How to Measure Your Brand in 2023

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Oct 27, 2023 / by
How to Measure Your Brand in 2023

At a time when technology seems to be advancing so fast that it’s almost impossible to keep up, it can feel like a challenge to truly understand your brand’s place and position of influence in the market. Whereas we could once measure brand effectiveness by simply tallying up annual profits, there is so much data at our disposal now and so many facets of a brand to consider, it can be easy to lose sight of the wood for the trees.

Today, a combination of both traditional and modern metrics is essential to comprehensively measure your brand. With that in mind, here’s a rough guide to help you gauge the strength and resonance of your brand in the third decade of the 21st century.

Brand Awareness

The age-old metric of brand awareness remains as relevant as ever. In fact, it might be more relevant now than ever. This essentially refers to the extent to which consumers are familiar with your brand. For example, the brand awareness of an iconic brand like Coca-Cola or Nike will be significantly stronger than the brand awareness of a drinks or sports brand that’s only been around for a few years.

What does all this mean? Are time and familiarity the only way to build brand awareness? Perhaps, but tools such as surveys, social listening, and Google Trends can give you a clear picture of your brand’s top-of-mind recall among consumers and help you figure out where to invest resources when it comes to expediting your brand growth.

Key Takeaway: Don’t just ask if customers recognise your brand, but also ask how they perceive it.

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

The NPS remains a gold standard in assessing brand loyalty even more than 20 years after it was first introduced by the Harvard Business Review. It asks customers one simple question (“On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our product/service to others?”) to classify respondents as detractors, passives, or promoters and that information can then be used to make more informed marketing decisions.

Customer Satisfaction Scores (or CSATs) can also be used to evaluate short-term brand loyalty and can be useful for more immediate snapshot metrics based around individual products. When it comes to long-term brand effectiveness, however, the NPS remains the go-to for many marketers.

Key Takeaway: A high NPS indicates strong brand loyalty and customer satisfaction, but always strive to understand the ‘why’ behind the scores.

Customer Engagement

Engagement transcends awareness and measures not only who knows about your brand but who has actually spent the time to “get to know” your brand. Think of it like the difference between a passing glance and a first date.

Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram provide incredibly helpful metrics on engagement rates, including likes, shares, comments, and other more significant interactions, such as sales and conversions. In 2023, with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) becoming more prevalent, brands should also be keen to track engagement in these spaces and with the help of AI analytics, which can provide data on everything from user behaviour and session duration to bounce rates and conversion metrics, it’s never been easier.

Key Takeaway: Engagement reflects your audience’s interest and willingness to interact with your brand.

Brand Sentiment and Consistency

Sentiment analysis tools, fuelled by AI, can scour the internet, assessing public sentiment around your brand in a way that goes beyond mere mentions. It uses incredibly clever algorithms to measure the emotion tied to those mentions, whether positive, neutral, or negative.

Consistency, meanwhile, is a more qualitative metric that’s all about ensuring your brand looks, feels, sounds, and acts the same across all touchpoints. Auditing your channels and touchpoints to check for brand consistency can protect your brand image and ensure it’s held in high regard in the circles that matter.

Key Takeaway: It’s not enough to know people are talking about your brand. It’s essential to understand the sentiment behind those conversations and whether your brand is seen as consistent and trustworthy.

Today’s world necessitates a more holistic approach to brand measurement that encompasses both traditional metrics and newer, tech-driven ones. But remember, while numbers can offer a compelling and useful snapshot, it’s the continuous process of assessment, refinement, and evolution that truly drives brand success and longevity.

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