The brand test is a market research tool that helps you build a positive brand image. Having a strong brand is the dream of every company, yours and ours alike. Whether you are a large, medium, or small business, a good brand image will drive the success of your business, as you will be positively positioned in the minds of your consumers or potential customers. This will instill greater confidence in your products or services, leading consumers to choose you over your competition when the need to make a purchase arises.
What is a brand image?
A brand image consists of a series of tangible and intangible aspects that aim to represent the values that the company wants to convey. Various elements are involved in building the brand image, such as the brand’s visual identity, the commercial product or service offering, as well as corporate communication and all the ways of interacting with consumers and clients.
Once all these elements are constructed and perceived by the consumer, it is extremely important to analyze and review them regularly to ensure that they effectively represent what the brand wants to convey.
In this regard, a Brand Manager, marketing department, or advertising agency should remain attentive to this analysis and review brand values, especially at three specific moments:
- Internal changes: such as a strategic change in the company, visual identity, or the launch of a new product, service, or feature… to analyze how it is perceived by the consumer.
- Market changes: consumers evolve, change their opinions, interests… and all of this can impact the brand image. What was perceived as positive by the market at one point may not be as positive over time. Additionally, external situations, such as changes in consumer behavior after a financial crisis or, as seen in recent months, the impact of the pandemic on consumption preferences, have created a post-COVID consumer who appreciates different values and perceives a company’s culture during exceptional situations, as well as a brand’s response to pandemic-induced needs…
- Competitive changes: As you know, a key factor in building a strong brand is that the brand is recognisable on its own, unique and different from the competition. However, marketing departments and branding professionals should always keep an eye on what the competition is doing and how it is perceived by consumers. Studying their strengths and weaknesses, their positioning, how consumers assess their campaigns or commercial offerings will undoubtedly help them design their own strategy correctly and more successfully.
Brand Test
Now that we’ve reviewed what a brand image is and some key factors that can affect how it is perceived by consumers and potential clients, let’s look at the importance of a brand test to evaluate that brand image in the most agile and comprehensive way possible.
One of these tools is the brand study. In our online quantitative studies tool with consumers, WAT Survey, we offer Brand Tests, an ally to understand the image, positioning, and awareness of your brand, or that of your competition, in the market.
Thanks to the market research techniques included in brand tests, you can learn how consumers perceive and assess aspects such as:
- Brand attributes: Identify the benefits and characteristics that consumers value most in your brand or product.
- Associations and opinions about the brand: what type of associations your brand generates (emotional, cognitive…); if they are unique to your brand, if they are positive or negative associations, what aspects they are based on…
- Emotions and feelings it evokes: types of feelings, quality, and intensity of these feelings, whether they are unique feelings…
- Level of awareness: Evaluate your brand’s awareness to understand its place in the consumer’s mind (top of mind, spontaneous or suggested recall).
- Competitive brand image: Analyze your differentiating characteristics and compare your image and market positioning with that of your competition.
- Areas for improvement: Identify and discover areas for improvement that would enhance your brand image and perception.
Have you considered conducting a brand test to measure your positioning? Do you want to know where a competitor’s brand stands in the consumer’s mind? Contact us at info@wearetesters.com, and we will inform you about the possibilities of our WAT market research tools to help you achieve your goals!
Update date 14 April, 2024