Is Your Brand Peaking or Plateauing?
In The Field
June 4, 2024
Erin Cooper
Everyone knows the importance of tracking results in marketing—there’s A/B testing, sales metrics, and click-through rates. But what about brand growth?
Few businesses know whether their brand is growing in popularity and awareness, reaching a plateau, or worse, declining in popularity among their audiences.
If a brand is going to be successful and useful for a business, we have to know how to track its trajectory.
Consider your brand as a living entity. Just as a physician relies on vital signs to measure health, a brand requires metrics to measure its vitality. Without concrete data, brand activations and marketing efforts are like shots in the dark.
Let’s explore the process of tracking brand growth—it’s a fairly straightforward practice, and it’s essential to longevity. As opposed to marketing metrics, we have to begin with brand-based KPIs (key performance indicators). For most brands, this has to do with customer awareness, sentiment, and engagement. These indicators are your brand’s pulse points.
Tracking these metrics over time paints a clear picture of where your brand stands. A surge in metrics might indicate a peak, which means it’s time to capitalize on the momentum. But if the metrics are stagnant, you might be stuck on a plateau. That means it’s time for strategic recalibration.
If a brand is going to be successful and useful for a business, we have to know how to track its trajectory.
The key here is to regularly put your brand in front of your audiences, all while making sure your assets (designs, colors, messaging, and stories) are distinct from your competitors and consistent over time.
If you’re leading a company and are wondering why your sales or marketing efforts are failing, then it’s likely time to address your brand metrics. By measuring your brand’s availability, sentiment, and popularity, you empower your business to make informed decisions, pivoting and adapting as necessary. When the data dips, you can adjust your heading.
Many branding teams rely on guesswork here. But your brand is a powerful business asset—and it should be stewarded as such. Measurement and adjustment are the most efficient ways to track the success of your brand and steer it toward sustained growth.
After all, when you can measure it, you can manage it.
