This week, we're talking brand perception with Kim Storin, CMO of Zoom. High awareness doesn't always mean high relevance, and Kim breaks down exactly what to do when those two things come apart.
—Elena
B2B buyers now complete 80% of their research before ever talking to a brand.
That means your brand's presence in channels like Reddit, LinkedIn, review sites, and LLMs shapes buying decisions long before your sales team enters the picture.
Your brand is famous, now what?
Zoom has 99% brand awareness. So what's the problem?
Awareness and mental availability aren't the same thing. Zoom is almost always top of mind, but only for one use case: video calls. The company has a full suite of products covering customer support, webinars, recruiting, and AI-powered workflows, yet most buyers still don't connect those to Zoom. High awareness for the wrong use case becomes a ceiling, not an asset.
How does Zoom measure brand health now?
The old approach tracked one buyer group: IT decision-makers evaluating video tools. Too narrow. Now, Zoom is developing tailored brand health baselines for marketing, talent, and CX buyers to account for the unique needs and mental associations of these cohorts.
What does "brand to demand" mean in practice?
Kim doesn't split brand and demand into separate conversations. Brand investment at the top of the funnel improves demand efficiency downstream. Since launching Zoom's new campaign, pipeline performance has improved in new ways. Most marketers are still treating brand and demand like they're competing priorities. They're not.
How is Zoom showing up where buyers actually do their research?
Zoom has shifted its content strategy to account for B2B buyers starting their journey on LLMs. That means rewriting content for AI discovery, prioritizing review sites, leaning into executive social voices over brand voices, and treating press releases as a serious channel again.
"Mental Availability Is Not Awareness: Brand Salience Is Not Awareness"
This piece by Byron Sharp draws a sharp line between awareness and the memory structures that actually drive purchase decisions.
Why great strategy isn't enough.
“The central problem of brand-building is getting a complex organization to execute a simple idea.”
— Marty Neumeier
This newsletter comes from the hosts of The Marketing Architects, a research-first show answering your biggest marketing questions. Find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.