Making the Case to Your CFO: Why Long-Term Brand Investment Is No Longer Optional

You know the drill.

Every quarter, the pressure mounts to hit pipeline targets, and every marketing dollar spent needs a PowerPoint deck justifying its ROI.

You understand that brand investment is the long game—the strategy that makes deals easier to close and reduces customer acquisition costs over time.

But your CFO? They want results—now.

Trying to justify brand investment feels like explaining why going to the gym today prevents a heart attack in ten years.

Meanwhile, competitors with stronger brand awareness are getting invited to the table before you even know a deal is happening.

And here’s the stat that should send a chill down your spine: 90% of buyers purchase from vendors they already knew from day one.

Think about that.

All those cold calls, cold emails, and outbound efforts?

Most of them are a complete waste of time.

If your company isn’t on the buyer’s mental shortlist before they enter the market, you’re fighting an uphill battle–you’re the outsider trying to crash a deal that’s already in motion.

The fastest-growing SaaS companies understand this.

They’re proving that brand investment isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s the key to building a more effective, scalable growth pipeline.

Done right, it can be just as predictable and powerful as the old-school lead-gen models, but with better efficiency and long-term impact.

The question isn’t if you should invest in brand—it’s how to do it correctly and measure it in a way that proves its value.

Let’s break it down so you can finally make your case—and win.

The First Conversation You Should Have With Your CFO: Skyrocketing CAC

If you want to change your CFO’s mind about brand investment, start with the hard numbers.

Customer acquisition costs (CAC) are rising fast—and if you haven’t examined how much it costs to acquire a customer today versus a few years ago, now is the time.

Outbound-heavy models are bleeding budgets dry.

The 6Sense Buyer Experience Report confirms it: companies relying on outbound tactics are spending more but converting less because they’re chasing buyers who aren’t ready.

Here’s the reality: only 1-3% of accounts are in-market at any given time.

That means most of your ad spend and sales efforts are targeting people who won’t buy—yet.

It’s like trying to sell snow shovels in July.

Just because you want demand to exist doesn’t mean it will.

So what happens?

You spend more to convert the few ready buyers, driving CAC even higher.

Meanwhile, your competitors with strong brands are closing deals faster and cheaper because buyers already know and trust them.

If your CFO wants to rein in costs, the conversation must shift from chasing leads to becoming the brand buyers think of first.

The companies that get invited to the table don’t have to fight for attention—they’ve already won it.

Brand Investment: The Key to Predictable Revenue Over Time

Hitting your monthly and quarterly targets is critical, but how do you make those targets easier to hit in the future?

Not only do you want to be on the shortlist, but you also want to be the champion—the trusted voice that has shaped how buyers think about the problem and its solution.

If you’ve been the one educating them on the reframe, you’re not just considered; you’re the frontrunner.

CROs need to spread their bets across short-term performance marketing and long-term brand investment.

If you only focus on immediate pipeline, you’ll constantly scramble for the 1-3% of buyers who are in-market today.

But if you invest in brand affinity, you position yourself as one of the four pre-chosen vendors buyers think of before they even start their search.

It’s simple: do you want to be the one in five vendors struggling to get noticed at the last minute?

Or do you want to be one of the four already on the shortlist?

To make future demand easier to generate, you have to build desire and trust in your brand today. That means:

1. Consistently showing up where your ICP is already paying attention. That could be industry podcasts, communities, peer networks, or thought leadership content.
2. Creating content that educates and reframes buyer problems. This is how you build credibility before a buyer even enters the market.
3. Building long-term affinity so that, when the buying moment comes, your brand is the safe, trusted choice.

This isn’t just theory—it’s what we’re doing ourselves.

Every podcast episode we record, every post we publish, every insightful piece of content we share is designed to make our brand the go-to name when companies think about fixing their inbound.

What You Need to Do Differently

To fix inbound, you need to rethink how you engage buyers.

That starts with a buyer-first strategy—one that builds affinity before the buying process even begins.

Here’s what that looks like:

1. Create content that educates and reframes the buyer’s problem. Stop talking about your product and start helping buyers see their challenges in a new light. Insight-driven content positions you as the trusted expert buyers turn to when they’re ready.
2. Build brand trust by being where buyers actually pay attention. Your audience isn’t reading generic blog posts or clicking banner ads. They’re in peer communities, on Slack channels, and consuming content from experts they trust. Show up where they are.
3. Engage buyers with value—not pitches. Forget the hard sell. Instead, focus on adding value through thought leadership, events, and discussions that make your company top-of-mind before a buying decision is even on the table.
4. Shift your success metrics from MQLs to actual buying signals. Stop chasing leads and start tracking signals that indicate real purchase intent—like branded search traffic, direct engagement, and word-of-mouth referrals.

This is how leading SaaS companies are winning today: by playing the long game, building demand before buyers are ready, and positioning themselves as the go-to choice when the buying window finally opens.