Brand tracking – What comes to your mind the moment you hear this term?

Is it a vital piece to complete your marketing puzzle?

Is this some useless and expensive marketing strategy?

What is it?

Several marketers and brand managers struggle to track their brand activity. Maybe they have used substandard tools in the past only to get average results, and so, they are now following their gut to decide the performance of their branding campaigns. With such an attitude and a market full of data-driven tools, it is natural for these brand managers to fall behind.

However, this doesn’t have to be the case now in 2023 and beyond. We have several proven tools for brand tracking that will present an original picture of your brand performance. Stay with us while we discuss them in detail.

Let us start with the basics first.

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What is Brand Tracking?

Brand tracking is the process to measure and monitor the performance of a brand over time. It involves collecting data on various brand metrics such as brand awareness, brand perception, brand loyalty, and brand equity, and using that data to gain insights into how the brand is perceived by its target audience.

Brand tracking is a vital process for businesses of all sizes because it allows them to keep a finger on the pulse of their brand and make informed decisions about how to improve it. By tracking brand performance over time, businesses can identify trends and patterns, evaluate the effectiveness of their branding and marketing efforts, and make data-driven decision to allocate resources to maximize ROI.

Here are some of the key benefits of brand tracking:

1. Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses:

Brand tracking allows businesses to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their brand. By measuring brand awareness, brand perception, and other brand metrics, businesses can get a clear picture of how their brand is perceived by their target audience. The information is used to identify areas where the brand is performing well and areas where it needs improvement.

2. Evaluating Marketing Efforts:

Brand tracking can help businesses evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. By tracking brand metrics over time, businesses can see how changes in marketing strategy and tactics impact brand performance. It is a vital information to make data-driven decisions to maximize ROI.

3. Tracking Competitors:

Brand tracking can also help businesses track the performance of their competitors. By monitoring the performance of competing brands, businesses can identify areas where they are falling behind and make strategic adjustments to their branding and marketing efforts.

4. Improving Customer Experience:

Brand tracking can provide valuable insights into the customer experience. By measuring brand perception and other brand metrics, businesses can identify pain points in the customer journey and take steps to address them.

How can you track your brand?

Although a brand tracking tool makes it easier for brand managers to track the performance of their branding campaigns, there are some other options one can consider. Here are they:

1. DIY surveys

Creating DIY surveys using Google surveys or SurveyMonkey is an effective, easy, and low-cost way to track your brand performance in general. Although setting up and writing these brand surveys is a tedious task for brand managers, these surveys can generate insightful data with the right questions added. The effectiveness of such surveys depends on the ability of a brand manager to translate brand goals into actionable questions.

The better questions generated, the more insightful answers.

2. Social Listening

Be active on social media – it doesn’t mean actively and regularly posting, but brand managers should be all ears to what the target groups are iterating about the brands. Simply tracking online mentions, analysing consumers’ perceptions, and responding to conversations can make a huge difference.

While doing it manually is a pain in the neck, there are social listening tools that come to the rescue. The small brands who are not keen on investing in expensive brand tracking software, these social listening tools are a way out.

3. Advanced Brand Tracking Software

The data supplied by modern and advanced brand tracking software is valuable and the data helps in building a stronger brand marketing strategy. The data also equips brand managers to succeed in their branding endeavours.

Some of the tools that brand managers can use are Brand 24, BrandMentions, Keyhole, Sendible, Hootsuite, and so on.

Final Thoughts

Overall, brand tracking is an essential tool for businesses that want to build a strong brand and maximize ROI on their marketing efforts. While brand tracking seem tricky and complex, the correct tools will help you have a better understanding of it. With these modern tools, brand tracking becomes easy to set-up and worth the efforts.

Remember that the more reliable data you use, the better marketing decisions you can make.

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