Are measured values or KPIs important to you? For us, too, because that’s the only way we can develop our start-up or scale-up further. In online marketing, for example, we can easily view click rates, impressions, and conversions and check whether our goals are being achieved. But what about measuring your own brand for your scale-up? How can you measure the success of your brand and decide if your brand is moving in the right direction? In this article, we would like to introduce you to a measurement tool for your brand.
Measuring your brand is important
But why should you measure your brand from your scale-up in the first place, and what are the indicators you should keep an eye on? Is it the sales or the customers you gain? First of all, you should get away from thinking in numbers when measuring. Numbers are important for your marketing campaigns and business strategies. However, for your brand, other factors matter and you should continuously check them.
What are the goals of your brand?
To start, it’s important that you have a clear brand strategy that describes how you want your scale-up’s brand to be perceived in the long term. What is your position in the market, what are your values, who is your brand for and who is it not for? If your brand strategy defines how your customers and employees should perceive your brand in the future, you will only be able to measure this goal.
If you have not yet developed a brand strategy, as in our Brand Strategy Sprint with your team, you should do this first. Work closely with a brand expert or branding agency together with your employees. It is important that you determine the goal of your own brand as a team, so that you can review and adapt it together in the future.
The brand ladder
In 2016, brand expert Marty Neumeier introduced the brand ladder as a measurement tool in his successful book THE BRAND FLIP. With this model, you are able to determine on which rung of the ladder your customers or employees are. You see, you don’t measure the success of your brand by numbers, but by engagement. So the question is, what is the relevance and depth of your customers‘ engagement with your brand?
People buy brands and therefore your product because they identify with it. They buy it because the brand reflects their values and who they want to be. If your scale-up’s brand also solves a problem, they will see you as very relevant. But how does the brand ladder work and what does each step mean?
Your goal is to climb the ladder
Marty Neumeier describes the brand ladder with four steps.
01 // Satisfaction (your customers like your brand and buy it)
02 // Delight (your customers are excited about your brand)
03 // Engagement (your customers talk about you and recommend you to others)
04 // Empowerment (Your customers are loyal, stand behind you and defend you)
What level are you at?
Now you are probably asking yourself what level you are currently at. We recommend interviewing current customers as well as potential new customers in a joint workshop. We also do this in our Brand Strategy Sprint to understand what rung of the ladder the target group is on. You can do this as Marty Neumeier suggests in his book THE BRAND FLIP.
You can ask specific questions for each level and assign a score:
01 // Satisfaction = Were your expectations met? etc. (Up to 10 points)
02 // Delight = Would you recommend us to others? etc. (Up to 20 points)
03 // Engagement = Do you identify with the brand and the people who buy it? etc. (Up to 30 points)
04 // Empowerment = What does the brand mean to you in your life? etc. (Up to 40 points)
The total score of 100 is the top level for brand loyalty. What is the importance and relevance of your scale-up’s brand? Sit down with your customers and employees and find out where you currently stand and how you can continue to climb the ladder.
Need help measuring your brand?
In our Brand Strategy Sprint, we not only position your start-up or scale-up so that it is relevant, but we do this together with your customers and employees. This way, we can quickly figure out which rung of the brand ladder you are on, how we can further optimize each rung together, and how to get to the top.
