You’ve launched your new brand and your internal stakeholders are completely onboard. Congratulations! Take a breath.
Now, are you done? No!
Don’t you want to know how your hard work is impacting your organization? Wouldn’t it be great to see how your external stakeholders are perceiving your new brand?
Yes! Read on!
One of the most important next steps after launching a brand is measuring its impact.
Tracking impact provides insights into whether your new brand resonates with your target audience, drives engagement, and achieves your objectives. Measurement helps you identify areas of strength and areas needing improvement, enabling you to refine your brand for deeper impact and engagement.
Data-driven Insights
Brand impact measurement provides data-driven insights that inform strategic decision-making. You can use this information to allocate resources more effectively, prioritize marketing and communication initiatives that yield the highest return on investment, and adjust your organizational strategies based on evidence rather than guesswork. This helps optimize resource allocation and ensures that every department in the organization is focused on activities that contribute most to your success. For example, brand measurement data can inform your decisions about strategic partnerships and collaborations by identifying synergies between your organizations and similar mission-driven organizations.
Evaluating ROI
Building a brand is a lot of work and requires a lot of resources. Measuring the impact of a brand allows you to assess the return on investment (ROI). By quantifying the outcomes of branding efforts in relation to the resources you invested, you can determine whether your branding initiatives are generating a positive return. You can also justify continued investment in branding activities. This is particularly important for demonstrating the value of branding to stakeholders and securing buy-in for future initiatives. When my team launched the new LSS brand, some of the ROI measurements we tracked were
- New donors acquired using new brand messaging and visuals
- Increase in donations made through new digital channels (website, email, social)
- Expansion of volunteer participation through the new website engagement tools
- New monthly donors through the new landing page
We tracked these KPIs monthly so that we could identify areas of success and areas for improvement, and use these insights to refine our branding strategies, allocate resources more effectively, and inform future decision-making.
Brand Impact Metrics
It may seem like it is challenging to measure a brand and its impact. After all, how do you put a grade on your reputation? Remember that your brand is embedded in your organization’s mission, vision, purpose, and value proposition. In other words, your brand is embedded in your overarching strategic goals and objectives, those things that drive your mission and purpose. The best way to measure your brand is through the metrics and measurements that inform those organizational goals and objectives. Here are some common ways a nonprofit can measure the success of a brand launch:
Donor or Supporter Acquisition
This is arguably one of the most important measurements, and it goes beyond initial ROI. Every organization needs more supporters to ensure long-term sustainability. Measure the impact of your brand launch on donor or supporter acquisition by tracking metrics such as the number of new donors or supporters acquired during and after the launch period, donation amounts, and conversion rates of fundraising campaigns tied to the new brand. Then, keep tracking these new supporters to measure brand engagement. The deeper a supporter becomes engaged with your organization, the longer they will stay with you.
Supporter Engagement
It’s not enough to build brand awareness. Once a stakeholder is aware of your organization, a strong brand should engage them in a personal way. Assess audience engagement with your new brand by monitoring metrics such as social media interactions (likes, comments, shares), email open rates and click-through rates, donor retention rates, event attendance, and participation in campaigns or initiatives related to the new brand. Engagement can also be measured by tracking overlapping supporter roles. For example, when a donor becomes a volunteer or vice versa, that is a sign of deeper engagement.
I also believe the Net Promoter Score is an important engagement metric. This metric is used to measure customer loyalty and satisfaction. It helps brands assess the likelihood of customers recommending their products or services to others. You can read more about the NPS here.
Marketing and Communication Channel Performance
Your stakeholders will first experience your new brand through your website, social media, email, and other communication channels. It is valuable to monitor the performance of these channels and compare it to the performance before the brand launch. Monitor website performance metrics such as organic search traffic, keyword rankings, time spent on site, pageviews, and conversion rates (e.g., sign-ups, donations) to assess the effectiveness of SEO efforts and overall online visibility of the new brand. Measure email click-through and open rates and social media engagement rates. This is particularly important if you’ve launched new or refreshed digital channels with the new brand.
Brand Consistency and Perception
You can qualitatively measure the health of your new brand through surveys or focus groups. Use these tools to gather feedback on the latest brand’s messaging, visuals, and overall perception among key stakeholders, including donors, supporters, volunteers, and the community. Assess brand consistency across different touchpoints to ensure alignment with your organization’s mission and values.
At LSS, we knew the new brand had taken root in our community when the new name started appearing in graffiti around one of our shelters. It wasn’t a very scientific measurement but it was impactful.
Brand Awareness
Measure the increase in brand awareness among supporters by tracking metrics such as website traffic, social media followers, mentions in the press or media, and brand sentiment analysis. Conduct surveys or polls to gauge brand recognition among target audiences before and after the launch.
Long-Term Impact and Sustainability
Evaluate your new brand’s long-term impact and sustainabilityby tracking these key metrics over time and analyzing trends beyond the initial launch period. The measurements help you understand ongoing brand engagement, donor retention rates, and your organization’s ability to maintain brand relevance and resonance in the long run.
By monitoring these metrics and KPIs, your nonprofit can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of your brand launch efforts and make informed decisions to refine and optimize your branding strategy for greater impact and success in the future.
Your brand must be continuously monitored and evaluated for authenticity, strength, and impact so that you can adapt to changing market dynamics, stay competitive, and drive long-term success. Make these evaluations a regular part of your strategic planning calendar and initiatives.
Would you like to start the process of discovering your brand? I’d love to help you. Schedule a call with me today!
