It’s not brand vs. demand. It’s trust.

Welcome to Evidently—the bi-weekly newsletter where I share my biggest hits (and get honest about my misses) as a first-time VP of Marketing. If this was forwarded to you and you like what you saw, you can subscribe here.

Everyone in B2B loves to argue about “brand vs. demand.”

It’s a dumb fight. The two aren’t in conflict—they’re co-dependent.

But here’s the real tension: we’re marketing in a moment when trust is at an all-time low.

Buyers are skeptical. Burned. Tired of software that overpromises and under-delivers. Terrified of picking the wrong tool and ending up with a target on their backs.

So yeah, brand matters. But so does demand.

And the smarter conversation is how we balance the two when pressure is high, patience is low, and everyone wants results yesterday.

Here’s how we’ve approached it at UserEvidence.

Earn trust first, then create demand

Let’s get clear on the difference:

• Trust = being known, remembered, and believed. It’s what gets you in the conversation in the first place.

• Demand = turning that belief into action—meetings, pipeline, bookings.

When I joined UserEvidence, one of the first questions I asked the founders was:

Are we actually trying to create a new category?

I’d done it before. It’s a huge time suck of time and budget. Feels like throwing money into the void and hoping a Gartner wave magically appears.

Instead of category creation, we focused on owning a problem: the Evidence Gap in software buying.

But we still had a visibility problem. Outside of customer marketing circles, no one knew we existed. So we made a call:

Overspend on brand.

No dabbling. No dipping toes. We went all-in, even while knowing the ROI wouldn’t show up in HubSpot the next day.

_{Can’t share the $$ numbers but spending that much on brand was intentional last year.}

We invested in things like:

• The Proof Point podcast

• Shooting video content at events like Spryng, Drive, and CyberMarketingCon

• The Long Game video series

• Original research

That last one became the bridge between brand and demand.

The Evidence Gap Report didn’t just get attention. It built trust.

It tapped into what buyers were actually feeling—and the results followed. More than 1,000 downloads. Real pipeline. A big step forward in credibility.

_{First time in my B2B marketing career hitting the 1k content download mark. Going on my fridge.}

Launching our first original research report didn’t just feel good. It worked.

Recalibrating our FY2026 targets

This year, the pressure’s up: bigger goals, higher expectations, tighter timelines.

So we’re shifting more spend toward demand. Not because brand doesn’t work—because we need to be more precise about when and where it does.

We’re not playing by arbitrary 60/40 “brand vs. demand” rules. We’re doubling down on what actually moves the needle.

Because here’s what doesn’t work: trying to drive demand when no one knows (or trusts) you. Without trust, you’re just burning budget and hoping to hit your numbers.

That’s why we’re embedding proof—customer evidence, original research, real outcomes—into everything we do: Content. LinkedIn. Webinars. Ads.

It’s not “Here’s what we do.” It’s “Here’s what our customers achieved.”

And in a skeptical market, that distinction matters.

Proof is the currency of trust.

How to get exec buy-in on brand investments

Trust takes time. And time is hard to sell internally.

That’s what makes brand investment tricky. Everyone wants the outcomes—bigger deals, faster sales cycles, lower CAC.

But those results take time. And most teams are expected to show up every month with charts that trend up and to the right.

So at UserEvidence, we’ve focused on building a case for brand by being relentlessly clear and specific about how we track progress.

Here’s what’s worked:

• Setting expectations early. Be crystal clear on what success looks like, and what it doesn’t.

• Tracking leading signals. Prospect feedback. LinkedIn shoutouts. Call mentions in Gong. Webinar signups. Newsletter growth.

• Reporting relentlessly. Share wins—big or small—on Slack, in 1:1s, in board decks. Always bring the receipts.

• Connecting the dots. Even soft signals build a case. Tie them to pipeline wherever you can.

_{When marketing gets a win, our team’s going to hear about it.}

I’m proactive (read: borderline annoying) about all of this. Anytime we hit a milestone or someone in our ICP mentions us positively, it gets surfaced. Every. Single. Time.

Because when pipeline’s flowing, no one’s asking how brand dollars are spent. But when you’re off pace? The microscope comes out.

The goal is to earn the right to experiment.

Prove you can drive demand. Then take bigger swings with brand.

And yeah, working for a CEO who “gets it” makes a huge difference.

Biggest takeaway: don’t pull the plug too soon

One of the biggest mistakes marketers make is expecting brand to show ROI in a quarter.

Logically, we all know it takes time to earn attention. But most teams are measuring investments on a quarterly basis, wondering why nothing sticks, and then abandoning ship.

Give up too soon, and you’re just restarting the clock with the next shiny thing.

That’s why we’re shifting to a six-month evaluation window for brand plays instead of 90-day windows.

It’s a mindset shift, for sure—but one worth making if it saves a good idea from a premature death.

Brand. Demand. Doesn’t matter without proof.

Balancing trust-building and demand capture isn’t easy. And we definitely don’t have it all figured out.

But it’s also not as complicated as marketers make it.

Know your numbers. Set expectations. Communicate constantly. And use customer evidence to build trust at every touchpoint.

Because it’s never just brand or just demand. It’s always both. And the common thread? Proof.

Proof builds trust. Trust drives action. Action drives pipeline.

Stuff I’m digging this week

• What 2025 will bring for the customer marketing tech landscape—The recording from yesterday’s webinar on our next big piece of original research. If you care about where customer marketing is headed (and what you need to be thinking about before the shift actually happens), watch the recording.

• How much are B2B Marketers really earning in 2025?—Real data on what marketers are getting paid, what they’re negotiating for, and what’s changing across roles. If you're hiring, job hunting, or just curious where you stack up, read this.

• This 20VC episode with Elias Torres—One of the most honest founder convos I’ve heard in a while. Elias doesn’t sugarcoat what it takes to build through doubt, setbacks, and scrutiny. Raw and really damn refreshing.

Opinions are cheap. Proof is gold.

There’s way more value in AI than cranking out blog posts.

In this episode of The Proof Point, I sat down with Navneet Singh, VP of Marketing for Network Security at Palo Alto Networks. We talked about how precision AI, transparency, and customer evidence are changing the game in cybersecurity—and why all three are critical for building trust in high-stakes, high-skepticism environments.

My biggest takeaways:

• Skepticism is the default. With 30+ tools in the average cybersecurity stack, buyers are (understandably) cautious. Navneet shared how transparency and data precision help calm nerves and build credibility.

• Proof points > promises. His team leans on product test drives and transparent campaigns to help buyers see value first-hand. When customers experience outcomes, confidence follows.

• AI can be a trust accelerator. But only if we give it something meaningful to solve. Most teams are using it for surface-level outputs. The opportunity is way bigger.

Listen on Spotify or Apple, or head over to YouTube.

Hold up—what does UserEvidence do again?

Product marketers, marketing leaders, and customer marketers need more than generic testimonials to prove value.

UserEvidence helps create real customer evidence that Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success teams can use to increase buyer confidence.

We make it easy to collect and share case studies, testimonials, competitive intelligence, product stats, and ROI data—proof that helps move deals forward.

Need a stat to prove ROI? A competitive insight to handle objections? A case study that closes the gap between interest and decision?

UserEvidence helps you capture and share the proof buyers need.