Companies use aided and unaided awareness, image and branding marketing research studies to gauge the extent to which consumers are familiar with and have positive opinions about their products or services. In many industries, companies with the highest awareness levels also capture the largest market share.
What Is Awareness?
Awareness level measures whether consumers know about and are familiar with a company, organization, product, or service.Unaided awareness is the extent to which consumers think of a company or product on a top-of-mind basis. For example, we might ask, "When you think of companies that provide these kinds of products, which first come to mind?"
Aided awareness is the extent to which consumers who know about a
company or product are familiar with that company or product. For example, we might ask, "How familiar are you with this company? Would you say you are very familiar, somewhat familiar, or not familiar?"
What Is Brand Image?
Brand Image includes the totality of consumers' opinions about, experiences with, and attitudes toward a company or organization and their brand as compared with that of competitors. Market Street Research often measures a company's brand image by asking consumers, decision-makers, or key markets to rate the company and its competitors on factors they consider important, such as:- Overall reputation
- Quality and appeal of products or services
- Convenience (location, hours, etc.)
- Sales and marketing effectiveness
- Customer service
- Delivery
- Timeliness
- Costs
- Resolution of problems and complaints
How Are Awareness and Brand Image Measured?
Market Street Research uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods to measure awareness and brand image. For example, we might begin with focus groups or one-on-one interviews with key decision-makers to identify important factors within a particular market that may influence whether people are familiar with a company or organization, how they decide which product or service they will purchase or use, and the emotional and rational components of the brands of the major competitors in the industry.
We then use qualitative research results to design and conduct representative quantitative research surveys - most frequently telephone surveys - within our clients' current geographic market areas to determine with a high degree of accuracy how well-known our clients brands are and how people perceive them as compared with competitors. We might limit the survey to our clients' existing markets, or include potential markets, giving our clients a good sense of the resources they may need and the steps they must take to effectively enter new markets.
Regardless of industry, companies and organizations use awareness, and brand image marketing research studies to inform their key operational and marketing decisions. Our clients use our results to guide decisions about overall mission, current and future goals, staffing, product and service design, delivery means, and marketing, communications, and public relations efforts.
How to measure awareness using ROI?
- In an accelerating market: Gaining awareness provides an accelerator for sales growth and a platform to grow the company. Additional investment in Brand Awareness can yield substantial growth but must be monitored for saturation. If $2MM gets you 2 points and 10% growth, although the relationship in not linear, additional responsible investment can yield additional growth.
- In a declining market (where the competition becomes heated for customers) and spending habits decline: spending to achieve 13% awareness would provide a platform to flatline or incrementally increase sales. Spending to increase awareness beyond 13% may have incremental or nominal impact.
Now declining and accelerating are general terms. There are many other factors to consider and the econometric models can and will take them into account.
The reason this is hard is that it takes time, the variables change and there will need to be an investment to understand the outcome under different conditions.
Benchmarking
What is Benchmarking? Benchmarking is following up an image, awareness and preference study with an identical or similar research effort after some predetermined interval to measure any changes in awareness and image that have occurred since the last study was performed.
Typically, organizations conduct benchmarking studies at intervals of between 18 and 24 months, depending on the nature of the business, the rapidity of changes in the operational environment, competitive forces, or any crisis or other issue that the organization has experienced that may have affected perception of the organization in the minds of its constituents, customers, prospects or internal staff.
The benefits of benchmarking are many. Primarily, benchmarking is a tool that is used to measure the efficacy of an organization's marketing, communications and advertising efforts and, as is the rationale for most image and awareness studies, to identify areas of opportunity and inform the development of ongoing strategic, operational or marketing-oriented initiatives geared towards taking advantage of the highlighted opportunities.
References:
1. Wikipedia. Awareness 17 May. 2008.
2. Creating Awareness. How do you reach the communication challenge 20 May. 2008.
3. David Maister. Passion, People, and Principles 20 May. 2008.
4. Marketing. Marketing Research Technique 17 May. 2008.
