Imagine you're a brand manager at a corporate banking institution. One day, you notice a decline in client engagement and loyalty among your high-value corporate clients. Panic sets in—what’s causing this drop? How do you fix it? This is where brand equity tracking comes in to provide crucial insights. Brand equity tracking involves measuring various brand metrics such as awareness, consideration, and loyalty to gauge the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and the overall health of your brand. By regularly monitoring these metrics, you can pinpoint exactly where your brand is excelling and where it needs a boost. For instance, through brand equity tracking, you might discover that while your corporate bank is well-known, clients feel it lacks personalized financial advisory services.
In this blog, we'll define the concept of brand equity tracking and discuss its importance and methodologies. We'll also share a detailed case study of a real corporate banking institution that used brand equity tracking to turn around its client engagement and loyalty, demonstrating how this tool can lead to actionable insights and improved brand performance.
Brand Equity Tracking
Brand equity tracking is the ongoing process of measuring a brand's strength and its performance against competitors. This involves regular surveys and data analysis to understand how consumers perceive the brand, its products, and its marketing campaigns. Key metrics typically tracked include brand awareness, ad recall, brand consideration, customer satisfaction, and loyalty.
Importance of Brand Equity Tracking
- Continuous improvement: Regular tracking allows brands to adjust their strategies based on current performance and market dynamics. For instance, if a tech company notices a dip in customer satisfaction through monthly surveys, it can swiftly address issues in its customer service or product features.
- Competitor benchmarking: Understanding where the brand stands relative to competitors helps identify opportunities and threats. For example, a retail brand might discover through benchmarking that its competitors are gaining market share due to better online shopping experiences, prompting them to enhance their e-commerce platform.
- Customer insight: Tracking brand equity provides valuable insights into customer preferences, behaviors, and perceptions, enabling more targeted and effective marketing. A beverage company, for instance, might find that customers prefer eco-friendly packaging, leading them to adopt sustainable practices in their product packaging.
Methodologies in Brand Equity Tracking
- Surveys: Conducting surveys with existing and potential customers to measure key brand metrics. For example, a car manufacturer might survey customers about their awareness and perception of a new electric vehicle model to gauge market readiness and interest.
- Focus groups: Engaging with small groups of customers to gather qualitative insights. A cosmetics brand could use focus groups to explore customer opinions on new product lines, understanding their preferences and potential concerns before a full market launch.
- Social media analysis: Monitoring brand mentions and sentiments on social media platforms. For instance, a fast-food chain might analyze social media feedback to identify trends in customer preferences and respond to negative sentiments quickly.
- Sales data: Analyzing sales trends to correlate with marketing activities and brand perception changes. A clothing retailer might track sales spikes following specific marketing campaigns, helping them understand which strategies are most effective in driving customer purchases.
Case Study: A Financial Institution
A well-established credit union seeking to better understand consumer perceptions of its brand and monitor changes over time embarked on a brand equity tracking project. This initiative was designed to evaluate the impact of their marketing activities and pinpoint areas for improvement. The primary objectives were to assess current brand perception, focusing on brand awareness, ad recall, brand consideration, and customer loyalty, and track these metrics over time.
The project fielded in early 2024 and utilized online surveys. The key metrics tracked included both unaided and aided brand awareness, ad recall, brand consideration, customer satisfaction, and loyalty.
Brand awareness findings revealed that the credit union held a strong position in some markets but lagged in others, indicating a need for more targeted marketing in those regions. Unaided awareness was low, with only 6 percent of respondents recalling the credit union without prompting, though aided awareness increased to 49 percent when respondents were provided with a list.
Advertising recall was moderate, with 8 percent of respondents recalling the credit union’s advertisements in the past month. This suggested that while some consumers were reached, there was room to improve visibility and impact. Despite this, the credit union enjoyed a strong consideration rate among those familiar with the brand, with 40 percent of respondents indicating they would consider the credit union for their financial needs, comparable to other leading credit unions.
Current members expressed high levels of satisfaction, highlighting the consistent customer experience, competitive product offerings, and trustworthiness of the credit union. The net promoter score (NPS) stood at 54, indicating a high level of customer loyalty and willingness to recommend the brand to others.
Key loyalty drivers included a consistent and reliable service experience, competitive loan and deposit rates, the credit union’s perceived honesty and reliability, personalized and friendly customer service, and the convenience of local branches. These factors created a strong foundation of customer loyalty and satisfaction for the credit union to build upon as it continues to refine and enhance its marketing strategies.
Enhancing Market Position with Brand Tracking
Brand equity tracking is an essential tool for any organization looking to understand and enhance its market position. The credit union case study highlights the importance of regular tracking to gauge the effectiveness of marketing strategies and overall brand health. By understanding key metrics such as brand awareness, ad recall, brand consideration, customer satisfaction, and loyalty, organizations can make informed decisions to drive brand growth and customer engagement.
For the credit union, the findings underscore the need to increase brand awareness in emerging markets like Orlando and Detroit, enhance advertising efforts, and continue focusing on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Through targeted marketing and continuous improvement, the credit union can strengthen its brand equity and maintain its competitive edge in the financial services industry.
How to Set Your Brand Apart from Competitors
Does your brand stand out? Andrew Reise Consulting assisted a large telecommunications provider in the implementation of a new brand and go-to-market strategy with customer-centric offerings that would further differentiate the company from its competitors as a customer experience leader. See the results here.
