Tommy — good question. That was always my dilemma working in marketing. My CEO would always want to know the ROI on every dollar spent but it is hard to quantify branding.

You could do annual brand health checks and measure brand equity and worth but for most companies, this isn't viable. I would try and ensure any campaign had both elements. A measurable CTA and some branding component.

A lot of this will rest with the size of the brand (and the budget). Coke, McDonald's et al can do more branding, sponsorship, etc than Joe’s Website Services.