Just as those of us who reach a certain age feel obligated to undergo a comprehensive medical check-up every two years, we should also perform a «healthy» exercise that involves looking at our brands to determine if they are optimally aligned in each aspect of Brand Management with our performance in the market.
Assessing the health of our brands is essential to realize to what extent we are meeting the needs of our consumers/users in their entirety and to identify strengths and weaknesses that, in the form of a SWOT matrix, define the strategic direction to follow with the brand.
What should we analyze to assess the health of your brand?
Brand Awareness
This measures the degree of brand awareness in the market, both spontaneous and prompted. This indicator should be benchmarked against our competitive environment to determine if we meet the minimum requirements. In mature markets and brands with a certain level of communication, we should aim for around 60% spontaneous brand awareness (presence in the Top of Mind) and above 80% prompted brand awareness.
Brand Impact
This defines the level of effectiveness of our communication across all channels. The most important aspect is to assess whether this communication strategy reaches our defined target audience or main brand/product value.
Brand Imprint
This determines the level of brand image and positioning we achieve compared to our competitors. We need to assess whether we are filling any perceptual gaps in the market or if, on the contrary, we find ourselves at the dreaded point (0,0), which leads to brand ambiguity.
Brand Usage
This helps us define the motivations, uses, and, most importantly, the Mental Decision-Making Process (MDP) model, which is the mechanism of choice for our brand or the competition for a specific usage or consumption occasion. Understanding the choice and purchasing behavior of our target audience is crucial to understanding our brand.
Brand Quality and Value Perceived
This involves analyzing two levels: first, our commitment to service/product quality, which should lead to excellence in any market we operate in, and second, determining a perfect balance for our value proposition through an analysis of our market’s price sensitivity.
Brand Desire
This indicates whether we fulfill the sought-after benefits in our brand through alignment with the consumer/user’s perceived ideal. It should not be seen as a «compromise solution» in brand positioning, but rather as an individualized solution based on the different value segments we target.
