More than half of B2B businesses have increased their focus on brand building over the past 12 months, but long-term strategies remain the priority for fewer than one in ten firms, according to Marketing Week's State of Brand in B2B survey.

The survey of 300 B2B marketers found 58.4% of respondents say their business has dialled up brand building activities over the past year. Only 9.4% report brand marketing has been deprioritised in their company during the same period.

Smaller firms are leading the charge. Some 61.5% of companies with 250 employees or fewer have increased their focus on brand over the past year, compared with 54.9% of large businesses.

CMOs believe in brand, but seniority shapes the view

Confidence in brand's value varies sharply by seniority. Nearly three-quarters (71.2%) of B2B CMOs believe their business sees the value in brand marketing, versus 27.1% who say otherwise. Confidence drops further down the hierarchy: just 54.5% of marketing directors and vice-presidents claim their firm values brand, while 42.9% of B2B marketing directors believe their business places no value on it at all.

Across the total sample, 59% of respondents say their business understands the value of brand building. More than a third (35%) claim their company does not value brand, and 6% don't know their firm's position.

In smaller organisations, 65.1% of marketers believe the business understands brand's value, against 28.8% who disagree. Within large businesses, 52.6% say brand building is valued, while 41.6% disagree.

Brand vies with lead generation and performance

The proportion of B2B businesses focusing on brand roughly matches those doubling down on lead generation (59.7%). Just under half have also ramped up interest in customer experience and relationships (49.7%) and performance marketing (48%).

Some 11.4% of respondents report a decrease in focus on performance marketing, compared with 6% for customer experience and 5.4% for lead generation.

However, some of brand's growth may come from a low base, given persistent short-term pressures. Over a third of respondents (36%) look to balance short-term goals, intended to pay back within six months, with longer-term objectives. Meeting short-term targets is the primary focus for 29.7% of the sample, and 14.1% report a slight bias towards short-term tactics.

Long-term strategies are the main focus for just 8.5% of B2B brands. A further 9.5% report a slight focus on longer-term horizons. More than a third of large B2B businesses (34.3%) and a quarter of SMEs (25.3%) say their firm focuses on strategies designed to deliver results within six months. Less than a tenth of smaller companies (8.2%) and big businesses (8.8%) dedicate their energies first and foremost to longer-term strategies.

Why marketers back the long term

Among the long-term cohort, over half (53.6%) say leadership understands the value of brand building and supports longer-term objectives. For 51.8%, brand marketing feeds a long buying cycle, while 46.4% see it as a route to sustainable growth and 42.9% use it to maintain mental availability. Fewer can demonstrate the contribution of long-term strategies to sales and profit (25%) or show brand's support for short-term sales (21.4%).

Leadership belief is the trigger for both size groups. Over half of SME marketers (55.2%) and those within large firms (51.9%) cite belief among leadership in the value of long-term brand building.

More than half of marketers in small firms focus on longer-term strategies to maintain mental availability (51.7%) or due to a lengthy buying cycle (51.7%), while 48.3% see brand building as a route to sustainable growth. Some 27.6% of SME marketers believe a long-term view supports short-term sales, and 24.1% can demonstrate a contribution to sales and profit.

Within big B2B organisations, 51.9% point to the length of their buying cycle, 44.4% to sustainable growth, 33.3% to maintaining mental availability, 25.9% say they can demonstrate a contribution to sales and profit, and 14.8% claim long-term strategies benefit short-term sales.

Brand tops the remit rankings

When asked about the most important role of marketing, brand sits high on the list. Growing sales revenue leads at 54%, followed closely by communicating a consistent and desirable brand image (48.7%) and sustaining and increasing brand awareness (47.3%). Generating leads ranks at 43%, growing market share at 31.2%, ensuring mental and physical availability at 19.5% and protecting or growing profit margins at 19.1%. Portfolio alignment (14.8%) and category growth (12.1%) trail behind.

In large firms, sustaining and increasing brand awareness ties with growing sales revenue as the top priority (50.7% and 50% respectively), followed by communicating a consistent brand image (48.6%). In SMEs, growing sales leads at 57.7% and generating leads at 49.4%, but communicating a consistent brand image (48.7%) and increasing brand awareness (44.2%) follow closely behind.

Marketing Week will continue reporting from the State of Brand in B2B research in the coming weeks.