How To Use Brand Tracking To Improve Your Marketing Strategy

What is brand tracking, and how can measuring the metrics improve your marketing strategy?

To answer this question, we take a step back. We know that ‘information is power,’ and that’s why businesses today are obsessed with tapping into ‘Big Data’ and using personalized data.

Mining the data provides feedback on consumers and customers and their preferences. Businesses need the information to provide a better product or service and to reach out to new audiences to grow their business.

Brand Tracking is a continuous process focused on learning about a brand’s reputation and, more importantly, what consumers think of it at any given time. Most software tools for tracking use AI to provide in real time the latest trends and shifts in customer behavior.

Brand tracking is fundamental to improving your marketing strategy and creating effective campaigns.

Brand Awareness

You need to know how familiar your target audience is with your brand.

If you asked a consumer if they recognized your brand, what is the likelihood they would say yes?

Or, when a customer is asked a general question about the type of products or services your brand offers, would they associate it with your brand name?

Examples Of Brands Doing It Well

ChapStick and Band-Aid have the highest consumer brand awareness. The brand name is now the generic term for a product type.

Reaching this level of brand awareness is the pinnacle, and tracking it can help your business achieve the same level. Other examples include Google, Xerox, and Kleenex.

Another powerful aspect of brand tracking is collecting and analyzing measurements from marketing campaigns.

The insights gained from this process will empower your marketers, giving them the confidence to deliver more personalized and effective marketing campaigns for your business.

The data can also improve your products and services. As consumers’ needs and wants evolve, so do your company offerings, so they continue to buy from you.

Brand Associations

Brand association is a customer’s emotional bond, whether negative or positive, with your brand. Pretty important, right? Sometimes, being recognizable isn’t always a good thing, though.

Marketing Flop

Maybe you had a disastrous marketing attempt, like when the fast-food chain Wendy’s had a tweet battle that escalated into the company responding with a Pepe the Frog meme.

After a flurry of criticism and alarming support from the Alt-Right, Wendy’s quickly removed the tweet.

With social media, reputations can be made and broken in the blink of an eye, so it’s better to avoid being associated with a controversial ideological movement.

You can avoid extreme situations like Wendy’s failure by tracking what your target audience thinks of you and whether it changes over time. This proactive approach ensures that your marketing campaigns convey the right message, helping you to maintain a positive brand association and avoid potential marketing flops.

Brand Consideration

There are many brands out there that offer the same type of service or product. Think of food brands. There are entire aisles at the grocery store dedicated to cereals or refrigerators full of similar beverages.

Customers face the challenge of constantly picking one brand over another. See what contributes to their decision-making process by tracking brand consideration. Gauge where a customer’s brand loyalty is and whether or not they would buy from your brand.

The information you gather about brand consideration is also helpful for comparing your brand to the competition. If they wouldn’t consider buying from your brand, which is their preferred choice?

Brand Usage

While measuring brand consideration, also gain more information about brand usage. This is the next step in the funnel and an essential one.

Discover not only how often your target audience purchases from your brand but also which other brands they buy from, how often they buy from them, and what their latest purchase was. Also, evaluate audience satisfaction and see how favorably they think of your brand.

Track To Stand Out And Improve

Brand tracking specific KPIs is vital in understanding your own brand and target audience in a way that will help you grow. It’s a way of showing your audience that you value their preferences and choices. It also allows you to compare your brand with the competition, giving you a comprehensive understanding of your market position.

Better marketing strategies also come from researching competitors: learn from their mistakes or see what they’re doing well that might be worth implementing. More importantly, determine what you can do to stand out from them.

Summary

Ultimately, brand tracking is fundamental in the big data and AI age.

One trick is to use brand tracking software, a tool that automates the process of tracking essential metrics, to do the legwork, so to speak.

It’s how successful brands communicate with their audience, even when their likes and dislikes evolve. With brand-tracking feedback, their marketing teams work smarter, and the business can improve its offerings and pre- and post-sales support.