TELEPHONE 01206 625222What is brand perception and awareness?
Brand awareness affects the perceptions and attitudes of your customers, which in turn drive brand choice and even brand loyalty. Repeat purchases are more likely with increased awareness, and vice versa with low brand awareness. It's clear why 89% of marketers say that brand awareness is their top goal. Brand awareness may appear to be a nebulous concept, particularly for businesses that are used to concrete figures. However, with our tailored brand awareness research, we use metrics to assess your presence within the marketplace and simultaneously raise awareness of your brand, products and services. Our surveys are initially useful as a benchmarking exercise and can subsequently measure the effectiveness of specific tactical activity.
If consumers' minds were full of banners, with each one representing a brand, then a brand's awareness would be directly proportional to the size of the banner. Awareness is measured according to the different ways that consumers remember a brand. These range from recognition, i.e. 'Have you come across this brand before?', to recall, i.e. 'What brands of this particular type can you recall?'. Awareness also includes top of mind (the first brand that comes to mind) and dominant (the only brand that comes to mind). The ultimate goal for businesses is brand name dominance, where consumers can only recall the name of a single brand.
Recognition reflects familiarity gained from past exposure to your brand name. It does not necessarily involve remembering where the brand was encountered before, why it differs from other brands, or even what the brand's product class is. It is simply remembering that there was a past exposure to the brand. Research in psychology has shown that recognition alone can result in more positive feelings towards nearly anything, whether it be people, words, or brands.
Meanwhile, a brand that has recall is one that springs to mind when thinking of a particular product. For example, if you hear the name 'Apple', it may call to mind sleek iPhones, iPads, watches and gadgets that are associated with the cutting edge of technology. Or, if you hear the name 'KFC', you are likely to think of fast food, fried chicken, or perhaps the colour red. On a personal level, depending on your own views, you may not always associate brands with positive connotations. And, furthermore, your brand recall may not always be as a result of a positive interaction or association.
In the first example, the associations are typically positive, and depending on your level of knowledge about Apple, you could be even more specific about what they offer and what they stand for. Many brands will receive divided opinions and this is very much dependant on products and service levels, PR, affiliations and even the work of influencers.
Your business goal for brand awareness should be to achieve positive association and the accurate recognition of your services.
Brand awareness is a vital key performance indicator, as shown by the following statistics:
Our tailored surveys collect meaningful data and results are gathered using a variety of methods ranging from quantitative panel surveys to face-to-face street polls. Alternatively, your brand may be very niche and only seek to serve a local area, in which case we may recommend using a qualitative method of data collection. Our ability to design bespoke research means that the unique characteristics of your organisation can be catered for at all stages of the project.
Along with our flexible approach to data collection, we also like to deliver more than just facts and figures. Working closely with our sister company Mackman (Marketing) we understand the importance of brand representation and market positioning. Here our broader marketing experience really comes to the fore as we design questionnaires that dig deep into consumer awareness.
Our findings include recommendations for growth and development and, if needed, we can use your research results to inform decision, helping you to create marketing strategies and brand refinement.
Get in touch to find out how our brand awareness and perception research can help your business be better understood.
Our brand awareness surveys encompass a range of questions to test participants' recall and recognition. These could include overall brand perception questions that name specific brands to measure respondents' views, such as 'How would you rate your overall perception of the following brands?' with options ranging from 'very good' to 'very poor', or unaided questions such as 'What are the first words that come to mind when you think about [brand]?'
In addition, our brand awareness surveys are highly flexible. You can decide if you want surveys to be sent to a specific target audience, and they can be designed for online or offline participation. We work with your goals and objectives firmly in mind, and collaborate with you to determine which methods will best suit your product or service.
The Mackman Research team combines sound sampling methods with robust and a well thought out survey methodologies to ensure that statistically sound results are achieved. We offer a responsive service that ensures continuity and a guiding hand to ambitious organisations, and our clients value our professional, enthusiastic, plain speaking application of knowledge and experience. Importantly, our surveys provide information to senior management to inform decision making. Our methods strictly conform to the legal requirements as stated in the Data Protection Act 1998. As such, researchers are overt in their introductions and purposes.
Contact Mackman Research today and let's get started on your brand awareness survey.
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