So you’ve built a brand. You’ve done your research and positioned it to lead the market. You built your strategic marketing and communications plans. And you’re executing them. Now what? 

Now, you test your brand’s strength! 

Once you’ve determined your optimal brand positioning, your sights should set on internal alignment, strategic planning, and tactic execution. With your strategic marketing plan in place, you can measure the effectiveness of your campaigns through KPIs that measure brand awareness, perception, and engagement. We just spouted off a ton of marketing jargon, so let’s dig into what we really mean. In this article, we’ll explore the essential metrics that help gauge the effectiveness of your brand positioning strategy and how they contribute to your overall business success.

Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is the leading indicator of successful brand positioning. It measures the extent to which your target audience recognizes and remembers your brand. Tracking metrics like unaided recall (spontaneous brand recognition) and aided recall (recognition when prompted with cues) provides insights into how well your brand positioning has penetrated the minds of consumers.

Insight: Increasing brand awareness through consistent messaging and visibility reinforces your brand positioning, making it more likely that consumers will consider your brand when making purchasing decisions.

6 Ways to Evaluate Brand Awareness

1. Study Growth in Direct Website Traffic: This is an indicator of those who are aware of your brand, and visiting your site without prompt. Get familiar with Google Analytics, or whatever analytics service you use.
2. Measure and Study Referral Traffic: This is an indicator of brand reach, and can show you who is visiting your site from where (i.e., social media, external websites, etc.). Same as above, your GA account will show you. 
3. Social Share of Voice: Social listening tracks how frequently your brand is mentioned on social channels and can show total reach, sentiment, and net promoter score. Tools such as Mention.com or Sprout Social can help you with this. (And wouldn’t you know, this right here is an example of a backlink.)
4. Backlink Profiles: Understanding what other sites and sources are referencing your brand can help you understand your audience and perceived brand value. Semrush is an excellent tool for this.
5. Compare Your Earned Media Value With Competitors: You can do this generally by setting up Google Alerts to send you messages when certain keywords hit the web. Or you can go all in with performance dashboards such as Sprout Social or Buzzsumo, a competitive research powerhouse.
6. Surveys: Tried and true, this tool can be used on-site, in emails, through customer research centers, and post-customer service calls. They are great indicators of brand perception.

More about Perception Surveys

Conducting perception surveys helps you understand how your target audience perceives your brand. Questions related to brand attributes, strengths, weaknesses, and differentiators can reveal whether your intended positioning aligns with how customers actually see your brand.

Insight: Monitoring changes in perception over time allows you to adjust your brand positioning strategy to address any gaps or misconceptions.

Customer Loyalty and Engagement

Loyal customers are a testament to effective brand positioning. Metrics like customer retention rate, repeat purchases, and Net Promoter Score (NPS) provide insights into the level of loyalty and satisfaction your brand enjoys among customers. 

Insight: High customer loyalty indicates that your brand’s positioning resonates with customers and meets their expectations, leading to sustained business growth. Consider a loyalty and rewards program to help encourage continued patronage and growth.

Online Engagement Metrics

Online platforms offer a wealth of data to measure brand positioning success. Metrics like social media engagement (likes, shares, comments), website traffic, and click-through rates on digital campaigns reflect how well your brand positioning resonates with online audiences. 

Insight: Strong online engagement suggests that your brand positioning is relevant and compelling to your target audience in the digital landscape. Executing a strong digital marketing strategy will help further engage your audience. 

Impact on Sales and Revenue

Ultimately, the success of brand positioning should translate into tangible business outcomes. Analyze how changes in your brand positioning strategy correlate with changes in sales revenue, market share, and customer acquisition rates. A positive correlation between brand positioning efforts and sales metrics signifies that your positioning strategy is driving consumer interest and motivating purchases.

Measuring brand positioning success goes beyond surface-level metrics; it delves into the heart of your brand’s impact on consumer perceptions, loyalty, and business growth. By monitoring metrics such as brand awareness, perception surveys, customer loyalty, share of voice, online engagement, and their impact on sales and revenue, you gain a holistic view of your brand’s performance. These insights empower you to refine and adapt your brand positioning strategy, ensuring that it remains relevant, resonant, and aligned with your overall business goals.