Top Marketing Metrics You Need to Measure Brand Awareness Success

‍Marketing Metrics are Turning Heads

We get it; marketing metrics are not the most exciting aspect of the brand awareness game. But if you’re not using them to grow your business, you risk falling behind millions of savvy marketers. Here’s why:

Marketing metrics are essential for measuring the success of branding activities — including how positively others perceive you.

This is particularly important for small businesses, freelancers, and entrepreneurs who rely on their brand to attract and retain loyal customers.

Let’s put this in perspective:

Businesses across industries spend an average of 10% of their annual revenue on branding. That means a company with $1 million in revenue pays up to $100,000 on branding alone to build a strong brand identity and drive growth.

They do this because high brand awareness is critical to attracting new customers, driving sales, and increasing loyalty.

In fact, savvy marketers use brand awareness as one of the most important metrics to measure the overall success of their marketing campaigns.

So, how do you measure brand awareness?

This is where marketing metrics get more interesting.

Here’s what we cover in this guide:

What are Marketing Metrics?

Overview

In general, marketing metrics are used to measure the performance of a company’s marketing efforts.

They provide insights into how well a company performs — which typically relates to customer engagement, brand awareness, and other marketing-related activities.

These metrics are used for several purposes, including to:

1. track the success or failure of marketing campaigns,
2. measure the return on investment (ROI) of marketing activities, and
3. optimize strategies for improved performance.

Examples

Here are some common marketing metrics you might have heard of:

• website traffic,
• conversions, and
• email engagement.

In the context of branding, some important metrics that can be used to measure brand awareness include social media mentions and impressions.

Understanding marketing metrics is critical to optimizing marketing strategies and improving brand awareness.

Going Deeper

The idea of spending countless dollars and time building brand awareness without closely monitoring and tracking the effectiveness of those activities sounds downright silly, right?

After all, the intent of building a brand is not only to increase customer loyalty and trust but to stand out from competitors, ultimately resulting in increased sales and revenue.

If this goal is not being reached, it signals a need to make adjustments.

Fortunately, by analyzing marketing metrics, a business can identify which tactics are performing well and which need improvement.

How Marketing Metrics Are Used (High Level)

Marketing metrics are often used to determine which strategies provide the best return on investment (e.g., what activities are ‘paying off’).

By tracking ROI, for example, a company can compare the revenue figures for various marketing efforts to see which are performing best — including which activities are worth investing in, and which need to be reevaluated.

Metrics also help a company to understand customer behavior and preferences.

For example, by tracking customer engagement metrics, a company gains insight into what customers want and how they respond to different marketing tactics.

Now, let’s look at how marketing metrics can be used to measure brand awareness.

Breaking Down Brand Awareness into Measurable Components

Understanding Brand Awareness

Before attempting to measure brand awareness, it’s helpful to break down what it really means – in more technical terms. This provides a better picture of what indicators are relevant and why.

Let’s start with what brand awareness refers to:

Brand awareness is the extent to which a target audience can recognize and recall a particular brand.

It measures the familiarity and popularity of a brand among consumers and is a key component of a company’s overall brand equity.

So, how do you measure things like familiarity and popularity?

It begins with asking the right questions about your brand.

Asking the Right Questions

The following are perhaps the eight most important questions when it comes to getting insight into your brand awareness:

1. How many people recognize your brand name or logo?
2. Can people correctly associate your brand with your products or services?
3. Can people recall your brand when asked about products or services in your industry?
4. How frequently is your brand mentioned in the media and online?
5. What is the sentiment surrounding your brand, and are people talking positively or negatively about it?
6. Are your marketing efforts driving brand recognition, and are you seeing increased website traffic, social media engagement, and sales?
7. Are you conducting customer surveys or focus groups to gather feedback on brand recognition and perception?
8. How does your brand recognition compare to your competitors in the industry?

So, how do you get the answers to these questions?

This requires getting a bit more technical…

The technical aspects of brand awareness

In a nutshell, you need to measure and analyze various metrics to get insights into how recognizable, memorable, and trustworthy a brand is.

Some of the most important metrics include:

• website traffic,
• search engine rankings,
• social media reach,
• impressions,
• click-through rates,
• brand mentions, and
• brand sentiment.

Now for the fun part. Let’s put everything together, and see how to measure brand awareness and interpret marketing metrics.

The Top 7 Marketing Metrics to Measure Brand Awareness

Here’s a breakdown of the best marketing metrics to get a quantitative look at how your branding activities are performing:

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(1) Brand Mentions

• Question it answers: How much buzz is your brand generating?
• What it measures: The number of times your brand is mentioned online
• How to get this metric: Social listening tools such as YouScan, Brand24, and Hootsuite Insights (Powered by Brandwatch)

The number of times your brand is mentioned online, including on social media, blogs, news articles, and other websites, provides valuable insights into the frequency and context of your brand mentions, as well as the sentiment surrounding them. By tracking your brand mentions over time, you can assess the impact of your brand awareness efforts and make adjustments as needed to increase visibility and positive sentiment.

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(2) Brand Sentiment

• Question it answers: How is your brand perceived by your target audience and the public?
• What it measures: The overall sentiment (positive, negative, neutral) associated with your brand
• How to get this metric: Brand sentiment analysis tools such as Mentionlytics, TalkWalker, BrandMentions

By analyzing the sentiment about your brand on social media, review sites, and other platforms, you can determine if your brand message results in positive, negative, or neutral perceptions. For example, if you launch a new branding campaign and see an increase in positive comments in online conversations and reviews, this is a good sign you are moving in the right direction.

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(3) Website Traffic

• Question it answers: How many people are visiting your website?
• What it measures: The number of visitors to your website
• How to get this metric: Website analytics tools such as Google Analytics (free), SEMrush, and Ahrefs

The number of website visitors coming from new sources, such as organic search, social media, or referral traffic, provides a sense of the reach and impact of your brand messaging. Additionally, analyzing metrics such as bounce rate, time on site, and pages per session can speak to the quality and relevance of the content and user experience on the website.

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(4) Website Conversions

• Question it answers: How effective is your website at converting visitors into customers?
• What it measures: The number of website visitors who complete a desired action, such as filling out a form or making a purchase
• How to get this metric: Website analytics tools such as Google Analytics (free), Kissmetrics, and Hotjar

The number of website visitors who take a desired action, such as signing up for a newsletter, can indicate the impact of your brand messaging on driving customer engagement and loyalty. Additionally, analyzing conversion rates and comparing them across different marketing channels and campaigns can provide insights into the most effective strategies for building brand awareness and driving conversions.

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(5) Search Engine Rankings

• Question it answers: How visible is your brand in search results?
• What it measures: Where your website ranks on search engine results pages for relevant keywords
• How to get this metric: SEO tracking tools such as Google Search Console (free), SEMrush, and Moz

By analyzing the search rankings for your brand and comparing them to those of your competitors, you can gain insights into how well your brand is recognized and perceived in the market. Additionally, monitoring changes in your search rankings over time can help you identify opportunities to improve your brand messaging and optimize your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts to increase brand awareness and attract more qualified traffic to your website.

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(6) Social Media Reach

• Question it answers: How many people are exposed to your brand on social media?
• What it measures: The number of unique individuals who see your social media posts
• How to get this metric: Social media management tools such as Buffer, Socialbakers and Agorapulse

The number of users reached, engagement levels (likes, comments, shares), and follower growth over time on social media platforms help you evaluate your brand messaging performance on social media. For example, you can track the reach of your social media posts over a given period and analyze the engagement and follower growth to determine the effectiveness of brand awareness efforts.

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(7) Impressions and click-through rate (CTR)

• Question it answers: Are your ads and content being seen by your target audience and are they engaging with it?
• What it measures: The number of times your brand’s online advertisements are viewed (impressions) and the percentage of viewers who click through to your website
• How to get this metric: Advertising analytics tools such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads Manager, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Twitter Ads, and Hootsuite Insights

A high impression count and CTR indicate that your brand’s message is being noticed and resonating with your target audience. This can mean that your brand awareness activities are working effectively. Additionally, you can use this metric to evaluate the effectiveness of different ad campaigns or creatives to determine which messaging or imagery most appeals to your audience.

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In addition to qualitative metrics, it’s super important to gather qualitative information, such as “Can people recall your brand when asked about products in your industry?“

We’ll cover this next…

Measuring Brand Awareness Using Qualitative Considerations

What Does Qualitative Mean?

Unlike the seven marketing metrics above, qualitative information refers to more “subjective” information, such as attitudes, opinions, beliefs, experiences, and feelings.

It is more challenging to measure or quantify this type of data. However, it is equally important as it provides rich and detailed insights into complex brand awareness aspects, such as how your brand is perceived relative to your competitors.

What Tools Can Be Used to Gather Qualitative Information?

Qualitative information can be gathered through surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, and case studies.

Here are some tools that can be used to gather qualitative data:

Method	Tools
Surveys	SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, Typeform, Qualtrics
Interviews	Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams
Focus Groups	Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams
Observations	In-person or remote observation using tools like video cameras or screen recording software (Google Analytics, Hotjar, Crazy Egg, Mouseflow)
Case Studies	Analysis of specific cases using tools like video or audio recording software (Google Slides, PowerPoint, Prezi, Canva)

GOING DEEPER: Observation

Note that the observation method is more relevant for situations where direct customer interaction is possible.

For instance, a business can observe customers in a store or on a website and note how they engage with the brand. 

They can observe which products or services customers are drawn to, how they interact with the brand’s messaging and visuals, and how they navigate the brand’s website or store layout.

GOING DEEPER: Case Studies

One example of using case studies as a qualitative method to measure brand awareness is to conduct a study on the impact of a recent advertising campaign on brand recognition and customer engagement.

By analyzing data such as website traffic, social media interactions, and sales figures before and after the campaign, you can determine whether the campaign successfully increased brand awareness and influenced customer behavior.

The Most Important Qualitative Brand Awareness Metrics

Here’s a breakdown of the best marketing metrics to get a qualitative look at how your branding activities are performing:

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(1) Brand Familiarity

• Question it answers: How many people recognize your brand name or logo?
• What it measures: The level of familiarity and recognition people have with your brand name or logo
• How to get this metric: Use a survey or poll to ask participants to identify your brand, and record their responses

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(2) Brand Association

• Question it answers: Are people able to correctly associate your brand with your products or services?
• What it measures: The extent to which people associate your brand with your products or services
• How to get this metric: Use a survey or poll to ask participants to match your brand with the correct product or service, and record their responses

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(3) Brand Recall

• Question it answers: Are people able to recall your brand when asked about products or services in your industry?
• What it measures: The ability of people to remember your brand when asked about products or services in your industry
• How to get this metric: Use a survey or poll to ask participants to recall brands in your industry, and record their responses

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(4) Brand Recognition Relative to Competitors

• Question it answers: How does your brand recognition compare to your competitors in the industry?
• What it measures: How well your brand recognition compares to your competitors in the industry
• How to get this metric: Use a survey or poll to ask participants to identify your brand and your competitors’ brands, and record their responses

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If you made it this far, good for you!

Here’s a gift for your commitment — and for staying on this page and helping our engagement 😉

FINAL THOUGHT: How Do You Feel About Marketing Metrics Now?

While brand building can be a thrilling creative adventure, analyzing metrics is often neglected and brushed off — despite its critical role in measuring the true impact of your brand.

But, remember this:

The ones who focus on the things that others don't are the ones who get ahead and build a brand that stands the test of time.

So, if you want more control over your brand image — including the power of insight into how your brand is performing — practice the consistent use of marketing metrics to monitor, track and measure your brand awareness.