The Domino’s Crisis: Identifying the Problem In the late 2000s, Domino’s Pizza found itself facing a very public crisis. Customers
In today’s fiercely competitive market, relying on a one-size-fits-all approach rarely leads to success. This is especially true when it comes to brand tracking. Every business operates in a unique environment with distinct goals, challenges, and customer bases. Therefore, a generic brand tracking solution may not capture the nuances that are crucial to understanding and improving your brand’s performance.
Customising your brand tracking strategy is essential for gaining accurate insights that reflect your specific business needs. Whether you’re focused on improving customer loyalty, increasing brand awareness, or understanding market perception, a tailored approach allows you to track the metrics that matter most to your brand. This ensures that the data you collect is not only relevant but also actionable, enabling you to make informed decisions that drive real results.
In this article, we’ll explore the importance of tailoring your brand tracking efforts to fit your unique business needs. We’ll also provide practical steps and examples to help you customise your strategy, so you can optimise your brand’s performance and achieve your specific objectives.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CUSTOMISED BRAND TRACKING
Every brand operates in a distinct market with its own set of challenges, opportunities, and customer expectations. Because of this, the insights needed to drive brand success can vary significantly from one business to another. A generic approach to brand tracking may offer a broad overview, but it often misses the nuances that are critical for making strategic decisions specific to your brand’s unique circumstances.
Understanding Diversity in Brand Needs
Different industries, customer bases, and business models require different approaches to brand tracking. For example, a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company might prioritise metrics like brand awareness and purchase frequency, while a luxury brand might focus more on brand perception and customer satisfaction. Similarly, a B2B company may place greater emphasis on lead generation quality and client retention, metrics that might be less relevant to a consumer-facing brand.
By customising your brand tracking strategy, you ensure that the metrics you track are aligned with your brand’s specific needs and goals. This targeted approach allows you to gather data that is not only relevant but also actionable, providing insights that directly inform your strategic decisions.
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Generic Solutions
Off-the-shelf brand tracking solutions often rely on standardised metrics and benchmarks, which can be useful for general comparisons but might not capture the full picture of your brand’s performance. These generic solutions can lead to a one-dimensional view of your brand health, missing critical insights that could be the key to driving growth and customer loyalty.
For instance, a standard brand tracking tool might focus heavily on Net Promoter Score (NPS) as a primary metric. While NPS is valuable, it might not be sufficient on its own, especially if your brand is in a highly competitive or niche market where other factors, like customer effort, brand sentiment, or specific product attributes, play a more significant role in driving customer loyalty.
Maximising the Relevance of Your Data
Customised brand tracking ensures that the data you collect is directly relevant to your brand’s objectives. By focusing on the metrics that matter most to your business, you can derive insights that are specifically tailored to your market position and strategic goals. This relevance is crucial for making data-driven decisions that have a real impact on your brand’s success.
For example, a brand that is focused on expanding into new markets might prioritise tracking metrics related to brand awareness and market penetration in those regions. In contrast, a brand looking to strengthen customer loyalty might focus more on customer satisfaction, repeat purchase rates, and qualitative feedback.
By aligning your brand tracking efforts with your unique business needs, you gain a clearer understanding of where your brand stands and what actions are necessary to achieve your goals. This approach not only enhances the accuracy of your insights but also increases the likelihood of making strategic decisions that drive meaningful results.
IDENTIFYING YOUR BRAND’S UNIQUE NEEDS
Before you can effectively customise your brand tracking strategy, it’s crucial to first identify your brand’s unique needs. This involves a deep understanding of your business objectives, market environment, and the specific challenges your brand faces. By clearly defining these elements, you can tailor your brand tracking efforts to gather the most relevant and actionable data.
- Assessing Your Goals
The first step in identifying your brand’s unique needs is to clarify what you want to achieve with your brand tracking. Different businesses have different priorities, and these priorities will determine the metrics that are most important to track. Ask yourself:
- Are you looking to boost brand awareness in a new market?
- Is improving customer loyalty a primary focus?
- Are you trying to better understand how your brand is perceived compared to competitors?
For example, if your main goal is to increase brand awareness in a specific region, you’ll want to focus on metrics like brand recognition, consideration rates, and regional market share. On the other hand, if customer retention is your primary objective, tracking repeat purchase rates, customer satisfaction (CSAT), and customer loyalty metrics will be more relevant.
- Understanding Your Market
Your market environment plays a significant role in shaping your brand tracking needs. Different industries have different norms, customer expectations, and competitive landscapes, all of which should influence the metrics you choose to track.
Begin by analysing your industry and identifying key trends that may impact your brand. Consider the competitive dynamics, are you operating in a crowded market where differentiation is key, or in a niche market where customer loyalty is more important? Understanding these factors will help you pinpoint the areas where your brand needs to focus its tracking efforts.
Additionally, consider your customer demographics. Different segments of your audience may have different expectations and behaviours. For instance, younger consumers might be more concerned with brand values and sustainability, while older customers might prioritise product quality and reliability. By understanding these nuances, you can ensure that your brand tracking strategy is attuned to the specific preferences and behaviours of your target audience.
- Evaluating Internal Resources
Customising your brand tracking strategy also requires an honest assessment of your internal resources. The scope and complexity of your tracking efforts will depend on factors like budget, time, and personnel. For instance, a smaller company with limited resources might focus on a few key metrics that provide the most value, while a larger organisation might have the capacity to track a broader range of indicators.
Consider the following:
- Budget: How much are you willing or able to invest in brand tracking tools, software, and expertise?
- Time: How frequently can you collect and analyse data? Do you have the bandwidth to conduct in-depth analyses on a regular basis?
- Personnel: Do you have a dedicated team for brand tracking, or will these tasks need to be integrated into existing roles?
Understanding these constraints will help you design a brand tracking strategy that is both effective and sustainable. For example, a company with limited resources might prioritise tracking key customer feedback metrics through automated surveys, while a larger company might implement a more comprehensive dashboard that tracks multiple metrics in real-time.
- Example: Tailoring for Different Business Models
To illustrate, let’s consider two different business models, a B2B company and a consumer-facing brand. A B2B company might prioritise metrics like lead quality, client retention, and the effectiveness of account management strategies. For this type of business, the focus would be on understanding how well the brand supports long-term client relationships and contributes to the decision-making process of business clients.
In contrast, a consumer-facing brand might focus more on brand awareness, customer satisfaction, and emotional connection with the brand. Here, the goal is to understand how consumers perceive the brand, how likely they are to recommend it, and how frequently they make repeat purchases.
By clearly identifying your brand’s unique needs, whether they are rooted in specific business objectives, market conditions, or internal resources, you can develop a brand tracking strategy that is perfectly aligned with what matters most to your business.
CUSTOMISING METRICS FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT
Once you’ve identified your brand’s unique needs, the next step is to customise the metrics you track to ensure they align with your specific objectives. By carefully selecting and tailoring these metrics, you can gain deeper insights into your brand’s performance and make more informed decisions that drive meaningful outcomes.
- Choosing the Right Metrics
The foundation of effective brand tracking lies in choosing the metrics that are most relevant to your business goals. Depending on your objectives, you may need to track a combination of traditional and specialised metrics. Here are some examples of key metrics and how they can be customised to fit different business needs:
- Brand Awareness: If your goal is to increase visibility, tracking brand awareness is crucial. Customise this metric by focusing on specific demographics or regions where you are looking to expand. For example, you might track awareness levels among millennials or in a particular city where you’ve recently launched a marketing campaign.
- Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): For brands focused on improving customer experience, CSAT is a vital metric. Customise your CSAT surveys to gather feedback on particular aspects of your service or product, such as ease of use, customer support, or product quality. Tailoring the questions to reflect the most important elements of your customer experience will provide more actionable insights.
- Customer Effort Score (CES): If you want to understand how easy it is for customers to interact with your brand, CES can be highly informative. Customise CES by focusing on specific touchpoints in the customer journey, such as the checkout process, customer service interactions, or product returns. This helps you identify where friction might be occurring and where improvements are needed.
- Brand Loyalty and Retention: For brands aiming to boost repeat business, tracking loyalty and retention rates is essential. Customise these metrics by segmenting your customer base, such as by purchase frequency or customer lifetime value, to understand which groups are most loyal and which might be at risk of churning.
- Qualitative Feedback: While quantitative metrics are important, qualitative feedback provides context and depth to your data. Customise this feedback by asking open-ended questions in surveys, conducting focus groups, or monitoring social media for brand mentions. Tailoring your qualitative data collection to specific areas of interest, such as customer pain points or brand perception, will yield richer insights.
- Setting Relevant Benchmarks
Once you’ve selected the right metrics, the next step is to establish benchmarks that are meaningful and relevant to your brand. Generic benchmarks might offer a rough comparison, but they can lead to misleading conclusions if they’re not tailored to your specific market or industry.
For example, if you’re operating in a niche market, comparing your brand awareness to that of a mass-market brand might not provide a fair or useful benchmark. Instead, focus on benchmarks within your specific industry or market segment. This could involve comparing your performance to direct competitors or setting internal benchmarks based on historical data.
Custom benchmarks help you set realistic goals and measure your progress more accurately. They also allow you to identify what “success” looks like in the context of your brand’s unique challenges and opportunities.
- Case Study: Lessons from the Australian Pie Market
To illustrate the importance of customised metrics, let’s revisit the findings from our recent case study on the Australian pie market. In this study, different pie brands tailored their tracking efforts to align with their specific goals and market positions. For example:
- Four'N Twenty: This brand focused on tracking brand preference conversion rates, given its already high brand awareness. By understanding how effectively they were turning awareness into customer loyalty, they could identify areas for improvement in customer retention strategies.
- Boscastle: Positioned as a premium brand, Boscastle prioritised metrics related to product quality and customer satisfaction. This focus allowed them to maintain their reputation for high-quality offerings and sustain customer loyalty in a competitive market.
- Herbert Adams: With a strong focus on older demographics, Herbert Adams customised its brand tracking to understand how well it resonated with this audience. They tracked customer satisfaction and brand loyalty among older consumers, allowing them to tailor their marketing efforts and product offerings to better meet the needs of this demographic.
These examples highlight how tailoring metrics to align with specific brand goals can lead to more targeted and effective brand tracking, ultimately driving better business outcomes.
- Customising for Different Business Models
Consider a luxury brand and a value-oriented brand, two businesses with vastly different market positions and customer expectations.
- Luxury Brand: A luxury brand might prioritise metrics like brand perception, exclusivity, and customer satisfaction among high-income demographics. They might track how well their brand is perceived in terms of prestige and exclusivity, and how satisfied their customers are with the premium experience they offer.
- Value-Oriented Brand: In contrast, a value-oriented brand might focus on price sensitivity, product accessibility, and customer loyalty among budget-conscious consumers. Their brand tracking might emphasise metrics such as price perception, value for money, and repeat purchase rates among customers looking for the best deal.
By customising metrics to reflect the specific priorities and challenges of their business models, both brands can gather insights that are directly relevant to their strategic goals, leading to more effective decision-making.
CASE STUDY: THE AUSTRALIAN PIE MARKET
To illustrate the effectiveness of customised brand tracking, let’s delve into our recent case study of the Australian pie market. This study highlights how different brands tailored their brand tracking strategies to align with their unique business goals, leading to more actionable insights and, ultimately, stronger market positions.
- Four'N Twenty: Converting Awareness into Preference
Four'N Twenty is one of the most recognised pie brands in Australia, with an impressive 85% brand awareness rate. However, the challenge for the brand was not just being known, but converting that awareness into customer preference and loyalty.
Customised Tracking Approach:
- Focus on Preference Conversion: Given its high awareness, Four'N Twenty tailored its brand tracking strategy to closely monitor the conversion from brand awareness to customer preference. This involved tracking metrics such as repeat purchase rates, customer satisfaction with specific products, and customer loyalty over time.
- Customer Feedback Integration: The brand also integrated qualitative feedback from customer surveys to understand why some consumers were aware of the brand but did not choose it as their preferred option. This allowed them to pinpoint specific areas for improvement, such as product variety or quality.
By focusing on these customised metrics, Four'N Twenty was able to identify key factors that influenced customer preference, such as taste consistency and product availability. This insight enabled the brand to make targeted improvements, leading to a 34% conversion rate from awareness to preference, demonstrating the effectiveness of their tailored approach.
- Boscastle: Maintaining Premium Quality
Boscastle is positioned as a premium brand in the Australian pie market, known for its high-quality ingredients and gourmet flavours. For Boscastle, the primary challenge was maintaining this premium perception while expanding its market share.
Customised Tracking Approach:
- Emphasis on Quality Perception: Boscastle’s brand tracking strategy was customised to focus on metrics related to product quality and customer satisfaction. This included tracking customer feedback on taste, ingredient quality, and overall satisfaction with the premium positioning.
- Targeted Demographic Analysis: The brand also segmented its customer base to better understand the preferences of different demographic groups, particularly those with higher disposable incomes who are more likely to purchase premium products.
By concentrating on quality-related metrics, Boscastle was able to maintain its reputation as a top-tier brand in the market. The brand achieved an 83% positive rating on product quality, which aligned with its premium positioning and helped sustain customer loyalty even as it expanded its reach.
- Herbert Adams: Catering to Older Demographics
Herbert Adams is another well-known brand in the Australian pie market, with a strong appeal among older consumers. Understanding this demographic’s specific preferences was key to the brand’s strategy.
Customised Tracking Approach:
- Demographic-Focused Tracking: Herbert Adams customised its brand tracking by focusing on metrics that reflected the preferences and behaviours of older consumers. This included tracking satisfaction with product variety, ease of purchase, and the effectiveness of traditional advertising methods that resonate more with this age group.
- Loyalty Program Feedback: The brand also used its loyalty program to gather detailed feedback from its older customer base, allowing them to tailor their product offerings and marketing strategies to better meet the needs of this demographic.
Herbert Adams successfully leveraged its customised tracking strategy to maintain a strong connection with its core demographic. The brand’s focus on tailored metrics helped it achieve a 24% conversion rate from brand awareness to preference among older consumers, demonstrating the value of targeting specific audience segments.
Key Takeaways from the Australian Pie Market
This case study underscores the importance of customised brand tracking. Each brand in the Australian pie market faced unique challenges and goals, and by tailoring their tracking efforts, they were able to gather insights that were directly relevant to their specific situations. The results speak for themselves, by focusing on the metrics that mattered most, these brands were able to make informed decisions that strengthened their market positions and drove customer loyalty.
Whether you’re a premium brand like Boscastle or a mass-market leader like Four'N Twenty, the lesson is clear: customising your brand tracking strategy to align with your unique goals and market context is crucial for success. It allows you to move beyond generic insights and tap into the specific drivers of your brand’s performance, leading to more effective strategies and better business outcomes.
IMPLEMENTING A CUSTOMISED BRAND TRACKING STRATEGY
Now that we’ve explored the importance of customised brand tracking and how it has been successfully implemented by brands in the Australian pie market, the next step is to apply these insights to your own brand. Implementing a customised brand tracking strategy may seem daunting, but by following a structured approach, you can ensure that your efforts are both effective and aligned with your specific business goals. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get you started.
- Define Clear Objectives
The foundation of any successful brand tracking strategy is a clear understanding of what you want to achieve. Start by identifying your primary business objectives. Are you looking to increase brand awareness, boost customer loyalty, enhance product quality, or enter new markets? Your objectives will determine which metrics are most relevant and what insights you need to gather.
- Identify Key Goals: Clearly define your top priorities. For example, if your goal is to improve customer retention, your focus might be on tracking customer satisfaction and repeat purchase rates.
- Align with Business Strategy: Ensure that your brand tracking objectives align with your overall business strategy. If your company is launching a new product line, for instance, tracking brand perception and product-specific feedback might be essential.
- Select Relevant Metrics
Once your objectives are clear, the next step is to choose the metrics that will provide the most valuable insights. As we discussed earlier, not all metrics are equally relevant to every brand, so it’s important to tailor your selection to your specific needs.
- Customise Your Metrics: Based on your objectives, select a mix of traditional and customised metrics. For example, if brand awareness is a key goal, track both general awareness and consideration rates among your target demographic.
- Prioritise Relevance: Focus on metrics that will directly impact your business goals. Avoid tracking too many metrics at once, as this can lead to data overload. Instead, prioritise the ones that are most likely to provide actionable insights.
- Customise Data Collection
To gather the most relevant data, you’ll need to tailor your data collection methods. This includes designing surveys, setting up monitoring tools, and determining how often data should be collected.
- Design Targeted Surveys: Create surveys that ask the right questions for your objectives. For instance, if you’re tracking customer satisfaction, include questions about specific aspects of your product or service, such as ease of use, quality, and customer service.
- Leverage Technology: Use brand tracking software that allows for customisation, such as setting up specific dashboards, automating data collection, and integrating various data sources like social media, sales data, and customer feedback.
- Determine Frequency: Decide how frequently you need to collect data based on your objectives. For ongoing customer satisfaction, regular surveys (e.g. quarterly) might be appropriate, while brand awareness tracking might require biannual assessments.
- Analyse and Adjust
Collecting data is only the beginning. The real value lies in analysing the data to uncover actionable insights and then making the necessary adjustments to your strategy.
- Interpret the Data: Use data analysis tools to identify trends, correlations, and areas of concern. For example, if customer satisfaction is declining in a specific region, drill down into the data to understand the root causes.
- Implement Changes: Based on your analysis, make adjustments to your products, services, or marketing strategies. If your brand awareness is lower than expected in a target market, consider increasing marketing efforts or refining your messaging in that region.
- Monitor Progress: After implementing changes, continue to monitor the relevant metrics to assess the impact of your adjustments. This ongoing process ensures that your brand tracking remains dynamic and responsive to market conditions.
- Continuous Improvement
Brand tracking isn’t a one-time effort; it’s an ongoing process that requires regular review and refinement. By continuously improving your strategy, you can stay ahead of market changes and evolving customer preferences.
- Review Regularly: Schedule regular reviews of your brand tracking strategy to ensure it remains aligned with your business goals. This could be done annually or biannually, depending on the pace of change in your industry.
- Seek Feedback: Gather feedback from key stakeholders, such as marketing teams, customer service representatives, and even customers themselves, to understand the effectiveness of your brand tracking efforts.
- Stay Updated: Keep abreast of new developments in brand tracking technology and methodologies. As new tools and techniques emerge, be open to incorporating them into your strategy for continuous improvement.
Actionable Tips:
- Start with a Pilot Project: If you’re new to customised brand tracking, consider starting with a pilot project focused on a specific aspect of your brand, such as customer satisfaction or brand awareness in a new market. This allows you to test and refine your approach before rolling it out more broadly.
- Consult with Experts: If you’re unsure where to start, consider consulting with brand tracking experts who can help you design a customised strategy that aligns with your specific needs and goals.
- Use Feedback Loops: Implement feedback loops to ensure that insights from brand tracking are shared with relevant teams and stakeholders, allowing for timely and effective decision-making.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In today’s dynamic and competitive marketplace, understanding your brand’s performance requires more than just a one-size-fits-all approach. Customised brand tracking is not only about gathering data, it’s about gathering the right data that aligns with your unique business goals and market conditions. By tailoring your brand tracking strategy to your specific needs, you can unlock deeper insights, make more informed decisions, and ultimately drive greater success for your brand.
As we’ve explored, the first step in this process is to clearly define your objectives, whether it’s increasing brand awareness, improving customer loyalty, or enhancing product quality. Once your goals are established, you can select the most relevant metrics, customise your data collection methods, and leverage technology to streamline and enrich your tracking efforts.
The case study of the Australian pie market illustrates the power of customised tracking, showing how brands like Four'N Twenty, Boscastle, and Herbert Adams tailored their strategies to meet their specific needs, leading to tangible improvements in brand performance and customer loyalty.
However, implementing a customised brand tracking strategy is not a one-time effort, it’s an ongoing process. Regularly reviewing and adjusting your approach ensures that your brand tracking remains aligned with evolving business goals and market trends. By committing to continuous improvement, your brand can stay ahead of the competition and respond proactively to changes in customer behaviour and market dynamics.
Are you ready to take your brand tracking to the next level? At Brand Health, we specialise in creating tailored brand tracking solutions that deliver the insights you need to achieve your business objectives. Contact us today to learn how we can help you develop a customised strategy that drives real results and enhances your brand’s performance.
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