BRAND – Measuring the Invisible Is the Key to Growth
“Every interaction in any form, is branding.” -Seth Godin
So what does this actually mean for you as a business leader?
Think of it this way, If SEO is an essential investment for today, brand awareness is an investment in tomorrow. Don’t leave it to chance.
For B2B tech brands, brand awareness isn’t just a vanity metric, it’s the foundation of future pipeline and revenue.
While measuring it isn’t as simple as counting clicks, it’s far from impossible. With the right mix of survey insights and behavioural data, you can quantify your brand’s impact and build a stronger, more memorable presence in the market.
As B2B tech leaders and marketers, we’re obsessed with metrics. Whether it’s website traffic, conversion rates, or pipeline velocity, we measure what matters. But when it comes to brand awareness, a crucial driver of long-term growth, many shrug and say, “It’s just too hard to measure.”
Would you ignore SEO performance because ranking algorithms are complex? Of course not. Measuring brand awareness is just as critical – think of it as SEO for the human brain. And just like SEO, it can be done. It takes effort, but the payoff is worth it. Let’s unpack how.
Why Brand Awareness Matters – It’s the First Search Engine
When a buyer feels a need, their first “search engine” isn’t Google – it’s their memory. If your brand is already in their mental index, you’re far more likely to make it into their initial consideration set. Research by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute suggests that buyers are 2.5 times more likely to choose a brand they’re familiar with when making a purchase decision.
In fact, 85% to 90% of day-one consideration sets are shaped by the brands already embedded in a buyer’s memory. If you’re not there, you’re competing for scraps in Google results or word-of-mouth recommendations.
If measuring SEO performance is critical, measuring brand awareness – the “brain SEO” that secures your future pipeline – should be 1000x more important.
Measuring Brand Awareness Is Hard – But It’s Not Impossible
Let’s face it, measuring brand awareness isn’t as straightforward as tracking clicks or impressions. You can’t just peer into a buyer’s brain to see if your logo is floating around in there.
But difficult doesn’t mean undoable. Complex problems often require creativity, persistence, and trade-offs. And while no martech stack or AI tool can magically solve it, proven approaches exist.
Broadly, there are two ways to measure brand awareness:
- Ask buyers what they think.
- 2. Observe what buyers do.
Let’s break these down.
Option 1: Surveys & Customer Panels (What Buyers Think)
Surveys are a direct method for understanding brand awareness among the 95% of buyers who aren’t in-market right now. They can help you gauge how often your brand comes to mind unprompted (unaided awareness) or how familiar buyers are when they hear your name (aided awareness).
The challenge with surveys is ensuring they’re conducted reliably. Poorly designed surveys produce misleading data, and even well-crafted ones can struggle to reflect real buyer sentiment.
That’s why partnering with experts or leveraging insights from respected industry researchers like Ipsos or Kantar can make all the difference.
Option 2: Behavioural Signals (What Buyers Do)
Actions speak louder than words, and behavioural data offers insights into how brand awareness translates into buyer decisions.
One of the most effective metrics is Share or Search, which tracks how often buyers actively search for your brand compared to competitors.
Share of Search
Share of Search is, quite simply, a measure of the number of organic searches for your brand, compared to other brands in your category. It’s a marketing metric that can help you predict market share and assess brand visibility in your sector amongst key search results.
While this method is highly reliable, it comes with trade-offs:
- It only captures the 5% of buyers currently in-market.
- * It requires patience – results can take several quarters to emerge.
Yet, studies by Google and Nielsen show that share-of-search correlates strongly with market share growth, making it a goldmine for long-term brand measurement.
Combining Both Methods for Maximum Insight
The best strategies leverage both approaches:
- Use surveys to measure unaided and aided awareness among your full audience, including future buyers.
- * Track behavioural signals like share-of-search to validate survey results and monitor in-market activity.
This dual approach ensures you’re capturing a complete picture of your brand’s presence – both in the minds of future buyers and the actions of current ones.
Ready to start measuring what matters? Let’s connect and explore how your brand can dominate the human search engine.
