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  • Brand Health Tracking for Smarter Decisions

    Brand Health Tracking for Smarter Decisions


    72% of shoppers would stay loyal to brands they loved even if it meant paying more. But if you’re not measuring how your brand is performing, how can you build—or protect—that loyalty? 

    That’s where brand health tracking comes in. It gives you the ongoing, actionable insights you need to grow market share, secure stakeholder buy-in, and optimize your brand strategy. In this blog, you’ll learn: 

    • What brand health tracking is and why it’s essential for modern brands 
    • The key metrics that reveal brand awareness, loyalty, and competitive positioning 
    • Best practices for consistent, high-quality tracking and reporting 
    • A phased approach to launching and optimizing your tracking program 

    Let’s break it down. 

    What is brand health tracking? 

    Think of it as your brand’s pulse check. 

    Brand health tracking is a continuous process of measuring how customers perceive and interact with your brand over time. It helps you monitor brand awareness, customer loyalty, competitive positioning, and overall brand equity—so you can make informed decisions when it matters most. 

    Key Metrics to Track: 

    • Aided and unaided brand awareness 
    • Brand preference and consideration 
    • Customer loyalty and usage 
    • Brand associations and values 
    • Recommendation likelihood (e.g., NPS) 
    • Competitive brand substitutions 

    Why brand health tracking is critical 

    Despite its importance, most brands aren’t getting the full value out of their tracking programs. According to Gartner®, while 57% of brand leaders conduct brand health assessments, only 21% find those insights actionable. 

    Without consistent tracking, brands risk: 

    • Missing shifts in market dynamics 
    • Misalignment with evolving customer expectations 
    • Inability to defend against competitive threats 
    • Weak ROI justification for marketing efforts 

    Who needs brand health tracking? 

    1. Startups to global enterprises – Whether you’re launching a new brand or refining a well-established one, tracking brand health helps ensure your positioning resonates and evolves with your market. 
    1. High-competition industries – In sectors like tech, retail, CPG, financial services, and healthcare, where customer choice is abundant, brand perception can be the edge that wins—or loses—market share. 
    1. Customer-centric organizations – If delivering a standout customer experience is a core priority, brand tracking helps you align perception with reality and adapt as expectations shift. 
    1. Marketing teams under pressure to perform – For teams tasked with proving ROI, brand health metrics provide the data to validate strategy, guide messaging, and justify spend. 

    5 strategic ways to use Brand data 

    1. Guide market expansion 
      • Tactic: Track unaided awareness across regions or customer segments 
      • Outcome: Identify high-potential markets for targeted campaigns and strategic investment 
      • Insight: You can accelerate growth by focusing efforts where baseline awareness is low but opportunity is high. 
    1. Refine your ideal customer profile (ICP) 
      • Tactic: Expand tracking beyond your assumed core audience 
      • Outcome: Uncover new, high-fit segments that may be more loyal, engaged, or profitable 
      • Insight: Overlooking non-traditional audiences could mean missing your brand’s strongest advocates. 
    1. Drive deeper brand loyalty 
      • Tactic: Track emotional drivers, values, and associations over time 
      • Outcome: Develop initiatives and messaging that reflect customer beliefs and priorities 
      • Insight: Loyalty isn’t just earned through products—it’s built through shared values and consistent alignment. 
    1. Manage brand crises effectively 
      • Tactic: Compare real-time sentiment to historical benchmarks during and after crises 
      • Outcome: Understand the true impact and trajectory of reputational shifts 
      • Insight: Without pre-crisis data, you risk misjudging recovery—or missing warning signs altogether. 
    1. Gain a competitive advantage 
      • Tactic: Monitor brand perception and lift against direct competitors 
      • Outcome: Spot areas where you can out-position rivals or capture market share 
      • Insight: Strategic action on comparative brand data can turn small gaps into long-term wins. 

    How to build a best-in-class brand tracking program 

    Cadence: Track at the right frequency 

    1. Monthly or always-on: For large brands or fast-moving markets 
    1. Quarterly: Ideal for dynamic B2B or competitive sectors 
    1. Annually: Works for stable, low-velocity markets 

    Consistency is non-negotiable 

    To compare trends over time, keep the following fixed: 

    • Survey design and question order 
    • Sample size, panel mix, and screening criteria 
    • Field timing and data collection methods 

    Any change can disrupt comparability. 

    Data quality must be verified 

    Your research partner should provide: 

    • Verified, human-only panels 
    • Anti-fraud detection and cleansing protocols 
    • Transparent methodology documentation 

    Reporting that drives action  

    Design analytics that stakeholders will actually use: 

    • Monthly scorecards for key metrics 
    • Quarterly deep-dive reports with trend analysis 
    • Custom views for different stakeholder needs 

    How to get started 

    Implementing a brand health tracking program doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By following a phased approach, you can build a solid foundation, launch effectively, and optimize as you grow. 

    Phase 1: Foundation (Weeks 1–4) 

    Set the stage for meaningful, long-term tracking by aligning internally and defining what success looks like. 

    • Define clear goals – Determine the key business decisions your brand data will support (e.g., campaign planning, market entry, customer segmentation). 
    • Identify stakeholders and KPIs – Involve marketing, product, CX, and executive teams early, and agree on the metrics that matter most. 
    • Set your competitive benchmark list – Choose which competitors you’ll track to ensure your data provides relevant context. 
    • Align on cadence and budget – Decide how often you’ll collect data (quarterly, biannually, etc.) and confirm available resources. 

    Phase 2: Launch (Weeks 4–8) 

    Move from planning to execution by establishing your baseline and ensuring data integrity. 

    • Design and field your first wave – Use a consistent methodology to ensure comparability over time and across markets. 
    • Implement strict data quality standards – Use safeguards to prevent survey fraud and ensure clean, reliable results. 
    • Establish benchmarks – Use this initial wave as your reference point for all future tracking. 

    Phase 3: Optimize (Ongoing) 

    Turn insights into action and evolve your program as your needs grow. 

    • Review data quarterly – Regularly analyze results to uncover trends, risks, and opportunities, and adjust strategy as needed. 
    • Add pulse questions – Introduce short-term, targeted questions when timely issues arise—without compromising your tracking structure. 
    • Scale as you grow – Expand tracking across new markets, products, or audience segments as your business evolves. 

    The Alchemer advantage 

    Alchemer’s always-on brand health tracking offering gives you the clarity and confidence to act in real time, helping you protect your brand, maximize your marketing investments, and stay ahead in a fast-changing market. 

    When you partner with Alchemer, you get more than just a tool—you get a team of experts and a platform built for action. 

    Here’s what sets us apart: 

    • Expert-led program design: Our in-house team, including PhD-level researchers, works with you to design a tracking program tailored to your business goals. 
    • Reliable, verified data: We source high-quality panel respondents and apply rigorous fraud detection protocols to ensure your data is accurate and trustworthy. 
    • Real-time insights: Get full access to a powerful dashboard that gives you an always-on view of your brand performance—no waiting on reports. 
    • Scalable survey technology: Whether you’re tracking one brand or many, our flexible platform grows with your needs. 
    • Stakeholder-ready reporting: From monthly scorecards to quarterly deep dives, we deliver insights that align with your KPIs and drive strategic decisions. 

    Ready to make faster, smarter decisions with an always-on brand tracker program? Learn more here.  



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  • What Every Brand Gets Wrong About Using AI

    What Every Brand Gets Wrong About Using AI


    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Artificial intelligence has definitely changed how we do business, for the better in many ways. Chatbots that reply in seconds, algorithms tracking your behavior so you can instantly get what you want and automation handling routine tasks faster than any human team ever could.

    But just because it’s fast doesn’t mean it feels good.

    Efficiency is great, but I’ve seen too many businesses losing the human element that actually builds trust and loyalty. If your digital experience feels robotic, scripted or cold, people won’t stick around, no matter how “optimized” it is.

    At some point, tech needs a heartbeat behind it. Otherwise, all you’re doing is automating disconnection.

    Related: How to Scale a Marketing Strategy That Works

    When automation goes too far

    Yes, automation is powerful. It keeps things running. Chatbots answer questions 24/7, tools auto-schedule content and systems track customer behavior. But let’s not ignore the downside.

    Sure, 51% of consumers prefer interacting with bots over humans when they want immediate service. But what if they don’t? What happens when customers get frustrated from waiting or having to repeat themselves?

    Think about the entire experience. When every interaction feels automated, customers begin to question whether anyone is really paying attention. Bots can’t read the room. They can’t hear tone, detect frustration or understand nuance. So, while automation helps scale, it often kills connection if you rely on it too much.

    Your chatbot can still handle basic questions, but when things get tricky, a handoff to a human rep makes all the difference. Most people aren’t expecting perfection. They’re looking for effort, care and responsiveness. When that’s missing, the tech isn’t helping — it’s hurting.

    Personalization is now a necessity, not a mere desire

    Personalization is now a basic expectation, but it can’t be all AI.

    In 2024, Forbes surveyed over 1,000 U.S. consumers for their State of Customer Service and CX Study and found that 81% of customers prefer companies that offer a personalized experience, and they expect this personal touch across the platforms they use, not just in-store or over email.

    No surprise there — it confirms what we already know about personalization. Customers want fast, relevant and thoughtful service that feels made for them. But here’s where brands get it wrong:

    They use AI to automate “personalization” based on click behavior, email opens or CRM tags — and stop there. The result? Generic messages dressed up in personalization tags. “Hi [FirstName]” isn’t what people mean by thoughtful.

    Yes, AI helps scale insight. But real personalization comes from real-time awareness, in those moments that can’t be predicted. Knowing that a customer just called support five minutes ago changes how you respond to their next email. This isn’t something AI alone can deliver. It takes judgment, context and care.

    Let your team go off-book when it serves the customer. That’s what humanizing your strategy means: efficient, but never robotic. Because personalization shouldn’t feel predictive, it should feel considered. AI might tee it up, but humans close the loop.

    Related: 5 Innovative Ways to Give Your Customers the Personalized Experiences They Want

    Do what the algorithm can’t

    Speed, data and automation can open the door, but connection keeps people coming back.

    Ask real questions

    The comments section is the closest thing you’ve got to a real-time focus group. It keeps your blind spots in check.

    Ask what your customers are struggling with, what they want to see more of and what’s missing. They’ll tell you when something’s off. If you’re paying attention, you can adjust before it becomes a bigger issue.

    Reward frontline feedback

    Your best insights aren’t in your dashboards. Want to improve a feature? Ask the person fielding complaints about it. Want to write better copy? Talk to the person who knows the objections your customers keep bringing up.

    Build a process where frontline teams can flag patterns, share feedback and influence decisions. When your team sees that their input shapes the brand, they become more invested. And when customers see that their voice actually leads to improvements, they trust you more.

    Lead with your story

    Sprout Social reports that for 86% of consumers, authenticity is a major factor in choosing which brands to support. That’s why storytelling — especially the messy, honest kind — builds trust faster than any email sequence ever could.

    It doesn’t have to be dramatic or polished. Some of the most powerful brand moments come from raw, unscripted content: a phone-shot video, a glimpse of what went wrong behind the scenes, a quick peek at how you build your product.

    The truth is, customers don’t just want to be sold to — they want to be in a relationship with the brands they buy from. Seeing real people doing real work is what turns that relationship from transactional to emotional.

    Related: How Brands Can Embrace Authenticity in a World Craving Transparency

    People first, always

    AI is here to stay, and that’s not a bad thing. Use automation. Streamline. But remember, the brands that will truly thrive are the ones that know how to scale connection, not just automation.

    The future of digital isn’t less human. It’s more intentional.

    Next time you build a marketing campaign, send an email or respond to a comment, ask yourself: Does this sound human? Or just efficient?

    Artificial intelligence has definitely changed how we do business, for the better in many ways. Chatbots that reply in seconds, algorithms tracking your behavior so you can instantly get what you want and automation handling routine tasks faster than any human team ever could.

    But just because it’s fast doesn’t mean it feels good.

    Efficiency is great, but I’ve seen too many businesses losing the human element that actually builds trust and loyalty. If your digital experience feels robotic, scripted or cold, people won’t stick around, no matter how “optimized” it is.

    The rest of this article is locked.

    Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.



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  • The One Mistake Is Putting Your Brand Reputation at Risk — and Most Startups Still Make It

    The One Mistake Is Putting Your Brand Reputation at Risk — and Most Startups Still Make It


    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Most entrepreneurs and business owners understand they need a comprehensive communications strategy to reach their target customers. However, all too many think that only means branding, marketing and advertising and forget to include public relations (PR). In particular, many small businesses and startups neglect this part of the communications equation.

    This has always been a mistake, but that’s even more true today. Here, I explain how PR impacts brand credibility and customer trust, as well as how those seemingly ineffable factors connect to your hard revenue numbers.

    The problem with investing solely in marketing

    Investing only in marketing and ignoring PR is a problem because marketing drives awareness, but PR builds trust — and without trust, awareness doesn’t convert.

    One study has put the number of consumers who believe advertisers have integrity at 4%. Customers’ trust in conventional advertising is also plummeting, especially for members of the younger generations. As Wharton Magazine reports, 84% of millennials not only dislike traditional ads but also distrust them.

    Research also shows people don’t pay attention to ads and actively avoid them. According to consumer research firm Bulbshare, 63% of Gen Zers use ad blockers, meaning they don’t even see ads online. If they do come across one, 99% say they hit “skip” when given the choice.

    In short, today’s consumers are savvy. They know how to follow the money trail and identify conflicts of interest. Indeed, the Content Marketing Institute has found that 80% of corporate decision-makers prefer to glean information from articles that are more objective rather than ads, which are recognized as biased and self-interested.

    Meanwhile, today’s consumers increasingly prioritize ethics. B2B services company BusinessDasher explains that 84% of customers weigh companies’ ethics and values when considering a purchase, and 63% say they would like companies to adopt more ethical practices.

    For companies that would like to expand their market reach, these statistics send a clear signal. Investing only in advertising and marketing is unlikely to move the needle. To develop a good reputation for your brand, you need to do PR.

    Related: How to Make the Most of Your Public Relations

    PR: Ethical strategic communications

    PR differs from other communication strategies like branding and marketing because it specifically focuses on developing your organization’s positive reputation and earning consumers’ trust. While ads and marketing campaigns may attempt to tell people about the business’s great reputation, good PR shows them. It enables the business and its spokespeople to demonstrate ethical conduct rather than just making claims to this effect.

    For instance, while a top PR team will draft and release press releases and media advisories on a company’s behalf, they will also seek out opportunities for the company’s leadership to serve as expert sources in the media. When the public needs help understanding current events and a journalist turns to a company’s spokesperson for expert analysis, the viewers understand that this person and their company are trustworthy. In addition, they come to rely on and appreciate the spokesperson’s valuable advice.

    In the course of such an interview, the company’s representative may never even mention their product or service. By demonstrating their willingness to share important information, however, they signal their care for the greater good, their own sterling character and that of their company. This forms positive connotations in viewers’ minds. People come to associate the spokesperson and company with credibility and garner their trust.

    Behaving in an ethical manner and showing goodwill tends to be more convincing than merely claiming to be good. This is how strong connections with customers can still be forged despite today’s cynical environment.

    Related: How You Can Leverage These PR Strategies to Build Your Company’s Credibility and Trust — Even When Under Attack

    How PR contributes to revenue growth

    To be clear, PR is not a direct method of boosting sales or generating leads. Instead, it works in the background, burnishing your brand’s reputation and predisposing people to think highly of your company. This can pay off in the end, however.

    Take Sears, Roebuck and Co. as an example. When the brand partnered with The Oprah Winfrey Show to provide Christmas gifts for 100 foster children, the results were staggering. After the episode aired, customer surveys showed an 11% jump in positive sentiment toward the brand — and people said they planned to spend 39% more at Sears.

    The final impact? That single PR moment helped generate $13 million in new revenue.

    In addition, father-daughter co-authors Al and Laura Ries studied 91 launches of new products in their book “The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR.” Those campaigns that incorporated PR were more successful than those that only deployed marketing approaches. Indeed, they conclude that PR is a better investment than advertising for most businesses.

    In my own experience leading a PR firm, I can attest that campaigns sometimes generate so much new business that clients can’t scale fast enough and have to pause our services while they catch up with demand.

    Enter the limelight with PR

    Hiring a PR firm, especially one that can show a track record of success in your particular industry, is indispensable to make your brand image shine. This strategic communications approach avoids the common missteps of advertising and marketing while aligning with today’s customers’ preferences for ethical business practices.

    For these reasons, more businesses should consider taking PR firms up on their offers of a free consultation call. There’s nothing to lose and the limelight to gain.



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  • Unlocking Brand Success with Alchemer’s Brand Health Tracker 

    Unlocking Brand Success with Alchemer’s Brand Health Tracker 


    If you ask any brand marketer, they would agree—competition is fiercer than ever, and brand perception can shift in an instant. That’s where brand health tracking comes in—and Alchemer is here to make it easier than ever for you to monitor and improve your brand’s performance. 

    The Alchemer Brand Health Tracker is a game-changer for businesses of all sizes to stay on top of brand performance. By continuously collecting and analyzing key metrics like brand awareness, customer sentiment, and loyalty, you get a real-time snapshot of how your brand is performing – all in one place. 

    Why is Brand Health Tracking So Important? 

    Think of it as a fitness tracker for your brand. Just as checking your health stats helps you make smarter choices about your well-being, tracking brand health gives you the continuous insights to adjust your marketing strategy, fine-tune your messaging, and strengthen customer relationships. 

    When done right, tracking brand health allows you to: 

    • Stay ahead of trends: Spot emerging shifts in customer preferences and market dynamics before they become mainstream. 
    • React quickly: Implement real-time adjustments to campaigns or customer touchpoints to improve engagement and sentiment. 
    • Build long-term loyalty: Use data to nurture customer trust and elevate brand equity over time. 

    How Does Alchemer Help? 

    Alchemer’s Brand Health Tracker provides a robust solution that integrates seamlessly into your existing workflow. With customizable surveys, real-time dashboards, and easy-to-understand insights, you’ll get a deep dive into what’s working and where there’s room for growth. 

    In-house Team:  

    The Alchemer Research Solutions team brings high-level expertise to brand tracking and market research. With PhD-level researchers ensuring survey best practices, advanced programming solutions, and a dedicated project management team, we deliver high-quality, actionable insights. Our strategic partnerships provide access to over 100 million respondents worldwide, ensuring diverse and impactful data.  

    Whether you’re a well-known consumer brand, or a fast-growing startup, the Alchemer platform gives you the tools to continuously track, analyze, and act on customer feedback—ensuring that your brand stays aligned with market expectations and remains competitive in a rapidly changing landscape. 

    The Bottom Line? 

    If you want to future-proof your brand and create lasting connections with your customers, understanding how your brand is performing is essential. Alchemer’s Brand Health Tracker empowers you to make smarter, data-driven decisions that impact both short-term wins and long-term growth. 

    Ready to take your brand to the next level? Learn more about how Alchemer’s Brand Health Tracker can help you make more informed, confident marketing decisions today. 

    Schedule a Consultation

    For Brand Health Tracker

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