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Playbook · 04 Measure

Data before opinion: measuring brand in a performance-led business

Brand is often treated as unmeasurable and performance as the only thing that counts. Both views cost money. A practical framework for measuring brand as a growth engine.

Bjorn Laku2 min read · Notes on brand and growth

Two opinions dominate most marketing meetings. One says brand cannot be measured, so it must be taken on faith. The other says only performance marketing can be measured, so it is the only thing worth funding. Both opinions are expensive. The first lets weak work survive; the second starves the very thing that makes performance marketing efficient over time.

The fourth stage of my playbook - Measure - exists to replace both opinions with evidence.

Measure what matters, not what is easy

The easiest numbers to report are activity numbers: posts published, impressions served, emails sent. They are useful for managing a team, but they say nothing about commercial progress. I prefer a short list of measures that connect brand to revenue:

  • Brand search. Are more people looking for you by name? It is one of the clearest signals that awareness is turning into intent.
  • Qualified enquiries. Not all leads - the ones that fit your target customer and objective.
  • Conversion through the funnel. From visit to enquiry, enquiry to proposal, proposal to customer.
  • Cost per qualified enquiry. Over time, a stronger brand should make each one cheaper to win.
  • Share of new business by source. Search, partners, referrals, direct. It shows which relationships the brand is actually strengthening.

Five or six measures, reviewed together, tell a more honest story than fifty reviewed separately.

Connect the journey

Most businesses can see the top of the funnel and the bottom, but not the path between. The single most valuable measurement project is usually the least glamorous: connecting analytics to the CRM so that every enquiry carries its source, and every source can be followed through to revenue. It does not need to be perfect on day one. Rough attribution that the whole team trusts beats a sophisticated model nobody understands.

Let data make decisions

Measurement only pays for itself when it changes what you do. A simple rhythm works well: once a month, look at the measures and agree on three actions.

  1. One thing to stop - the activity with the weakest link to the objective.
  2. One thing to start - the opportunity the data suggests is underused.
  3. One thing to test - a question you cannot yet answer, framed so the next month's data can answer it.

Over a year, that is thirty-six evidence-based decisions. Compounded, they matter far more than any single campaign.

Brand and performance are one system

The best results come when brand and performance are treated as one engine. Brand builds the recognition and trust that make people click, enquire and convert. Performance channels capture that demand efficiently and show where it comes from. Measure them together and the argument between them disappears - you can see how each strengthens the other.

That is what I mean by brand as a growth engine. Not a logo or a campaign, but a system that compounds - and data is how you know it is working.

If you want a quick view of where your own brand stands across all four stages of the playbook, the 60-second brand check is a good place to start.

Bjorn Laku is Director & CMO of Cashbook Finance in London, building brands as growth engines. Full profile · LinkedIn

Next note · DiagnoseClarity before activityMost brand work starts with a channel or a campaign. It should start with one sentence about the commercial objective - here is how to write it, and why it changes everything that follows.60-second brand checkScore your brand on all four stages.