This week a prospect looked at a reporting line item on our proposal that read "monitor brand awareness" and asked how we get that data.
I told her we look at brand awareness at its most basic level: recognition (can audiences pick us out of a lineup) and recall (can they remember us without a visual prompt).
This week a prospect looked at a reporting line item on our proposal that read "monitor brand awareness" and asked how we get that data.
I told her we look at brand awareness at its most basic level: recognition (can audiences pick us out of a lineup) and recall (can they remember us without a visual prompt).
This is harder to measure than say, customer satisfaction or lifetime value because our current customers already know who we are. We have to ask target audience members who have not bought from us. And gathering the right humans for data collection is the hard part.
Here's how:
Surveys
Surveys are a direct way to measure brand awareness and recall. You can conduct surveys that ask respondents if they are familiar with your brand (by choosing your logo out of a lineup, for instance), or if they can recall your brand when prompted with specific product categories.
Tactical Tip: Use tools like SurveyMonkey that offer paid targeting to audience segments. Include questions that measure aided and unaided brand recall, as well as brand recognition.
2. Social Media Monitoring
People love to run their mouths, and there's no better place to do so than the internet. Tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, or Mention can track mentions of your brand across social networks and forums, helping you gauge how often people talk about your brand, and in what context.
Tactical Tip: Set up alerts on your brand name and related branded keywords to keep tabs on your mentions. Analyze the sentiment of these mentions (most social monitoring tools have sentiment built in) to gauge public perception.
3. Google Analytics
How people find your website can be an indicator of brand awareness. Look at direct traffic, referral links, and the performance of branded search terms.
Tactical Tip: Regularly check your Acquisition reports to see how users are coming to your site. A rise in direct and organic search traffic on branded terms can indicate increased brand recognition.
4. Brand Search Volume
Tools like Google Trends and Google Keyword Planner can show you how many people are searching for your brand or its variants over time. This is a good indicator of brand recall and awareness.
Tactical Tip: Compare the search volume of your brand’s keywords to those of your competitors to measure relative brand awareness. Monitor these trends to track changes in awareness levels.
6. Media Coverage
Analyze both paid and organic media coverage with tools like Cision or Meltwater to track how often your brand is mentioned in the media.
Tactical Tip: Set up media monitoring for your brand to see how frequently and in what context your brand is mentioned across different media outlets.
If you want to attract more top funnel prospects, they have to know about you. Adding brand awareness to your reporting mix helps you understand how effective your brand is at getting in front of right-fit customers and building brand authority.
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