Brand tracking refers to the marketing efforts used to quantify the effects of brand building campaigns on sales and conversions. To measure the efficacy of brand campaigns, many turn to brand tracking studies. Brand tracking studies aim to measure the success of brand building initiatives based on the impact they have on the consumer and the impact they have on the business. Brand tracking studies that focus on business impact largely focus on financial metrics to determine the ROI of brand building initiatives.
Brand Tracking plays a key role in the growth of a company. It helps to –
- Maintain a strong brand image
- Make informed marketing decisions
- Analyze the ROI of our marketing spend?
- Evaluate advertising campaign and its impact on brand awareness among the audience
- Gauge the impact of advertising spend on purchase intent
- Find out the Strong Differentiator/Core Brand Essence
- Keep a pulse on your category and brand
- Understand the Brand funnel matrix from Awareness, Consideration, Desire, Association, Equity
- Understand Impact on Brand Equity by Stakeholders/Departments/Business Areas
In such a case, startups may wonder when would be the best time to conduct a brand tracking exercise? Startups are often constrained by financial constraints, and thus regular brand tracking may not be feasible for most of them. So, here is a list of the vital stages in the life of a startup when brand tracking should be done.
After establishing brand presence
Brand presence means having a clear understanding of your brand’s identity, values, USP, and target audience. Without a strong brand foundation, brand tracking may not yield meaningful insights for Start-ups. Conducting it too early may not give you enough information about your brand as there is not much information to work on.
Market entry and initial traction
Once the Start-up enters the market and gains some traction, brand tracking can help in gauging the initial impact of marketing efforts. Early perceptions can be understood and necessary changes can be made. A sew in time saves nine! Making vital changes in an early stage and understanding the brand image early can prevent a later stage when it would be difficult to alter the customer perception.
Growth stage and expansion
When a startup faces prolonged growth periods, it may lose the track of the customer perception of the brand. The consistency of the brand image may also take a hit because of lack of communication between different sections of the brand. Brand tracking during growth periods and expansion can help in assessing how the brand is perceived in the new environment, identify opportunities for improvement, and ensure consistent messaging and perception across different markets.
Funding round and investor expectations
Investors closely study the brand’s strength and market positioning before making an investment in a Start-up. They need to confirm that the brand will be perceived positively by the consumers. A good brand health report gives out a positive image for the start-up. Conducting brand tracking can provide evidence for brand acceptance and health, instilling confidence in investors.
Product- market fit validation
By studying brand metrics such as customer satisfaction and perception, Start-ups can gauge how well your product or service meets customer needs and expectations. You can refine your offerings and make relevant changes. Even good products can prove to be ineffective for a brand, just because they were unable to understand the consumer preference and the right market segment for their product.
Brand revolution and strategy refinement
Start-ups often pivot from their initial product or service. To make informed decisions around the change in brand strategy, brand tracking is important to understand how a change will be perceived by the consumers. If a change is not appreciated by the consumer, the brand can take steps to make sure this is not the case.
Most of the startups that don’t engage in brand tracking for one of the following reasons:
- Price tag: This is the most common reason we hear. Traditional brand trackers are often priced in the 6–7 digit area and even the most basic plans are out of reach for most startups. Large multinational corporations can afford these, but most of the startups that we talk to would have to forfeit the entirety of their marketing budget to afford this.
- Time: From the initial setup and definition of the scope, to going through the results, traditional market research can be time consuming when done well. Unless companies have dedicated resources, which startups usually don’t, they can often be overwhelmed by the hundreds of pages of “data” they are delivered or don’t have the time to commit to analyzing the results.
- Knowledge: From our experience only, larger companies tend to have dedicated market research departments that have the necessary skill set to process and interpret the data received from traditional market research. CMOs or brand managers in startups on the other hand require distilled and actionable insights, as most don’t have dedicated market researchers at their disposal.
Wiserfeed Consulting provides you with Brand Tracking as a service so that you can check your brand’s efforts efficiency and further develop strategies for creating a strong and powerful brand image.
