Brand vs. Performance Marketing: “Why Not Both?” Says monday.com

Updated: May 5, 2025
Contributor: Tom Cox

Brand and performance marketing isn’t an either-or proposition. Growth in a digital world requires adopting a unified strategy.

In search of efficient growth, it’s natural for marketing leaders to question how and where to spend their paid media budget.

Uncertain market conditions often tilt the balance toward performance marketing, with its clear metrics tied to bottom-line impact. But awareness programs are necessary within the long, complex sales cycles of B2B tech, as 38% of tech marketers who lowered their brand awareness investment reported a decline in their overall performance marketing results.[1]

The challenge is balancing between brand marketing and demand activation, but how do you ensure your brand is not losing prominence as you push performance marketing efforts? The user acquisition team of monday.com views the enduring debate of brand vs. performance marketing differently.

For monday.com, the answer lies in precise campaign management. Let’s dig further into monday.com’s strategy.

The majority of our efforts are performance marketing because we believe that performance and brand aren’t necessarily disconnected. We assess and measure channels historically seen as “brand awareness” as performance marketing.

Ido Kirshenboim

User Acquisition Team Lead, monday.com
A snapshot of monday.com’s growth story

monday.com is a leading software platform in the project management category — a category that has over 1,500 products listed on Gartner Digital Markets’ software comparison sites: Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice.

monday.com launched in 2014, and caters to an array of use cases and user needs across functions including marketing, sales, project management, and HR management. Despite the diversity of its offerings, monday.com has managed to not only distinguish itself in the project management category but also expand its reach in 100+ other software categories.

monday.com has recently experienced an annual revenue increase of 79% CAGR between 2020 and 2022, and its customer base exceeded 186,000 as of May 2023.[2]

#1. Measure everything to optimize conversion

Performance marketing, known for its measurable outcomes and clearly defined returns, is central to monday.com’s marketing strategy. While keeping this focus, their team designs highly targeted marketing campaigns tailored for different use cases and customer needs. This helps them enhance conversions and strengthen buyer relationships.

They meticulously track every user interaction, and use that data to personalize the sales funnel and build brand familiarity. “We make the most of each user coming on our landing pages by analyzing every click, lead, and sale from every source and country,” says Kirshenboim.

By being deeply connected to their product team, they ensure all touchpoints — from web banners and landing pages to demo calls and onboarding — convey an experience users were looking for when they first clicked. Haim Fogel, User Acquisition Manager at monday.com, attributes this to the measurability and customization offered on product profiles created on third-party partner platforms such as Gartner Digital Markets.

Because Gartner Digital Markets provides us full control of our landing page content, UTMs, URLs, geos, and reports, it’s much easier for us to test everything to grow. We are able to scale very fast across various categories.

Haim Fogel

User Acquisition Manager, monday.com
Key insights for software providers
  • Use business intelligence (BI) software to measure and analyze buyer touchpoints and attribution. monday.com’s team calls their in-house developed BI software the “brain” of their organization.
  • Personalize each stage of the marketing funnel. Test everything from localized landing pages to custom visuals and page content to personalize the journey for target users, rather than send all clicks to the same landing pages. 
  • Choose partner platforms that capture buyer intent signals. Data-focused software comparison sites, such as Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice, help track buyers’ preferences and intent signals to target potential buyers with tailored campaigns.

#2. Cross-utilize channels for brand and performance marketing

monday.com perhaps became front of mind for its engaging YouTube ad campaigns, and you’d be forgiven for thinking this is considered “brand spend.” Kirshenboim mentions that even these channels are still assessed for their ROI, even if they contribute significantly to their brand value.

“Performance channels such as Gartner Digital Markets also provide brand value. Even if prospects don’t click on the ad, they are still seeing it and understanding who we are and what we offer,” says Kirshenboim.

monday.com’s team prioritizes their channel selection strategically, using push channels such as YouTube and LinkedIn to educate people about their product’s value proposition. They later quantify this value with their internal attribution model.

But to tap into existing demand in their software categories, the team balances push channels with pull channels. Kirshenboim says “on average, a 7% conversion rate on paid search ads leaves 93% of potential customers unengaged”. With this in mind, monday.com turns to other channels such as software comparison sites to reach this untapped audience.

People visit pull channels with a certain purchase intent. Gartner Digital Markets is a major player in that aspect and an extension of our ad strategy, reaching prospects in different locations to expand our reach and traffic.

Ido Kirshenboim

User Acquisition Team Lead, monday.com
Key insights for software providers
  • Question whether you need to educate the market with push channels, or if demand already exists for your product. If the latter, consider promoting yourself on platforms frequented by prospects actively searching for software. This will extend your reach to active buyers without resorting to push tactics.
  • Use push channels when there is little awareness of your brand. Educate your market, make them understand there’s a gap, and how your product can bridge it effectively.
  • Make your branding ad spend more performant by measuring its impact. Check the brand metrics you can use to quantify the value generated by your awareness efforts.

#3. Use social proof to showcase reliability and reputation

Social proof is a critical element within performance marketing as well as brand marketing. One of the most effective forms of social proof is user reviews. Fogel mentioned, "A good amount of recent, positive reviews instill reliability, reduce user friction, and help buyers in their purchasing decisions."

Reviews represent a seal of approval from a real user of a product or service, thus are best positioned to propel a high-intent buyer to make a purchase and position you as a formidable player in the competitive landscape.

Customer reviews aren’t just influential — they are vital. In our most recent research, buyers voted customer reviews as the most influential source of information to research different products and build a shortlist.

Capterra, Software Advice and GetApp are strong software comparison sites in terms of reviews. Positioning monday.com as a strong player among other strong players builds user trust in us.

Ido Kirshenboim

User Acquisition Team Lead, monday.com
Key insights for software providers
  • Increasing your number of user reviews can significantly enhance your brand's reputation and reliability. Encourage users to leave reviews and make it easy for them with templates. 
  • Listing your product on software comparison sites positions your brand alongside other strong brands. This association enhances your brand's credibility and elicits trust from potential customers.
  • Use customer feedback to tailor messaging across marketing touchpoints. User reviews can help you personalize your landing pages and highlight your product’s unique features for specific target buyer roles and needs.

How Gartner Digital Markets helps software providers build brand and capture demand

Software marketers often find themselves promoting products on platforms where potential customers have diverse interests: you don’t necessarily browse LinkedIn or Instagram searching for software. With platforms like these, you need to split your activity between performance marketing and what could be considered brand awareness spend, and even then, you may not reach the right prospects.

Gartner Digital Markets offers a blend of performance and brand marketing by attracting buyers with a clear intention to explore software-related needs. Whether they are reading reviews, comparing products, or making a purchase via a vendor’s landing page, the platform caters to all stages of buyers’ journey.

Tom Cox

Tom is a senior content specialist who helps software providers better understand the market with insights from Gartner Digital Markets' network of software buyers and vendors. Since 2015, Tom has created content for a wide range of industries including education and online publishing. Tom writes about content and creativity on Hunting the Muse.
Get the Gartner Digital Markets Newsletter

We value your privacy. By submitting this form, you agree we may use your information in accordance with the terms of the Gartner Digital Markets Privacy Policy.

2025 Software Buying Trends: How Software Buyers Make a Purchase Decision

2025 Software Buying Trends: How Software Buyers Make a Purchase Decision

Read Now

How Software Buyers Build Their Shortlist

How Software Buyers Build Their Shortlist

Watch Webinar

Tech Marketing Benchmarks: How Growth Companies Invest Their Budget | Gartner

Tech Marketing Benchmarks: How Growth Companies Invest Their Budget | Gartner

Watch Webinar

Connect. Convert. Thrive.

Connect to millions of in-market software buyers around the globe with our all-encompassing suite of marketing services.
Get Started