You’ve poured everything you have into creating a strong brand: countless hours, critical funding, your own passion and vision, and so much more. How do you know if your efforts are paying off?

One of the best ways to get a view of your brand and where you stand is with an objective brand evaluation. This comprehensive study gives you priceless information about your brand and how you may be able to improve it. Let’s dive further into brand evaluations and how to make yours effective.

What Is a Brand Evaluation?

A brand evaluation is a thorough study of your brand and the value it holds. It evaluates not only the financial value of your brand but also the way your brand impacts consumers’ buying choices.

Ultimately, a brand evaluation is an objective look at your brand. Rather than looking at the brand through the lens of what you were trying to create, a brand evaluation looks at it from an outside perspective and reviews the objective perception and value of the brand.

What’s the Difference Between Brand Valuation and Brand Evaluation?

You may have also heard the term “brand valuation,” but is this different from a brand evaluation?

Yes, these terms have different definitions. A brand valuation purely reviews the financial value of a brand based on factors like the history of revenue growth and the expected future earnings. It is designed to come to a dollar amount for how much the brand is worth. A brand evaluation looks at the financial value of a brand but also looks at the intangible aspects of the brand, like brand perception and brand loyalty.

What Should a Brand Evaluation Involve?

A comprehensive and effective brand evaluation should analyze several facts about the brand. It should include:

• Intangible brand assets: brand assets that have value but aren’t physical items, such as a logo, trademarked slogan, etc.
• Brand equity: the customer loyalty to your brand and the value of that loyalty
• Brand value: the financial value of the brand and the amount of expected future earnings from the brand
• Brand awareness: how well-known the brand is
• Brand perception: how the brand is perceived negatively or positively

All of these factors come together to create an objective picture of your brand’s strength and value.

Why Is a Brand Evaluation Necessary?

Brand evaluations are important for multiple reasons. First, they are often used by businesses that are considering bringing in new investors or selling the brand. In this case, a thorough brand evaluation gives investors a clear picture of what they’re buying.

For businesses that aren’t considering these types of changes, though, a brand evaluation is still highly valuable. When you look at your brand, it’s easy to be swayed by your own passion and experience. You think your brand is a treasure because you’ve invested so much into creating it. But a brand evaluation can show you the truth of where your brand stands from an objective viewpoint. It helps you identify any weaknesses or problems so you can fix them effectively.

Conducting a Brand Evaluation

Whether you’re setting off on a brand evaluation to create a report for potential investors or to gauge your brand’s performance for your own information, there are a few top takeaways to keep in mind.

Gather Data from Surveys, Financial Metrics, and Market Research

A brand evaluation covers a wide variety of information, so how do you gather all that information together? The best practice is to rely on three sources: consumer surveys, financial metrics, and secondary market research.

Consumer surveys allow you to hear directly from consumers and gather data about brand awareness, brand equity, and brand perception. Use a survey tool like the AI-driven GroupSolver tool that can analyze your data in the background and distill it into measurable conclusions and usable data.

As far as financial metrics go, there are several key metrics to consider. The first is premium pricing or the price that your brand is able to command compared to similar but unbranded products or products from unrecognizable brands. The second metric is your history of growth and financial performance, including your profit margins and current earnings. Finally, the third metric to consider is your brand’s projected future earnings.

Secondary market research comes into play in brand evaluations too. You’ll need to assess your brand’s market value by comparing the valuations of other brands with similar profiles to yours.

Use an Open-Ended Survey Platform

As consumer surveys are such a vital part of your brand evaluation, you need to use a survey that is capable of gathering authentic responses and impressions of your brand. That is the value of an open-ended survey tool. Rather than relying on multiple-choice questions, these surveys allow consumers to write their genuine, unvarnished opinions and impressions.

GroupSolver, for example, offers the best of both worlds. It allows for open-ended responses while using advanced AI behind the scenes to process that information into measurable data that advances your brand evaluation.

Consider Brand Creation Costs

Building a brand costs money, and these historic and ongoing costs should be part of your brand evaluation. For example, consider the cost you paid to develop your brand assets like your logo, brand name, slogan, voice, messaging, and so on. Be sure to also consider the costs you’ve paid to market and publicize the brand because you wouldn’t have the brand awareness you do without those investments.

Launching Your Brand Evaluation

If you’re ready to dive into your brand evaluation, GroupSolver is here to help. Schedule a GroupSolver demo today to learn how we can make your consumer surveys easier and more effective.