When it comes to measuring results, there are some instances where it is more straightforward than others. For example, consider measuring the results of a social media ad campaign. You have access to the numbers and analytics. You can look at a dashboard and have a clear visual of how the ad campaign performed. It’s tangible.
But branding on the other hand, is a lot more intangible.
So how do you measure a brand?
Why Measure a Brand?
Understandably if you’re investing money into your company you’re going to want to know what return you are getting on that investment. That’s why measuring performance is so important.
It can lead to a better balanced budget, and increased effectiveness.
Branding might be a little more intangible, but that doesn’t mean you can’t measure brand performance.
Branding is a Long-term Game.
It’s important to note that branding is not a short-term solution, but rather a non-negotiable, long-term game if you want to build a sustainable, reputable company. Building a brand takes time and effort and will lead to long-term results that outlive the latest fads and trends.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
KPIs are Key Performance Indicators. They help you make data-driven decisions. Some examples of KPIs include:
- Monthly website traffic
- Organic reach
- Organic impressions
- Conversion rate
- Number of qualified leads
Let’s look at the different branding KPIs.
Measuring Brand Awareness
You want to measure brand awareness – do people know about your brand? To understand this better, you should be tracking how your audience interacts with your brand on different platforms.
Google Analytics can provide some insights. It allows you to track direct and organic search traffic.
Tracking brand mentions and interactions on social media is another way to measure brand recognition.
But knowing how to analyze the data collected is a big part of this picture. We always recommend working with an expert who can measure your company’s brand awareness with customers to determine how powerful the brand is.
Customer Sentiment
How do people feel about your brand? That’s customer sentiment.
Is the general sentiment negative? Positive? Indifferent? Why?
You may have heard the famous Jeff Bezos quote: “your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
So what are your customers saying about you?
Understanding your audience is non-negotiable. Understanding how they feel about your company is also a must. There are a few different ways a company can track customer sentiment to better understand how their customers perceive them.
One of the most common options is to ask for feedback about products or services from customers through surveys or reviews.
When we audit a brand, we typically analyze their customer reviews on their Google Business page, as well as other review websites. We also look for search results that are related to the company. For example, sometimes we will find posts about the company on online forums, where users are discussing the brand.
Depending on the size of the company and the products/services offered, social media comments can also be an area we explore to better understand your customer sentiment.
Understanding customer sentiment about your brand can help you shape your business and the products or services you sell.
Brand Loyalty
Are your customers loyal to your brand? It typically costs less to keep customers than it does to acquire new ones, which is why loyalty is super important to your brand performance. Brand loyalty can help lower your overall COA (cost of acquisition).
This may seem challenging to track, but there are a few metrics that can tell you more about your brand’s loyalty score.
Start with your customer retention rate. This measures how well your company retains customers and generates recurring revenue from your existing customers.
Another important metric for a business to track is customer lifetime value (CLV), which you can find through your accounting records if you sell a service or through your ecommerce analytics if you sell products online. CLV gives the business the total worth of a customer through the period of your relationship with them.
One important statistic to consider is that millennials are less loyal to brands than previous generations and prioritize efficiency in customer experience.
There are layers to this and a lot of moving parts that can impact brand loyalty.
Customer and User Behaviour
Your website can tell you a lot about your customers.
We always talk about how websites are amazing tools for conversions, sales, building trust and legitimacy.
Another thing that is often missed is that your website is a data goldmine!
You’re able to collect information on your users to better understand what interests them most, how and when they use your site, what they care about and what they don’t care about. What kind of devices are they using? How are they finding you?
Tracking behaviour on your website are important KPIs to help you determine how your brand is performing.
Google Analytics is a great tool that can give you a variety of metrics to evaluate your performance, a few important ones to keep an eye on for customer behaviour are bounce rate, time on page and traffic sources.
All of these metrics have to do with how customers are interacting with your website and how they are finding your brand. These metrics can help you make strategic decisions for your brand.
Understanding your Brand’s Performance
It is possible to measure brand performance. By paying attention to these metrics, your company can find ways to continuously improve the brand.
It’s important to understand that there are a large range of factors that can affect your brand performance. Some of these include existing reputations, your social media presence, and business partnerships. It can also be impacted by external factors like the market size, industry trends, and customer behaviour changes. But those are all elements that can be addressed in a custom-tailored, ongoing digital brand and marketing strategy.
At the end of the day, metrics like these will help you get a clearer idea of what’s working or not. But it’s important to remember that they are not the end all be all.
Our advice? Try not to get lost in all the numbers and analytics. Use them to your advantage, but don’t make them everything.
Instead focus on having a strong strategy, consistency and building a brand that people will naturally gravitate to.
Our Ottawa branding agency works with companies to foster connections with their customers, design modern brands, and implement powerful brand strategies to boost growth. Contact us to learn more about our brand strategy, brand design, web and marketing services.