Want to understand the vitality of your brand reputation over time? A tracking tool might just be what you need.
What Is a Brand Health Tracker?
A healthy brand is one has scores positively with audiences, is growing at a consistent rate, and understands its place in the market. The brand is in good shape.
Marketers need to keep a pulse of their brand's health. By tracking certain metrics, it's possible to project where a business's reputation will flourish and what problems it will encounter along the way.
A brand health tracker is the tool you use to measure how your brand performs over time. Understand your brand's positioning against competitors, where you're falling short, and what risks are on the horizon.
Trackers look at key metrics like:
Brand awareness
Consumer sentiment
Market perception
Purchase intent
By keeping tabs on these areas, you can spot trends and make smart choices to improve your brand’s standing.
This guide aims to introduce you to brand tracking and get you started with some quick wins. We'll look at popular brand tracking tools such as CisionOne and Brandwatch, which gather data from various sources to give you a full picture of your brand’s health.
Why Use a Brand Health Tracker?
Brand trackers are really useful tools for understanding where your business 'is' at any given moment. You might use it to develop a better marketing strategy and invest in new campaigns. You might need it to gauge the aftershocks of a crisis at your company. Or you might just want to figure out where you are compared to your rivals.
No matter what you need brand metrics for, they help you:
Stay competitive in crowded markets
Understand your reputation
Identify areas for improvement
Track the impact of marketing efforts
Remember, brand health isn’t just about sales. It’s about building a strong, lasting connection with your audience. Reputation is key here. A good tracker gives you the insights you need to nurture that relationship and ensure your overall brand health is strong.
In This Guide:
Why Tracking Your Brand's Health Is Crucial for Long-Term Success
Key Metrics to Measure Brand Health
How Brand Health Trackers Work: Tools and Platforms
Tools to Get Started With Brand Health Tracking
FAQs
Why Tracking Your Brand's Health Is Crucial for Long-Term Success
A healthy brand needs constant upkeep the ensure it's doing what you need it to do. Just like a healthy body, right? You can't sit back and expect a brand or your body to look after itself. You need to be proactive and oversee its progress.
Doing so means your brand will grow and deepen its connections with audiences and customers. This is crucial. A brand can better withstand PR disasters if it has a loyal customer base, just like a healthy body can recover faster from injuries..
Brand tracking is crucial for three things:
Identifying problems early
Gauging sentiment
Targeting growth
Here's a little more about each of these areas.
1. Brand Health Tracking Helps Identify Potential Issues Early
Say you work for a car brand that sells two million models of its new SUV. User sentiment is good, but then you notice online complaints about the car. Those complaints turn into newspaper articles, and then TV news stations pick up the story.
Suddenly your brand health is in trouble. Well, tracking acts as an early warning system for your business. It lets you spot problems before they grow into major crises, such as small complaints online about your brand.
You can monitor key metrics like customer sentiment, share of voice, and brand awareness to build a picture of your brand positioning. You can then take action if the metrics show negativity towards the brand.
For example, if you notice negative reviews increasing on those SUVs your brand sold, you can address customer concerns right away. Maybe you need to do a product recall. This stops small issues from snowballing into PR nightmares.
Many brands have avoided disaster thanks to brand tracking. When Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 phones started catching fire, their brand health metrics plummeted. By tracking this, they were able to recall the phones quickly and limit long-term damage to their brand.
2. Gauging Consumer Sentiment to Understand Brand Performance
Brand health tracking gives you a window into your customers’ minds. You can see how people feel about your brand compared to competitors, even if they don't directly say this in their messages.
This is called sentiment analysis. Using AI, tools like CisionOne are able to find the hidden meanings behind social media posts.
Meanwhile, you can see how well a brand performs by using these tools, as well as interacting with consumers directly. Use sales data, feedback forms, surveys, social listening, and other forms of consumer research to track metrics like:
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Brand recall
Purchase intent
Social media sentiment
These paint a picture of how the market views your brand. If your NPS drops, it may signal unhappy customers. Low brand recall could mean your marketing isn’t hitting the mark.
By understanding these perceptions, you can fine-tune your strategy. You’ll know where to focus your efforts for maximum impact.
3. Target Growth in Sales and Customer Loyalty
A healthy brand drives customer loyalty and boosts sales. After all, people are more likely to buy from you again and again when they trust and like your brand. They'll also recommend you to others!
Brand health directly impacts your bottom line. Research shows that 86% of customers walk away from a brand after just two poor experiences. Think of your brand like ice cream: A customer might try your cones once and hate it, but be willing to come back and sample a second flavor. Get that wrong and they definitely won't return!
On the flip side, loyal customers are worth up to 10 times their first purchase because customer lifetime value is so high.
By tracking your brand's health, you can spot opportunities to improve loyalty and drive growth. This creates a virtuous cycle of happy customers and rising sales. What's not to love?
Key Metrics to Measure Brand Health
Now, it's time to look at the metrics you need to accurately measure brand health again and again. These key brand health metrics help you make data-driven decisions to strengthen your brand’s position in the market, so it's important you keep an eye on them.
Net Promoter Score (NPS): Assessing Customer Loyalty and Satisfaction
The first metric we're looking at here is Net Promoter Score. NPS measures how likely your customers are to recommend your brand or product to others.
Brands ask customers to rate their satisfaction levels from 0-10, and use this data to tweak their products and marketing strategies next time.
This is particularly important for sports teams that are trying to 'sell' a game experience that goes beyond the sport. It's important to know what fans like and dislike when spending time at the stadium.
Did you know, for example, that Baltimore's Camden Yards has the best stadium experience in baseball?
A high NPS shows strong customer loyalty and satisfaction. This can lead to more word-of-mouth marketing and repeat business. No wonder the Orioles' average attendance at home games increased by more than 6,000 fans.
To track NPS, you can use tools to gather and analyze customer feedback across various channels. Regularly checking your NPS helps you spot trends and address issues quickly. You can also compare your score to industry benchmarks to see how you stack up against competitors.
Share of Voice: How Your Brand Stacks Up Against Competitors
Next, it's time to look at Share of Voice (SOV). This tells you how much of the conversation your brand owns compared to competitors. SOV analysis looks at mentions across social media, news, other online platforms, and traditional media outlets.
To calculate SOV, divide your brand mentions by total mentions in your industry. Then multiply by 100 to get a percentage. Tools like CisionOne can help you track this metric.
A high SOV means your brand is getting more attention than competitors. This can lead to better brand awareness and potentially more sales. By monitoring SOV, you can:
Spot trends in brand visibility
Identify successful marketing campaigns
Find opportunities to boost your presence
Brand Awareness and Brand Association: Measuring Consumer Recognition and Perception
Finally, it's time to look at awareness and association. Brand awareness is how familiar people are with your brand. Almost everyone knows what McDonald's is, so they achieve 96% brand awareness in the UK.
Brand association looks at what people think and feel about your brand. Almost everyone knows what McDonald's is, but the restaurant only has 60% popularity in the UK.
Marketing leaders know the importance of awareness and association, and the ratio between the two.
To measure awareness, you can track:
Unprompted recall (Can people name your brand without help?)
Prompted recognition (Do people recognize your brand when shown?)
A mega brand like McDonald's doesn't need to worry about awareness, but a New York pizza chain trying to stand out in a competitive market might.
For brand association, look at:
Words people use to describe your brand
Emotions linked to your brand
Values people connect with your brand
This is something McDonald's marketing executives will be more concerned about. A good brand tracking strategy needs to consider association, otherwise it won't convert awareness into sales.
Tools like CisionOne can help you gather this data through surveys and social listening. High awareness paired with positive associations shows a strong brand health. This can lead to easier marketing, customer trust, and brand loyalty.
How Brand Health Trackers Work: Tools and Platforms
Brand health trackers use advanced software to gather and analyze data from various sources. These tools help you keep a pulse on your brand's reputation and performance in real-time.
Leveraging Real-Time Data From Social Listening Tools (CisionOne, Sprinklr)
Social listening tools like CisionOne and Sprinklr scan social media platforms, news sites, and forums for mentions of your brand. They collect data 24/7, giving you up-to-the-minute insights.
These tools use AI to analyze text and images. This helps you spot trends and issues quickly. For example, you might see a spike in negative comments about a new product launch.
You can set up alerts for key terms or topics. This keeps you informed of important conversations about your brand as they happen.
Tracking Brand Mentions, Sentiment Trends, and Customer Feedback Across Social Media
Brand health trackers monitor more than just how often people talk about you. They also look at what people are saying and how they feel.
These tools use sentiment analysis to classify mentions as positive, negative, or neutral. This gives you a clear picture of public opinion over time.
You can track specific hashtags, product names, or campaigns. This helps you measure the success of your marketing efforts.
Many platforms also let you compare your brand's performance to competitors. This shows you where you stand in the market.
Using Brand Health Reports to Monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Brand health trackers generate detailed reports on your KPIs. These might include:
Brand awareness
Share of voice
Customer loyalty
Net Promoter Score
You can customize dashboards to show the metrics that matter most to you. This makes it easy to spot trends and track progress toward your goals.
Many tools offer data visualization features. These turn complex data into easy-to-understand charts and graphs.
You can schedule regular reports to be sent to your team. This keeps everyone up to date on your brand's health and performance.
Tools to Get Started With Brand Health Tracking
Brand health tracking tools help you monitor your brand's performance and reputation. These platforms offer valuable insights to guide your marketing strategy and improve brand perception.
Overview of the Top Brand Health Tracking Platforms
CisionOne is a powerful tool for social listening and brand monitoring. It tracks mentions across social media, blogs, and news sites.
The platform offers real-time data, sentiment analysis, and trend tracking.
Sprinklr provides a comprehensive suite for brand health tracking. It includes social listening, customer care, and content management features.
Meltwater focuses on media monitoring and social analytics. It tracks brand mentions across online and traditional media sources.
The platform offers customizable dashboards and competitive benchmarking.
Hootsuite is an all-in-one social media management tool with brand health features.
It lets you monitor brand mentions, track engagement, and measure content performance across platforms.
How to Set Up a Comprehensive Brand Health Dashboard
Start by choosing key metrics to track, such as brand mentions, sentiment, and share of voice. Set up data sources in your chosen platform, including social media accounts and relevant keywords.
Create custom dashboards to visualize your brand health data. Include widgets for real-time mentions, sentiment trends, and top influencers.
Add competitor tracking to benchmark your performance.
Set up alerts for sudden changes in sentiment or mention volume. This helps you spot potential crises or viral content quickly.
Customize your dashboard layout to prioritize the most important metrics for your brand.
Make sure it's easy to read and understand at a glance.
Best Practices for Automating and Scheduling Brand Health Reports
Set up automated weekly or monthly reports to track long-term trends. Include key metrics, notable mentions, and sentiment analysis in these reports.
Use your platform's scheduling features to send reports to stakeholders automatically. This ensures everyone stays informed without manual work.
Create different report templates for various teams or purposes. For example, make a high-level summary for executives and a detailed analysis for the marketing team.
Set up real-time alerts for urgent issues that need immediate attention. This could include negative sentiment spikes or viral posts about your brand.
Regularly review and refine your automated reports. Add new metrics or adjust the format based on feedback from your team.
Frequently Asked Questions
Brand health tracking provides crucial insights into how your company is perceived. Let's explore some common questions about measuring and improving brand performance.
How can a company effectively measure their brand's health?
You can measure brand health through surveys, social media monitoring, and sales data analysis. Regular brand tracking studies help you gauge awareness, sentiment, and perception over time.
Focus groups and questionnaires give deeper insights into customer opinions.
Which metrics are most insightful when tracking brand performance?
Key metrics include brand awareness, consideration, preference, and loyalty. Track mentions, sentiment, and engagement on social platforms.
Measure purchase intent, Net Promoter Score, and market share. These indicators paint a clear picture of your brand's standing.
What are some of the leading tools available for brand health tracking?
HubSpot offers brand monitoring as part of its marketing platform. Sprout Social tracks social media metrics and brand mentions.
CisionOne analyzes online conversations about your brand. Google Analytics provides website traffic and engagement data.
Could you give an example of successful brand tracking in action?
A beverage company used brand tracking to spot a dip in consumer perception. They quickly addressed concerns through targeted marketing.
This led to improved sentiment scores and sales within months. Tracking allowed them to respond swiftly to market changes.
How do Nielsen and Kantar approaches to brand tracking differ?
Nielsen focuses on retail sales data and consumer behavior. Kantar emphasizes consumer surveys and panel research.
Nielsen provides in-depth purchase data. Kantar offers broader insights into brand perceptions and attitudes. Both use large sample sizes for reliable results.
What strategies do brand tracking companies employ to gauge brand loyalty?
Companies use repeat purchase rates and customer lifetime value to measure loyalty.
They track social media engagement and brand advocacy.
Net Promoter Score surveys reveal customer satisfaction.
Loyalty program data shows how often customers choose your brand.
