Performance marketing is often judged by how many leads it generates and how much each lead costs. But are we missing an important part of the picture by focusing too heavily on immediate results?

That was one of the key questions explored in a recent Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) member-exclusive webinar, Performance Marketing on LinkedIn – Balancing Brand, Demand and Revenue, presented by Sarah Kerrigan, digital marketing strategist, trainer and CIM paid social training course director.

The session challenged marketers to look beyond lead generation and consider how brand building, demand generation and revenue measurement work together to support sustainable business growth.

Here are some of my key takeaways.

Not everyone is ready to buy today

One of the most thought-provoking points from the webinar was the widely discussed 95:5 principle from the B2B Institute; at any given time, only around 5% of potential buyers are actively in the market for a product or service.

That means the majority of your potential audience isn't ready to buy right now.

If all your marketing focuses on generating immediate enquiries, you risk overlooking the people who may become customers in the future. They might not need your services today, but that doesn't mean they won't need them in six months or a year's time.

This is where brand building comes in. Consistent, memorable marketing helps your business stay familiar to potential customers, so when they are ready to buy, you're more likely to be one of the businesses they consider.

As Sarah explained, people often rely on familiarity when making decisions. Being remembered at the right moment can make a real difference.

Balance short-term results with long-term growth

It's easy to see why lead generation gets so much attention. You launch a campaign, generate enquiries and can measure the results almost immediately.

Brand building works differently. Its impact can take longer to become apparent, but the benefits can last well beyond the end of an individual campaign.

Sarah used the analogy of farming: brand building is planting the seeds, while demand generation is harvesting the crop. If you're constantly harvesting without planting anything for the future, eventually there will be nothing left to harvest.

The webinar highlighted research suggesting that, for an average B2B business, an indicative budget split could be around 46% for brand building and 54% for demand generation and sales activation.

This isn't a fixed formula that every business should follow. Your sector, growth objectives, brand awareness and sales cycle will all influence the right balance. However, it's a useful starting point when reviewing where your marketing investment is going.

The important thing is to avoid putting all your resources into activity designed to generate an immediate response at the expense of building future demand.

Match your content to your objective

Not every marketing message should ask the audience to do something.

If you're building brand awareness, the aim is to create a memorable impression. If you're generating demand, the aim is to encourage action from people who are ready to take the next step.

Sarah highlighted several approaches for LinkedIn advertising:

• Brand awareness - Use memorable storytelling, emotional content and video to help people connect with your business.
• Thought leadership - Put the expertise and personalities within your organisation front and centre. LinkedIn's thought leader ads allow businesses to sponsor eligible posts from individual profiles.
• Consideration - Share useful insights, educational content, guides and case studies that help potential customers understand their options.
• Demand generation - Use relevant offers, product benefits, customer evidence and clear calls to action to encourage enquiries and conversions.

One point that particularly stood out was the importance of understanding your customers' challenges. Effective brand content isn't simply about talking about how good your business is; it's about showing that you understand the problems your audience faces.

In the Q&A, Sarah also recommended authentic video featuring real people in real settings. Behind-the-scenes content, expert insights and customer-focused stories can all help build familiarity and trust.

Don't judge a campaign by cost per lead alone

This was another important reminder for anyone responsible for marketing budgets.

Sarah shared an example comparing two LinkedIn advertising campaigns. Campaign A generated 100 leads at £40 each, while Campaign B generated 40 leads at £80 each.

At first glance, Campaign A looks like the clear winner.

However, when the results were examined further, Campaign B generated 12 qualified opportunities compared with five for Campaign A. It also delivered £96,000 in pipeline and £30,000 in revenue, compared with £20,000 in pipeline and £5,000 in revenue from Campaign A.

Suddenly, the campaign with the higher cost per lead looks much more valuable.

The lesson is simple; the cheapest lead isn't necessarily the best lead, and the most leads don't necessarily deliver the best commercial results.

Where possible, marketers should look beyond clicks, downloads and lead volumes to understand which activity is contributing to qualified opportunities, sales pipeline and revenue.

LinkedIn's Revenue Attribution Report can help businesses connect advertising activity with CRM data and assess its influence on pipeline and closed deals. Sarah explained that the report is available through LinkedIn Business Manager and integrates with Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics and HubSpot.

This provides a more complete picture of performance and can help inform future budget decisions.

Bring it all together with a plan

The webinar finished with a practical framework for making better decisions about LinkedIn performance marketing.

The process starts with understanding your business priorities. What are you trying to achieve? Where are the gaps in your sales pipeline? What level of brand awareness do you have, and how long does your sales cycle typically take?

From there, you can decide how to balance brand building and demand generation, choose the right campaign mix, define meaningful measures of success and use the available data to guide future investment.

This is where planning matters. LinkedIn advertising shouldn't sit in isolation or be judged on a handful of campaign metrics. It needs to support the wider marketing strategy and the commercial objectives of the business.

My key takeaway

For me, the biggest lesson was the importance of looking beyond immediate results.

Generating leads is important, but so is building a brand that potential customers recognise, remember and trust. The two should work together rather than compete for attention.

It's also a reminder that measurement needs to go beyond what's easiest to count. A campaign that generates fewer leads may deliver far greater value if those leads are more likely to become profitable customers.

Before investing more in LinkedIn advertising, take a step back and ask three questions:

• Are we investing enough in making our business memorable to future buyers?
• Does our content reflect where our audience is in their buying journey?
• Are we measuring the commercial value of our marketing, rather than just the activity?

Getting those foundations right is far more useful than simply chasing a lower cost per lead.

As with any marketing activity, start with the strategy, be clear about what you're trying to achieve and make sure your measures of success reflect the results that matter to your business.