When the economy tightens, brand budgets are often first on the chopping block. Senior marketing leaders understand the value of brand, but value alone doesn’t secure future investment. Proof does.
Sprinklr and LinkedIn set out to deliver that proof. With TopRank Marketing as a strategic partner, they launched a campaign, Proving the Power of Brand, designed to answer a critical question for today’s marketing leaders:
Can brand marketing show measurable impact, especially when the pressure is on?
Backed by original research, built for executive decision-makers and activated across a connected content ecosystem, the campaign gave marketers what they needed most: clarity, credibility and evidence that brand drives growth.
Because when every dollar is questioned, effective content needs to leave no doubt.
The conflict: Brand belief vs. brand proof
B2B marketers believe in brand. In the Proving the Power of Brand report, 81% said brand building will become even more important to the success of their marketing initiatives. But 46% still cited measuring brand campaign success as one of their top challenges.
One of the social messages TopRank developed for the Proving the Power of Brand campaign.
Many B2B marketing teams are operating without clear KPIs, without consistent access to data and without alignment on what success looks like. That lack of structure makes it harder to connect brand building activity to business outcomes, and harder to defend brand marketing investment when budgets come under scrutiny.
Sprinklr and LinkedIn set out to close that gap. They set aside promotional goals and focused on equipping marketers with credible, actionable evidence that brand drives growth. And with TopRank Marketing as a partner, that goal shaped a campaign built to bolster conviction with proof.
The strategy: Insight-led content built to be the Best Answer
At the heart of this campaign was a shared belief: marketers are not only looking for more information. They need better answers. Answers that are credible, easy to find and delivered in relevant formats.
To meet that need, Sprinklr and LinkedIn partnered with TopRank to develop a content strategy built on credibility, clarity, and utility. Every element from research to rollout was designed to help senior marketing leaders make stronger decisions about their brand marketing investments.
Original research as a credibility anchor
Original research is one of the most effective ways to create credible, trusted and differentiated content in B2B marketing. The foundation of this campaign was a custom survey of more than 600 enterprise marketing leaders across North America and Europe. The goal was to understand how today’s marketers are approaching brand building, what challenges they face and where full-funnel opportunities remain untapped. This research gave the campaign authority and, more importantly, it gave the audience answers they could trust.
A guide structured for decision-making
TopRank translated the findings into a flagship content asset: Proving the Power of Brand. The guide was designed specifically for executive decision-makers, structured to reflect their strategic questions, avoiding product features or promotional talking points. It paired data-backed insight with plainspoken recommendations, making it easier for marketers to advocate for brand internally.
Omnichannel, format-adaptive execution
The guide served as the hero piece in a broader ecosystem of content ensuring availability and resonance with audience content format preferences. To increase reach and deepen relevance, the insights were repurposed across content formats tuned to where and how decision-makers engage:
- A globally promoted LinkedIn Live webinar for real-time conversation
- Scrollable carousel posts featuring high-impact data visualizations
- Blog content to reinforce thought leadership
- Sales enablement materials tailored for client conversations
This ecosystem gave the message staying power. Rather than the report launch being a one-time touchpoint, it became something marketers could return to, share and use in their own conversations.
This exemplifies the way TopRank defines Best Answer Content: Showing up credibly, consistently and experientially where your audience is asking the hardest questions, and giving them something real to act on.
The results: Proof that Best Answer content performs
The campaign delivered, outpacing expectations at every stage of the funnel.
Awareness: Across organic and paid channels, the content reached more than 4.6 million targeted impressions and drove 31,000+ engagements from senior decision-makers in industries like retail and financial services.
Engagement: A single LinkedIn carousel post became a breakout hit, delivering a 5.24% engagement rate – 3.7x higher than the platform benchmark for B2B campaigns.
Pipeline Impact: Those interactions converted into 1,100 qualified leads, fueling $130K+ in vetted opportunities and $90K in annual recurring revenue.
The value extended beyond campaign metrics. Sales teams at Sprinklr and LinkedIn incorporated the content into client meetings and strategic discussions, using the data to strengthen conversations about brand investment.
Notably, the campaign achieved its primary goal: equipping marketing leaders with a credible, ready-to-use resource they could bring into the boardroom to advocate for brand as a driver of growth.
A template for Best Answer Marketing campaigns
The campaign succeeded because it delivered exactly what the audience needed most: credible answers to a high-stakes question. The focus was never “what can we promote,” but “how can we help marketing leaders prove brand impact.” That clarity shaped every decision.
It also refused to treat brand as a top-of-funnel exercise. By showing how integration across the entire buyer’s journey drives stronger performance, the campaign positioned brand as a growth lever — one that works in tandem with demand.
Finally, the research didn’t sit in a static report. It was made usable. Insights were visualized, written in executive-friendly language, and distributed across formats that matched decision-maker habits, creating a content ecosystem that stayed relevant long after launch.
How to put Best Answer Marketing principles into practice:
- Start with the real pressure point. Identify the question your stakeholders need answered to move forward.
- Build for the full funnel. Treat brand as a driver of pipeline, not just awareness.
- Think in ecosystems, not one-offs. Repurpose, reframe, and reinforce key insights across multiple touchpoints.
- Collaborate early and often. Align brand, agency, and platform teams on strategy before execution begins.
This combination of strategic clarity, empathetic delivery, and integrated execution turned a single asset into an ongoing resource, and gave marketing leaders the confidence to advocate for brand in the conversations that matter most.
That’s what Best Answer content delivers.
In uncertain times, the path forward is not louder messaging, it’s smarter content. Let’s build your Best Answer Marketing strategy together.
About the author
Theresa began her career as a marketing writer around the same time TopRank launched, though it would be a couple of decades and a great deal of side questing before she joined the team. In those intervening years, Theresa did everything from managing operations and marketing for an award-winning home inspection company to starting a farmer’s market that enabled community connection and additional income for farmers and crafters in rural Minnesota. Drawing on this unique background, Theresa is committed to working with clients to develop content that reaches both the mind and the heart. Theresa’s second proudest personal accomplishment (after raising two amazing kiddos!) is her 20+ year career as a fire dancer with Fandazzi Fire, the troupe she co-founded with her husband and favorite dance partner.
