As anyone with experience will tell you, building a brand isn’t easy. It’s a long-term process, and the bigger the ship is, the slower it turns. Working on a brand relies on dedication over the course of years, through various campaigns, media attention, and changes in public opinion – all while eyeing up the temptation to rebrand, in theory making that change happen more quickly.

But measuring the success of these efforts is another story. How can we know where to direct our efforts, what’s working and who we’re reaching? We help charities answer these questions all the time through nfpBrand  (formerly the Charity Brand Evaluator), and today we’re sharing a how-to guide on measuring your brand’s performance using the outputs of our premium brand monitor.

Brand Preference

One of the key indicators of the success of your brand is a simple question: out of those members of the public who know of your charity, how much do they actually like it?

Though it’s perhaps the most basic metric to measure the success of your brand by, this figure is a vital signifier of brand health. Not only does it allow you to monitor the good-will of potential supporters, but also is a powerful tool in the next stage of the process. This acts as the outcome variable for the driver analysis, allowing us to monitor how individual metrics affect engagement.

Driver Analysis

Our goal is to help you to help people. Knowing if your brand is performing well is a good start, but what can you do to boost it?
One of the most powerful techniques we can use to help guide your brand strategy is a driver analysis. Particularly useful for bigger brands, this statistical analysis assesses how your supporters rate you in multiple fields that drive engagement, giving you the best idea of which factors most drive preference for your brand in particular.

By delving into the ‘why’ of your supporter base it’s possible to demonstrate the precise elements of your messaging and mission that bring your audience on board, giving you the opportunity to reinforce your brand’s strengths, and reassess its weaker drivers if need be.

Brand Attributes 

Another helpful feature that nfpBrand includes is that of brand attributes. Now that we understand the factors that are driving engagement with your brand, we ask those who know of your charity to give us a wider evaluation of the attributes they most associate with you, based on a series of metrics our dedicated team can help you to choose.

This gives you a strong picture of what the public like about your brand, and what you could be focussing on more thoroughly. It acts as a way to benchmark your brand against those of other charities in your field; we allow you to compare your results against those of other charities in order to give you an idea of the context you’re operating in, giving you the best indication of how to move forward with your brand.  By understanding what makes your brand special to your supporters, you can orient your brand work to highlight your unique attributes.

nfpBrand is a robust and reliable tracker  for bigger charities who want to evaluate, strategise, and improve the standing of their brand. Not only do we provide these results, but also have a dedicated team of experts to help you to contextualise and understand them. If your awareness levels with the public are experiencing growth or you have recently undergone a brand refresh, you could benefit from nfpBrand to help you stay relevant and informed about your audiences. To learn more, consider getting in touch with alix.moussy@nfpresearch.com or download more information below.