What Are the Metrics of Brand Strategy?

If you like measurability, you are in good company.

Those of us who own a P&L often get uncomfortable when we’re faced with evaluating something squishy. And some consider the brand to be squishiness epitomized.

But brand strategy has a deeply economic utility. It identifies your value, so that you can expand it. If you do it right, brand strategy is far from squishy.

You know your brand strategy is working when you see your business succeeding.

Brand Strategy Success = Business Success

“Brand” means different things to different people. To some it means brand strategy (i.e., the meaning we stand for). To others, it means brand marketing activities (e.g., digital ads, billboards, sponsorships, events). And this is why I’ve noticed that there are two different questions behind the question:

#1 How do we measure the success of our brand strategy?

#2 How do we measure the success of our brand marketing tactics? 

This second question is covered beautifully in my friend Laura Troyani’s blog post. 

So let’s turn our attention to #1: measuring the success of the brand strategy.

Measuring the Success of Your Brand Strategy

Brand strategy is the exercise of defining who you serve, what you bring, and why they should choose you. As with any strategy, the measure of success is the degree to which the strategy realizes the stated goal.

Typically, the businesses I work with have a goal of creating enduring and profitable growth. When the brand strategy is working, one sees this growth. Some examples of metrics that lead to enduring, profitable growth include:

Elevated pricing power. You can price at a premium and resist discounts and couponing.

• Is customer price sensitivity lower now than pre-brand strategy? Could you increase the price without losing significant volume?

• Are you spending less time justifying your price?

• Are your margins higher?

• Is your revenue higher?

Increased customer retention and loyalty. Customers stay for longer, and evangelize your offering to their peers.

• Do your customers stay with you? Is your churn lower now than pre-brand strategy?

• Is your NPS higher?

Strengthened employee engagement. When employees can galvanize around a North Star, they are more motivated and happy.

• Are employee engagement and leadership engagement higher now than pre-brand strategy?

• Do employees report that they resonate with your purpose?

• Are valued employees staying longer? 

• Are you becoming an employer of choice?

Broader competitive moat. When you are competing on large, emotive benefits, it is difficult for competitors to emulate your success.

• If a competitor wanted to copy you, would they be less able to do so now than pre-brand strategy?

• Do you look and feel different from your competitors? 

Improved scalability. When the direction is defined and specific, leadership is able to push decision-making out and down, so that everyone can collaborate toward the goal in concert.

• Are leaders better able to delegate strategic decision-making now than pre-brand strategy?

• Can employees across the organization make decisions aligned with the brand?

• Has micromanaging decreased? 

Improved marketing ROI. When your marketing outreach is more focused on your unique value and your sweet spot audience, your marketing effectiveness will improve.

• Are you able to bring in more of your right customers with the same or less spending? Do you see decreased Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and increased marketing return on investment (ROI)?

• Are the customers that you bring in your “right customers”? Did your customer lifetime value (LTV) improve?

If the answers to some of these questions are “no,” then your brand strategy is underperforming. Consider the most essential success metrics of your business. Your brand strategy is working if your business is building something valuable for customers that only your business can build.