Can brand awareness generate measurable ROI?

“Can brand awareness generate measurable ROI?”, is a reasonable question for any sensible business owner or marketer to ask; no business can afford to invest money on activities that don’t have quantifiable results.

Branding and brand awareness can be notoriously tricky to measure, especially when you’re looking at it in a vacuum. Although brand awareness sits right at the top of your sales and marketing funnel, it isn’t a clear-cut acquisition channel, more of an assistant to other acquisition methods.

However, there are a few key indicators of brand awareness you can measure – let’s have a look.

Can brand awareness generate a measurable ROI?

Brand awareness is needed – how would you ever make any sales if nobody has heard of your company? But, viewing it as a direct way to boost sales is perhaps the wrong way to frame brand awareness and instead, brand awareness should be viewed as an assist to sales.

For example, if you were to exhibit your company at a trade show, it would be fairly easy to work out the ROI of that exhibition, helping you decide if you want to invest money in this channel again.

Brand awareness isn’t so simple as it infiltrates every area of sales. Going back to the trade show example – a potential customer may look for your stand because they were already aware of your brand, once meeting you they may decide to buy. This may be more difficult to measure but brand awareness certainly played a part in that sale.

This example shows how brand awareness helps at every part of your sales funnel; the same example can be applied to an inbound phone call or email.

In summary, brand awareness will not be a big direct win and is more difficult to measure but is certainly an important aspect of your overall sales and marketing strategy.

Why measure brand awareness?

Last week on our blog, we explained what brand awareness is and we have also put together the ultimate guide to increasing brand awareness – we think raising brand awareness is important – even for B2B companies who may not have traditionally given much thought to brand awareness. 

Brand awareness increases familiarity in your audience and with familiarity comes trust – an important factor for many B2B companies, especially those providing services.

Have we convinced you yet how important brand awareness is?

If increasing brand awareness is an important part of your sales and marketing strategy, then it needs to be measured just like any other marketing activity.

How can brand awareness be measured?

One of the easiest ways to measure brand awareness is to simply ask your customers more questions.

Don’t underestimate the power of a good survey.

Surveying customers and potential customers needn’t be a onetime activity or a big deal either – just ask new customers where they heard of your company or product when they get in touch. Keep a record of answers so that you can evaluate which of your brand awareness campaigns are taking effect.

This is one of the more ‘low tech’ options when it comes to measuring brand awareness but it’s highly effective as you’re getting the information you need straight from the source.

A broader survey could involve asking a random selection of people who aren’t customers if they are aware of your company or products. Information gathered can be used to inform future campaigns and maybe look at how you are trying to approach your target audience.

Your website and analytical tools can also be used to measure brand awareness – one super easy metric to check is the number of hits your website receives via searching for your company name or any unique brand terms. You can use Google Adwords Keyword Planner, Trends, and Search Console to track this.

If customers are searching your name, the name of company-specific products, or services then they’re already familiar with you. Capture this information to gauge how brand awareness campaigns are working.

Social media is also a powerful tool when it comes to measuring brand awareness. How much your brand is mentioned on social is a good indicator of levels of brand awareness and can be used to track any changes.

Key metrics to take note of are the number of brand mentions, engagement, and reach. Tools like Hootsuite or Sprout Social are useful tools here.