Brands are important. They’re more than a logo, or a tagline, they’re the image your customers build for your business in their mind – the personality they assign to it, constructed from every decision you take, whether you think it affects your customers or not.
Whenever a customer has any experience with your business, it modifies their understanding of the brand in their head – Including something as simple as seeing a poster for your products on their commute, an interaction with your customer service team, or even the drawn out experience of saving up to buy something you offer. It could even be the simple, immediate reaction to the sight of your product line, how they feel about the colour and design of the items on display. All of these moments add up to form what they understand your brand to be.
If the choices you make aren’t creating the right brand image in your customers’ eyes, then you have a problem. You need to be able to check on your brand health regularly, so you know it’s performing like you need it to.
Getting Data
The main source of data immediately available to you are your sales figures. These provide an easy and immediate read on the success of your business – more money coming in is good, a drop in revenue indicates a problem.
While that gives you a clear signal that something is succeeding or failing, it doesn’t do much to tell you what or why. To get a better answer, and ensure your brand really is in good health, you need to dig deeper.
Going to the People
For a more detailed read on the health of your brand, you need to speak to the people experiencing it and forming judgements about your business – the consumers. Working with a market research agency can get you access to data directly from your customers – and even more usefully, people who haven’t shopped with you yet. Finding out just what these untapped consumers think of your business could be the vital insight you need.
One of the most helpful things a market research company can get you, to help measure your brand’s health, is your Net Promoter Score. This is an, objective, quantifiable measure of how likely your customers are to recommend you to friends. This shows how positively they think of your brand and how much you can expect word of mouth (derived from positive brand experiences) to help grow your business!
