What stakeholder research do you need to ensure brand health improvements and how can the findings help optimise your brand management?

What stakeholder research do you need to conduct to ensure good brand health and how can you use this research to optimise your brand management approach?

Markets move fast and ensuring your brand stays relevant, resonant and resilient is a daily challenge. Brand health is as dynamic as the market; it evolves with trends, consumer behaviours and competitive dynamics. To keep your brand thriving, you need robust, actionable research to inform and sharpen your brand management strategy.

As our dearly departed brand savant Steve Jobs once opined, “Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realise it themselves.” This sentiment underpins the essence of brand health research — understanding your audience, market and stakeholders, to anticipate needs and maintain alignment between your brand promise and perception, is the essence of a healthy, successful brand.

The Importance of Research in Brand Health

Research is the foundation of effective brand management and can result in positive brand health improvements. It’s not just about knowing the health of your brand today but understanding how to maintain its health tomorrow. Conducting regular brand health research and audits enables you to:

1. Identify Strengths and Weaknesses: Understand what’s working and where the gaps lie in your brand’s positioning and messaging.
2. Gauge Perception vs Reality: Compare how you want your brand to be perceived with how it is actually viewed by your audience.
3. Stay Ahead of Competitors: Analyse competitors to identify opportunities and threats.
4. Align Internal and External Messaging: Ensure internal stakeholders embody the brand values they’re projecting outward.
5. Future-Proof Your Brand: Spot emerging trends and adapt your strategy to maintain relevance.

Types of Research to Conduct

To ensure brand health improvements, a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods is essential. Here are the key areas of focus:

1. Brand Awareness and Recall Studies: Measure how well your brand is recognised and remembered by your target audience.
2. Customer Satisfaction Surveys: Understand how satisfied your customers are with your products, services, and overall brand experience.
3. Net Promoter Score (NPS): Gauge customer loyalty and the likelihood of recommendations.
4. Competitor Analysis: Examine competitors’ strategies, strengths, and positioning to refine your own approach.
5. Employee Brand Perception Surveys: Evaluate how well your internal team understands and embodies the brand.
6. Social Listening: Analyse online conversations to uncover real-time insights about how your brand is discussed.
7. Market Trends Analysis: Identify emerging trends that could impact your brand’s relevance.
8. Brand Equity Studies: Measure the overall value of your brand in the minds of your audience.

How Research Can Optimise Brand Health Improvements via Brand Management

Once you have collected and analysed your data, the next step is using it to enhance your brand management approach. Here are key strategies:

1. Refine Your Positioning: Use insights to ensure your brand positioning is distinct, relevant, and aligned with your target audience’s needs.
2. Adjust Messaging: Tailor your brand messaging to resonate more deeply with your audience.
3. Strengthen Internal Branding: Leverage employee perception surveys to improve internal alignment and ensure your team lives the brand values.
4. Enhance Customer Experience: Use customer feedback to address pain points and optimise touchpoints.
5. Monitor and Adapt: Brand health research is not a one-off activity. Establish regular intervals for audits to ensure continuous improvement.

15 Key Questions to Drive Brand Health Improvements

To gather meaningful insights, brand owners and marketing managers should ask some pertinent and hard hitting questions of your stakeholders. Here are 15 essential questions which we broke down into two key audience types – the Internal and External:

For External Stakeholders:

1. How would you describe our brand in three words?
2. What do you think makes our brand different from our competitors?
3. How likely are you to recommend our brand to others?
4. What emotions do you associate with our brand?
5. What do you think we could improve about our brand?
6. Which of our competitors do you view as the most innovative?
7. How easy is it to engage with our brand across our various channels?
8. What are the primary reasons you choose our brand over others?
9. How does our pricing compare to the value you receive?
10. What are your most and least favourite aspects of your experience with us?

For Internal Stakeholders:

11. How would you describe our brand values?
12. Do you feel equipped to communicate our brand message effectively?
13. What feedback have you received from customers about our brand?
14. Where do you see the brand’s greatest opportunities for growth?
15. What barriers do you face in delivering a consistent brand experience?

Conclusion

In summary, serious brand managers need to see Brand health as a necessity for long-term success. Brand health improvements are not a luxury. By conducting regular and comprehensive research, you can stay attuned to your brand’s strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, you can use this knowledge to evolve your brand in ways that are meaningful to your audience and relevant to your market.

Aligning research insights with a proactive brand management strategy ensures your brand survives market turmoil and thrives in an ever-changing brandscape. Act like Steve, get in nice and close to your audience, learn what they need, find a way to serve these needs profitably.

The best time to have started a brand health check was 6 months after you brand launched. The next best time is today. So start your brand health check today and ensure your brand’s future is as bright as its promise.

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Want to learn more about your key stakeholders and what motivates them? Let’s do the research your brand needs together. Email us today.