Brand Health: What is It and How to Measure It [Complete Guide]
Brand health is an iffy topic; it is pretty subjective if you ask a few people. This is because most folks have a very different perception of what a healthy brand looks like, just like human health! For some, a stubbed toe is something that will pass, but for others, it is a matter of life and death, and they would prefer death. Source Like human health, it is wrong to ignore a few telltale signs of sickness when it comes to a brand’s health. Imagine a scenario where a drop in your brand mentions for a month can be attributed to the changes in the shopping season. However, if this trend continues for three months, you must get the diagnosis. It might be an infection with customer success or a viral ( the bad way) in your social media attribution. Constant checkups on your brand health are not merely a good-to-have practice but an ideology that should be omnipresent in your brandus prospectus. What is brand health? Brand health is a parameter that defines the brand’s presence online and offline based on its capability to deliver promises to its customers. It depends a lot on the audience’s perception – a positive perception means the brand health is on the rise, and if negative, it equates to a decline. Key elements of brand health Why do you need a robust brand? The end goal of every brand is recognition, which makes it an enabler for quick decision-making. Recognition allows the product to be a regular part of the consumer’s life and stay there for a substantial amount of time. Fostering Quick Decision-Making: A strong brand helps consumers make quick decisions by providing them with a clear understanding of what the brand stands for and why it is the best choice. This is especially important in a competitive market where consumers are bombarded with choices. Influencing Consumer Choices Over Time: Brand health is important because it consistently influences consumer choices. A positively perceived brand is more likely to be chosen over competitors, leading to increased market share and profitability. One amazing example is the HUL brand and its product, the Clinic Plus shampoo. For many Indians, the shampoo has held a special place in their hearts. Launched in 1972, the product started with an educational stance. Then it moved on to relationships, one of the most pertinent being a mother-daughter bond, which continues to be an essential messaging and brand recognition. Not to mention, this product has been devised for Indian hair, making it more likely to be accepted within this demographic. Emotional connection, relevance, and awareness play key roles in elevating your brand’s status. This is a bigger requirement today, considering the fickleness of consumer behaviour and, of course, the competition. This brings us to the four central pillars of a brand and its health. These elements can help you determine how your brand is perceived within the consumer mindset and, of course, how well it is performing in the current market scenario. Brand health rests on four major pillars Mental Availability Differentiating Factor Awareness and Experience Emotional Attachment 1. Mental availability This is the mental availability your (potential) audience and consumers have for your brand.Is your brand the first name that pops up in your consumers’ minds when considering a purchase from your industry? Are they more likely to choose your brand over the new products? If your brand is among the first names that pop up in your consumer’s minds, then you have a better share in their mental real estate. This means you are immune/ less likely to be eroded of your positioning over time. However, this is more the case with legacy brands that have been around for years. They have the benefit of time. New brands need to build that foundation before they can make claims as the primary providers of the industry. How can they do this? We’ll discuss that in our upcoming subtopic on nurturing your brand. 2. Differentiating factor The differentiating factor is a brand’s uniqueness —what it brings to the table that other brands can’t. Now, one might argue that saturation is almost omnipresent in the market, and we are empathetic—however, differentiating factors like sustainable sourcing, ethical means, quality, etc., can make a difference. As a brand, you need to pick that one differentiating factor and point all your messaging towards it. We have discussed the case of the Indian dairy brand Country Delight, a new (relatively) member of an industry dominated by legacy brands for years. Read more about it in the next scroll. 3. Awareness and experience Brand awareness and the experience it offers are another key aspect of brand health. If your brand can offer an experience that they want, they are more likely to keep your product in mind. You might be their first choice, so top the awareness charts and increase the level of your brand recall! For instance, the experience your customer seeks is where they can save time and effort in the morning before heading off to work. Amazon’s Alexa made it easy for the early risers and hustlers to leave their house in peace without worrying about ‘did I leave the light on?’. It is all taken care of at the tap of a button or simply the user’s voice. This highlighted the product’s ease of use, which led to a positive experience and, as history knows, a positive brand awareness. 4. Emotional attachment If your brand has climbed this pillar, you will likely be on top of the list of preferred brands in your category. An emotional attachment is when your brand or its product adds a hint of nostalgia for the consumer. For many Indian children, butter with roti or toast has been a staple diet, fulfilled by Amul butter. Even today, the children of yesterday and the grown-ups of today prefer Amul butter over other brands (unless they are considering health alternatives). Most consumers have emotional attachments to the
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