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Is your brand marketing working? Top 5 things to check!

Brand - why it is more than just your logo and how to check yours is working!
brand marketing Jeff Bezos

You may have noticed that here at Challenge Marketing we talk a lot about brands, branding and brand marketing.  The reason for that is quite simple: your brand is your unique connection to people, and has a huge impact on your growth, profitability and productivity.

And by ‘brand’ we’re not just talking about your logo. 

Your brand is your very essence: who you are, what you offer, what you stand for, and why you are different!

All marketing teams invest a huge amount of time and money into communicating their brand,
so it’s absolutely essential that you have a handle on whether your efforts are paying off.

One common misconception is that brands cannot be measured, that they are somehow ‘soft’, ‘intangible’ and not subject to the harsh reality of KPI metrics like sales figures, response rates and share prices. Here we take a look at how to get answers to the key questions for your brand marketing.

  1.  Are you cutting through? 
  2.  Do you stand out?  
  3. Are your messages being understood?

1. Where to start?

It can feel like a mountain to climb when you realise you need to have a business-wide view of your marketing. Getting started is the 1st step of course! When Challenge Marketing runs an initial Brand Review for your business, we start by looking at how your brand is perceived and we take a look at your key competitors too.  We critique your visual identity, your website, advertising and collateral, as well as your social media, SEO / PPC and PR activity.

2. Getting the message across

One of the best ways of finding out if people have the perception of your brand that you want them to, is simply to ask them!  This can take the form of surveys, focus groups or other qualitative research techniques.  The very first thing we do in the Brand Review is go out to a select group of people and ask them to assess your current visual branding.  Showing them nothing more than your logo(s) and a list of descriptive words, they tell us if they agree or disagree that the word matches your brand.  What we are left with is a simple snapshot of your brand perception, which acts as a start point for further consideration – the results can often be a revelation!

3. The truth is out there, on social media

Social media is not only a core component of the marketing mix, it is also a rich mine of golden insight nuggets to help you understand how well your brand is performing.  Quantitative data abounds, with Follower Numbers, Engagement Rates and Reach all helping build a picture of how your brand is cutting through.  And it’s not only numbers at your fingertips, there are comments, posts, hashtags and other valuable insights from your target market that shed light on your online reputation.

4. If you really want to know, Google it!

Google ranking example

Customers and competitors aren’t the only ones who have an opinion on your brand, Google does too!  When we conduct a Brand Review, we take a close look at how your website is performing on search engines.  Google has sophisticated algorithms that help it to pick the most relevant and respected websites in its search results, taking into account things such as whether other relevant websites link to yours.  Your performance on Google is a key indicator of the state of your reputation online.

5. Read all about it

Finally, scour the media to monitor what is being written about you.  If your PR campaigns are hitting home, the evidence will be there in black and white.  Is your brand being picked up by the key media for your marketplace?  And are you being perceived in the way that you want to be?

Is your brand marketing working?  Let’s find out!

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Our Brand Review service is a great starting point – read more about how our team of director-level experts will work with you to understand your challenge.

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