When you’re running a business, it’s important to track how it’s performing. If you don’t have a quantified, objective measure of the success (or otherwise) of your projects, products and investments then you don’t know if you’re making good decisions.
This leaves you a fresh dilemma: what kinds of tracking are worth your investment and your time? You could spend a potentially infinite amount of money on different kinds of research into your own business and spend all the time you would otherwise devote to making decisions for your business on examining the results. You need to decide what’s important and make sure you’re getting the information that will help.
One of these research methods is called Brand Tracking and today we’re turning our focus on it so you can judge if it’s an insight you need for your business.
What Is Brand Tracking?
In some ways, brand tracking does exactly what it says on the tin: it tracks your brand. By regularly surveying customers and asking them to rate your business on the key qualities you’re aiming for in your brand, and also rank your brand with your competitors in the field.
This lets you see the impact your decisions have on how your customers see your brand, and if a marketing push or sale has made your brand more attractive or undermined it.
Why Is Brand Tracking Important?
Your brand is one of your most useful assets. It’s what allows your customers to relate to your business on a personal level, an identity with values and qualities that they can feel loyalty to. If all your decisions (not just the tone of your marketing campaigns, but everything from your price point to the words customers hear when they call your helpline) are based on an understanding of what customers value about your brand, then you can make sure they’re all reinforcing that perception and strengthening your brand.
If you don’t know what customers are expecting from an interaction with your business, then you can’t make informed decisions about reinforcing your brand, and you might find different elements of your business are pulling against each other and undermining the customer experience.
If your marketing paints a picture of a luxury brand in one campaign, persuading customers to make a significant spend in return for a status symbol of a product, but your next push is based on value and big sales then you’re undermining your own brand and leaving your customers confused about what exactly you offer them.
Brand tracking lets you see how your decisions affect your brand in real time, as the consequences play out. This lets you adjust your course if needs be and makes sure your decisions are strengthening your brand, not damaging it.
