Can Marketers Trust Brand Tracking Software? [Updated]

After years of disappointing results, brand tracking software earned itself a rather lackluster reputation in the marketing world. With so many brand tracking tools having promised an all-in-one, seemingly magical solution — it’s no wonder they sent many brand managers running for the hills.

Until recently, it was difficult to find a tool offering actionable solutions that converted into real results. It’s only fair that today’s brand managers have a healthy skepticism surrounding the trustworthiness of some brand tracking software.

Luckily, times are changing and technology is constantly evolving. Many modern brand tracking tools have left behind traditional outdated methods — instead leaning into the latest technology and research.

And with the right brand tracking software, you’ll be able to increase brand awareness, learn more about your competitors, and target the right audiences — including new niche audiences you hadn’t yet discovered.

Yet, the one question still looms large: How can brand tracking software establish trust with brand managers? It’s quite straightforward: steer clear of the fluff and flimsy results by giving them a tool that’s actually useful and makes data easy to share with all stakeholders.

In this article, we’re hoping to teach brand managers and brand marketers alike why brand tracking software like Latana can be trusted. We’ll outline the five most important characteristics to look for, that way you’ll be fully prepared when on the hunt for a new brand tracking solution.

Let’s get started.

Can Brand Tracking Software Lead to Actionable Results?

There are a number of ways to measure brand awareness that will translate to real, actionable results — especially when using advanced brand tracking software.

The unfortunate reality? Too many marketers have been burned by poor experiences with similar tools in the past. Maybe you previously tried your hand at brand tracking surveys only to doubt the validity of the results. Perhaps you launched an entire awareness campaign only to be left with a huge margin of error.

It’s understandable why brand managers are hesitant — they’ve already wasted too much time on unreliable data, poorly designed interfaces, and limited audience reach. However, these are all signs of poor brand tracking practices — it doesn’t mean that brand tracking software as a whole is untrustworthy.

In fact, some of the biggest names in the business use brand tracking software to help them grow — take, for example, Headspace. As one of the most well-known mindfulness apps on the market, Headspace uses Latana’s brand tracking software to measure how successful its campaigns are within niche demographics.

At the end of the day, not all software and platforms are made equal. Some rely on outdated practices, while others try to sell you add-ons you don’t need. In order to identify reliable, trustworthy brand tracking software that supports their marketing goals, brand managers just need to learn what to look for.

That’s where we can help.

5 Markers of Trustworthy Brand Tracking Software

The brand tracking software you’ll encounter today is a new breed. Backed by research, technology, and the latest marketing practices, many tools have come a long way from the outdated methods of the past.

The key is to know what sets certain brand tracking software apart — what makes some options better than others. To help you make this judgment call, we’ve identified the top 5 characteristics trusted brand tracking software all have in common.

So, let’s discover how the right brand tracking software will look and how it will optimize your campaigns.

1. Speedy Data Delivery

In the marketing world, time really is money. If it takes too long to learn about your target audience, you’re at risk of being left behind.

Unfortunately, speed isn’t a priority for many brand tracking platforms. Just another cog in the marketing wheel, then end up slowing down your turnaround significantly. What’s the use of data if it takes 6+ months to get your results?

And, after several months of waiting, how trustworthy are those results? As you know, audiences change quickly. A large gap in turnaround time leaves a lot of room for error.

If a brand tracking tool is taking months or longer to gather its data, it’s time to ask where that data is coming from. Either way, you likely can’t afford to lose that time. Just think of how it would negatively impact your marketing efforts?

What to look for? You need to find a brand tracking tool that promises (and delivers) timely delivery of data waves. That way, you can monitor your target audiences’ perception of your brand continually, without delay or interruption.

After all, isn’t that the most core point of brand tracking software?

2. Up-to-Date Delivery Methods

When it comes to your data, delivery matters. If you can’t easily navigate your interface or understand your data, how can your team turn it into actionable insights?

With this in mind, it’s difficult to trust brand tracking software that delivers data in PDFs, confusing spreadsheets, Excel files, and so on. This type of delivery feels weirdly outdated in our hyper-digital world — where real-time platforms and dynamic dashboards are so commonplace.

Wouldn’t it be better if your data was delivered through an easy-to-navigate dashboard — something like Google Analytics? We thought so.

Most importantly, t’s vital that your data is displayed in a way that everyone on your team can understand, as this leads to greater insights. That’s why it’s important to call into question outdated methods of data delivery, like PDFs and spreadsheets.

While they might look impressive at first glance, there’s no substance underneath.

What to look for? As a brand manager on the hunt for a brand tracking solution, you need to be on the lookout for a tool that provides up-to-date delivery methods.

From the tool’s dashboard to its overall interface, it’s crucial that you and your team can easily navigate and understand your data. Essentially, if they offer to send you a PDF of your insights, move on to the next option.

3. Focus on the Right KPIs

As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, that’s because it probably is. This rings especially true for brand tracking software.

In this day and age, we’re constantly being bombarded by ads for new software solutions and so-called “entrepreneurship gurus” who offer us the moon and stars.

They have the answers to all of our marketing problems… you just need to download 5 lead magnets, join 2 mailing lists, and sign up for a 10-year subscription. Then all of your problems will magically disappear overnight, right?

Wrong.

High-quality brand tracking tools know that it’s essential to focus time and effort on the most important KPIs. By using mobile-optimized brand surveys that target your ideal audience members, it’s easier to gather the data you’re looking for with a tool like Latana.

Don’t forget — branding is a marathon, not a sprint. You can’t ask your audience different questions a week or so apart and expect to receive groundbreaking insights.

Think about a TV campaign. How can you measure the overall impact if you change your survey questions or methods every few weeks? You won’t be able to gather reliable data to monitor your KPIs.

TV campaigns can take weeks — or even months — to create a noticeable impact on your target audience. You can’t expect reliable results by sending out a new DIY survey every week.

What to look for? With brand tracking software, sometimes less is more. Instead of focusing on a tool that pushed vanity KPIs, find one that gathers data that actually matters to your marketing team — important KPIs like brand awareness, consideration, preference, associations, and more.

From there, you can always expand as needed. But in the meantime, don’t become distracted by every shiny new KPI that’s dangled in front of you — they’re only distractions that drive you further from your real goals.

4. Reliable Sampling Methods

Traditional methods of survey research simply aren’t up to par these days.

Using outdated processes that involve collecting a sample from the general public, some brand tracking tools make conclusions about the opinions of specific niches from within that sample, based only on the answers given.

While this might make sense at first glance, in actuality, you’re sacrificing research quality. Why is that? Because with traditional methods, the closer you zoom in to a specific audience niche, the lower the quality of your results.

Let’s look at an example to see why traditional brand tracking is often flawed. Say a new app launches a campaign targeting tech-savvy college students. To track whether this campaign is successful, they conduct a survey with a sample size of 1000 people.

Herein lies the problem: Of those 1000 people, they determine 300 are college students and 400 are tech-savvy. Ultimately, only 40 are tech-savvy college students, aka their target niche.

From this number, they might be able to claim that 30% of their target audience is aware of their brand. However, their small number of respondents makes this statistic unreliable. And the farther they go into more specific niches, the more challenging it is to accurately track.

That’s why, at Latana, we came up with a different approach. Instead of relying on the 40 individual tech-savvy college students within their sample, good brand tracking software should instead focus on respondent characteristics.

That’s exactly what we do here at Latana with a process known as Multilevel Regression and Poststratification, or MRP. Boasting the ability to produce lower margins of error with deeper segmentation and more accurate data, MRP leads to more effective and reliable brand tracking results.

As the only brand tracking software currently using this groundbreaking technology, Latana is able to provide far more nuanced, insightful data to our clients.

What to look for? When searching for a brand tracking solution to help you better understand your target audience, you need to take sampling and data processing into account.

Tools that use outdated methods of sampling will provide unreliable results. You need to look for an option that uses the most cutting-edge technology to ensure you’ll get the data you need,

5. Advanced Audience Segmentation Capabilities

Traditional brand tracking software that relies on outdated sampling methods is also limited when it comes to audience segmentation. Many such tools only allowed users to segment by basic demographics — such as age, gender, or location.

This led to lackluster results and audience insights. Today, brand tracking platforms like Latana give you the freedom to choose between hundreds of audience segmentation options. And more options mean more accurate results.

For example, let’s say you’re the brand manager of a maternity brand that targets first-time mothers. You need to be able to trust your brand tracking software to not only help you understand your niche target audience but also to help you monitor any changes.

For years, this simply wasn’t possible. But today, with the right tools, it’s become a reality.

What to look for? When considering which brand tracking tool to use, take a close look at their audience segmentation capabilities. If they don’t offer customization and accurate niche data, they aren’t the solution for you.

With a tool like Latana, you can rest assured that your customized target audience is truly at the center of your brand awareness campaigns. And that when exploring your data, you’ll be able to deep dive into the niches that matter.

After all, you can’t afford to waste time or money on the wrong audience.

Final Thoughts

We’ve officially entered a “Brave New World” of brand tracking. Not only are companies of all shapes and sizes relying on brand tracking data to make smarter marketing decisions — it’s one of the best ways to get ahead in today’s competitive world

Therefore, when choosing brand tracking software, you need to be mindful of the methods and techniques each tool uses. If you want to have access to real-time insights that matter to your business, keep our five top characteristics in mind.

And in our opinion, whether you’re looking to measure the performance of your offline campaigns, learn more about your target audience, or see how you stack up against the competition, Latana is the answer.

Remember — brand tracking software is the best way to not only get the answers you’re looking for, but to then turn such information into actionable insights.

Updated by: Cory Schröder on 29.09.21