The value of B2B brand awareness is in what it can do for building your business and improving your bottom line. The role your brand plays varies across functions. Brand recognition and whether people can recognize your brand name, what you offer, and the benefits you provide can help you in a variety of ways:
- Sales: Strong brand awareness can drive leads, shorten the sales cycle, and help you negotiate better terms. You can also keep tabs on the competition.
- Investor relations: Your brand is worth more if you have achieved significant, positive, brand awareness, which increases your company’s overall value.
- Human resources: Brand awareness can help with recruiting, customer and brand loyalty, and benefits packages.
An investment in brand awareness pays dividends across your company. That is why measuring, tracking, and reporting on brand recognition and brand recall are so important.
How to measure B2B brand awareness
Measuring and tracking brand awareness requires a methodical, multi-faceted approach that commonly includes:
- Search volume for your brand, product, and services
- Monitoring web traffic and engagement
- Social listening for a share of voice
- Custom market research
Market research is the most critical of these, particularly for measuring B2B brand awareness. With market research, you control how much information you can capture from whom and how often. Ongoing brand tracking gives you the information you need to continually refine your strategies and tactics and know how effective they are.
What questions should you ask to measure brand awareness?
Working with a qualified research company, you will craft a relevant survey to your industry and B2B company. That said, typical question topics include:
- What brands come to customers’ minds when thinking of products or services like yours?
- Are they aware of your brand and what it stands for?
- Do they know what you offer?
- Can they cite what makes your brand special?
- What is their opinion of your company and brands?
- Do they have trust in your brand among the leaders in the field?
- How do they compare you to your competitors?
Gather both real-time data and point-in-time data
When measuring brand awareness, use both point-in-time and real-time data. Both methods have their uses on your journey to build brand recognition and create the brand perception that best serves your business.
The value of point-in-time data in tracking B2B brand awareness
Consider this kind of research like a map that shows where you have been and where you might go. As you execute your B2B brand strategy, it can define your starting point against which you will measure your progress. It can provide insight for moving forward.
Real-time data is vital in today’s fast-changing world
If point-in-time data is like a map, real-time data is like looking out your vehicle’s window to see what is happening right here and right now—as well as getting a glimpse of what might be down the road. You need real-time data to swerve or reroute, take advantage of a sudden opportunity or get around trouble.
Recruit the right people to get accurate brand awareness data
Both point-in-time and real-time data are only as valuable as their sources. In either case, you must talk to the right people in the precise roles and with the right experiences to provide relevant responses.
That is the primary challenge of B2B market research today. Closed expert panels may not contain the people you need to reach. Information about respondents is minimal and possibly inaccurate in that it is self-reported by respondents that want to fit the criteria to get paid. Screening and vetting respondents are vital when finding real specialists who can give you the business insights and market intelligence you need.
Investing thought and effort into brand awareness pays off
Because B2B brand awareness is core to your business, it is important to measure it and track it as part of developing a B2B marketing strategy to build it. Boosting brand recognition and brand familiarity is the key to building your business.
