How Do You Measure Brand Awareness? Quantifying Marketing’s Most Underrated Metric
What are the first brands that come to mind when I say: tissue? Statistically, you probably thought of Kleenex. (If not, you’re an anomaly who should be celebrated.)
Brand awareness is what fuels your ranking toward that top-of-mind status. According to Nielsen, it accounts for 60% of brand sales uplift when paired with an effective creative message. Still, compared to hard-and-fast metrics we can see on a spreadsheet, brand awareness can often seem like an elusive, unquantifiable ideal. Let’s be honest: In the world of marketing, conversions often hog the spotlight. Clicks, form fills, sales are hard numbers that will make stakeholders swoon. But in our rush to measure the most tangible results, it’s often all too easy to overlook brand awareness.
How do we observe brand awareness, track it, and present it as a measurable KPI?
Brand Awareness, In Brief
Brand awareness is the extent to which consumers recognize and recall your brand. It’s not just about knowing your name; it’s about knowing what you stand for. When someone says “coffee shop,” and your brand pops into their mind unprompted? That’s brand awareness. When they can recite your tagline or picture your logo without Googling it? Again, that’s awareness doing its job.
Brand awareness has long been labeled as a “soft” metric. It’s often qualitative, squishy, and seemingly difficult to measure. But that’s old-school thinking. Today, brand awareness is not only measurable — it’s mission-critical.
Why? Because awareness drives consideration. And if you’re not even being considered, you can’t expect to earn conversions.
Why Prioritize Brand Awareness
People don’t buy or support what they can’t remember. A high-converting campaign can only work if your audience knows (and trusts) your brand. Without awareness at the foundation, your message could be outstanding but it may fail when it comes to long-term audience recall. Building strong awareness:
- Keeps your brand top of mind
- Establishes long-term customer loyalty
- Shortens the sales cycle
- Increases marketing efficiency (because familiar brands get cheaper clicks)
In fact, the Edelman Trust Barometer shows that 81% of consumers need to trust a brand before they’ll buy from them. And trust starts with recognition.
How to Measure Brand Awareness – With Real Numbers
Sure, tracking brand awareness is not as simple as checking how many times someone clicked your link. But brand awareness can be tracked — and improved — through several methods:
- Surveys and polls: Ask your audience if they’ve heard of you (unaided and aided recall).
- Social listening: Track mentions, tags, and sentiment on social media.
- Search volume: Is your brand name being Googled more frequently over time? If so, guess what? People are aware of you.
- Direct traffic: Are more people typing in your URL without clicking an ad?
- Branded search clicks: Use tools like Google Ads to measure clicks on branded terms, such as your tagline or a slogan.
- Media impressions: Count how many eyes are on your campaigns (and what actions they take after).
- Share of voice: Compare how often your brand is mentioned vs. competitors.
Don’t Sleep on Awareness
Conversions are usually the end goal, yes. We want our audiences to take action, shift their thinking, spread the word, engage with your experience, investigate service offerings, or buy your product. But while audience action is the finish line, awareness is the training, running shoes, and energy bar that got them there.
So the next time someone says, “Let’s just focus on the hard numbers,” remind them that brand awareness is the reason those numbers even exist. And when done right, it’s not just valuable — it’s indispensable.