gives you the most likely sentence. Positioning is the opposite of the most likely sentence, because it’s a decision to stand somewhere specific.

The report’s own conclusion is that taste becomes the competitive advantage. I’d go further, because taste without positioning is just nicer-looking sameness. Decide what you stand for first, then let AI help with the volume. If you want to use it well, start with a better brief.

Brand vs performance marketing compared

Here’s how the two stack up side by side for a growing B2B business.

Brand marketing Performance marketing
What it does Builds memory, trust and preference Captures existing demand
Who it reaches The roughly 95% not buying yet The roughly 5% ready to buy now
Timeframe Months to years, compounds over time Days to weeks, stops when spend stops
How you measure it Branded search, referral quality, enquiries that name you, share of search Clicks, leads, cost per lead, conversions
Risk if overused Hard to prove in the short term Rising costs, wrong-fit leads, price competition
In a $1M to $20M business Clear positioning, consistent founder-led content, a website you’re proud to send Google Ads for high-intent searches, retargeting, lead forms

Signs you’re leaning too hard on performance marketing

Run your business against this list.

  • You get leads, but rarely the right ones.
  • Your cost per lead keeps creeping up.
  • When you pause ads, enquiries stop almost overnight.
  • Prospects compare you on price before anything else.
  • Your best clients still come from referrals and you can’t explain why.
  • You lose tenders to competitors who just looked more professional.
  • You hesitate before sending someone your website.

If three or more of those sound like your business, more spend won’t fix it because the foundation needs work first.

What to do about it if you’re the founder

Fix positioning before you fix the split. Decide who you’re for, what you’re known for and why you’re different. Everything else gets cheaper once that’s clear.

Check what a referral sees. Open your website and LinkedIn as a stranger who’s just been told you’re the best in the business. Does it back that up? If not, it might be time for a rebrand that goes deeper than the logo.

Measure brand with proxies. The report suggests share of search, branded search volume, inbound referral quality and how often AI tools cite you. For a smaller business, start simple by tracking how many enquiries name you, or name the person who referred them.

Give brand a protected slice of budget and time. Binet and Field found brand effects take at least six months to show, so don’t judge it on a quarter.

Use AI for volume, not voice. Your point of view is the one thing a competitor can’t generate.

FAQs

What is the difference between brand and performance marketing?

Brand marketing builds long-term memory and preference so buyers choose you when they’re ready, while performance marketing captures people who are ready to buy now. Brand works on the large group not yet in the market. Performance works on the small group searching today. Most businesses need both.

Should a small B2B business spend more on brand or performance marketing?

Most small B2B businesses should spend closer to an even split than they currently do, because Binet and Field’s research for LinkedIn’s B2B Institute found the strongest results came from roughly 46% brand to 54% activation. If your positioning is unclear, fix that before changing the split. Otherwise you’re paying to amplify a vague message.

What is the 95:5 rule in B2B marketing?

The 95:5 rule, described by Professor John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, says only around 5% of B2B buyers are in the market at any given time. The other 95% will buy later. Dawes presents it as a way of thinking, not a precise figure.

What did the State of B2B Marketing ANZ 2026 report find?

The State of B2B Marketing ANZ 2026, by Content Chemistry, found ANZ B2B marketers believe in brand but fund demand. Referrals are their biggest lead source and AI adoption has outpaced their confidence in using it. Only 29% can confidently prove marketing’s revenue contribution to their board.

How do you measure brand marketing in a small business?

You measure brand in a small business through proxies like branded search volume, the quality of referred leads and how many enquiries mention you by name. Larger teams add share of search and AI citation tracking. Measure over six to twelve months, not weeks.

How do I know if I have a marketing problem or a positioning problem?

You likely have a positioning problem if you get leads but not the right ones, compete mostly on price or lose work to competitors who look more polished. Marketing problems are about reach. Positioning problems are about who you attract and how you’re perceived once they arrive.

My takeaways

The report gives ANZ B2B something it’s been short on: a benchmark built for our market, not borrowed from overseas. And the data says what I’ve seen in founders’ businesses over more than 24 years.

You already know brand matters, your own best clients prove it every time a referral turns into a long-term relationship.

The question was never brand or performance, it’s whether your business is clear enough that either one works.

Get clear on what you stand for and the budget conversation gets a lot easier after that.

For more on building a brand that does the selling for you, explore the insights hub.