Quick Summary
Think quickly… what’s the first soft drink that comes to mind? The first cell phone? The first breakfast cereal?
For each of these questions, a specific product probably instantly entered your mind. That illustrates the power of the brand awareness, which not only influences purchase behavior, but can become one of a company’s most valuable assets.
As a Coca-Cola executive once explained:
“If Coca-Cola were to lose all of its production-related assets in a disaster, the company would survive. By contrast, if all consumers were to have a sudden lapse of memory and forget everything related to Coca-Cola, the company would go out of business.”
This is exactly why major companies commission highly complex brand studies.
They use these studies to measure overall awareness of a specific brand, the importance of the brand category to consumers, where the company’s brand fits in that category, and how consumer attitudes impact perceptions of the brand. Tracking these variables over time provides valuable information on how changing trends can impact purchase intent – and company profits.
These tracking studies can be quite costly, but if you’re running a small business, you can take advantage of some inexpensive tools to help you determine whether your target market is even aware of your brand – and steps you might take to improve your brand and its reputation.
