How can you determine if your brand is meeting its goals?

To check if your brand is doing well, you need to first set clear goals for what you want your brand to achieve, like getting more people to know and like your brand. Then, look at important numbers like how many people visit your website or what customers are saying about your brand. You can also ask customers for their opinions and see how you compare to other brands in your market. If you're not meeting your goals, be ready to make changes in how you talk about your brand or how you reach customers. Remember, your brand should help your business succeed, so make sure your brand goals match your bigger business goals. Keep checking and improving your brand over time.

The brand goals are the specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives that a company sets for its brand. These goals should align with the overall business strategy and reflect the core values and purpose of the brand. For example, a company may set a goal to increase brand awareness by 20% among its target market within the next six months. Another example could be to improve customer satisfaction ratings by 15% over the next year. These goals are important for guiding the brand's efforts and measuring its performance. In conclusion, setting clear and SMART brand goals is essential for driving the success of a brand and ensuring that it is making progress towards its desired outcomes.

A key dimension that is often forgotten is to directly build the brand based on critical business performance(s). Figuring out these peak performances and linking these to both position and brand experience touchpoints will enable organic brand growth - and with that - business growth. Going down an advertising rabbit hole will only deiver short-term gains.

Selecting the right brand metrics is crucial for understanding a brand's performance and making strategic adjustments to achieve its brand goals. By tracking these metrics, companies can make informed decisions and strategic adjustments to drive their brand's success. Brand awareness metrics like recall and reach can help a company understand the extent to which consumers are familiar with its brand, while reputation metrics like sentiment and reviews can provide insight into how the brand is perceived by its target audience. For instance if a company finds that its brand differentiation metrics are low compared to competitors, it can focus on developing unique selling propositions and communicating them effectively to its target audience.

Metrics chosen vary by buying stage: Awareness stage: 1. Sentiment 2. social mentions 3. Top-of-mind brand recall 4. Share of voice Consideration stage: 1. Purchase Intent 2. Website bounce rate Decision stage: 1. Conversion rates 2. Cost-per-acquisition Delight stage: 1. Net Promoter Score (NPS) 2. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Choosing brand metrics is crucial, but controversy arises in prioritizing them. While awareness, reputation, and differentiation are vital, the emphasis on metrics like "share of wallet" sparks debate. Some argue it oversimplifies consumer loyalty, neglecting qualitative aspects. Controversy emerges in weighing quantitative against nuanced insights in shaping a brand's success narrative.

Selecting the right brand metrics and collecting relevant data is essential for understanding a brand's performance and making strategic adjustments to achieve its brand goals. Surveys, analytics, and research are common methods for collecting brand data. Surveys can be used to ask the target audience directly about their awareness, perception, preference, or behavior towards the brand. Analytics tools can track and measure interactions with the brand online or offline. For example, a company may use tools like SurveyMonkey to conduct surveys and Google Analytics to track website performance. By collecting and analyzing this data, companies can make informed decisions and strategic adjustments to drive their brand's success.

"If I'd asked people what they'd wanted, they would have said a faster horse." - Henry Ford There is *absolutely* value in speaking to customers and unearthing audience insights - unquestionably. In fact I don't think marketers are afforded the opportunity to do this ENOUGH! But for all of the great tech tools we now have at our disposal, my advice is to use the data collected to *inform* strategic decision-making, as opposed to letting it lead your direction!

For small businesses, it’s about smart spend, not big spend. Choose cost-effective brand tracking options like Tracksuit, or roll up your sleeves and do it yourself with tools like social listening platforms, brand search term analysis, and SurveyMonkey. The aim is to keep enough money in the tank to be able to act on the insights you gather.

Analyzing brand results is essential for making informed decisions and strategic adjustments to drive a brand's success. By carefully analyzing the data, companies can gain valuable insights that can help them achieve their brand goals. Dashboards can visually represent the data with charts and graphs, making it easier to identify trends and patterns. Reports can provide a detailed explanation of brand results, while insights can help interpret the data in meaningful way. For example a company may use Tableau to create a dashboard that shows brand awareness levels over time, allowing them to see if their marketing efforts are paying off. They may also use SWOT analysis to identify areas where the brand is excelling and needs improvement.

Meeting brand results is 100% about your target audience getting the perceived value and attributes you envision. Some brands might be or look successful from a consumer perspective since it is perceived the way they believe, but brands might want to change that. Sometimes is not building on what you want, but on what consumers already like you for.

To meet an objective is to take the company from one point to another in different areas, which implies that along the way many things can change. Meeting objectives can be determined by the attributions of what you achieve before the end point or the great success, if these are aligned to the final objective you are doing well, but you must always know and understand the metrics, review and make adjustments in the plans and know the threats and opportunities that are occurring.

RDA model is a good way to make your brand strategy more sharper. Retain - Your studies and performance should tell you what is working for you Divest - Get rid of elements that is making your brand getting rejected from consumers Acquire - Elements that are currently not attributed to the brand but is either required because of category or competition

Analyzing brand results is just the first step in ensuring the success of a brand and make actionable improvements to the brand strategy. By utilizing methods such as testing, feedback, and innovation, companies can continuously refine their brand strategy to better meet their goals and ultimately drive success. For example, a company may use A/B testing to experiment with different variations of their logo to see which one resonates best with their target audience. They can also gather feedback from customers through surveys or social media to understand their preferences and make necessary changes. Additionally, they can focus on innovation by launching new products or services that address the needs and desires of their customers.

1)Use feedback channels such as surveys, reviews, and social media to gather insights from your target audience and refine customer service. 2)Leverage innovation through brainstorming and prototyping to introduce new or improved products, services, or features that align with your brand goals. 3)Regularly analyze and adapt based on results to ensure ongoing improvement and resonance with your audience.

I feel one critical aspect often missed in evaluating brand success is the 'brand elasticity'—the ability of a brand to stretch into new markets/vertical without losing its core identity. It's not just about where the brand currently stands, but also about its potential to grow and adapt in changing markets. Like how people are in awe of certain brands for very different reasons- Patagonia for its sustainability initiatives, Apple for fostering a sense of community, Google for driving innovation, and Zerodha for its ethical alignment with a strong emphasis on customer empowerment and transparency. Like people, brands aren't just about the outer shell; it's the inside that counts.

While analyzing brand results and making improvements is crucial, maintaining consistency in branding is equally important. It's essential for a brand to maintain a consistent image and message across all platforms. By ensuring that the brand's image and message remain consistent across all channels, companies can strengthen their brand and build relationships with their audience. For example a company may have a strong brand identity on their website and social media, but if their customer service team does not reflect the same values and tone, it can create confusion and weaken the brand's impact. Consistency in branding helps to build trust and credibility with customers, as they know what to expect from the brand at every interaction.

The KPIs mentioned here are important: awareness, NPS, affinity, uniqueness, but ultimately a brand has value when its products are chosen over other products, even at a higher price. What is the price premium it commands? This needs to be more than all the costs associated with building and maintaining the brand such as quality, consistency, exclusivity, advertising, packaging, distribution.