83% of UK Marketers Find Branding Measurement a Challenge

Despite the rise in advanced measurement solutions, marketers are still facing significant difficulties when it comes to measuring branding compared to direct response

London, UK – 83% of UK-based brand marketers find measuring the impact of branding more challenging than measuring the impact of direct response, according to a survey of over 150 brand marketers in organisations with over 200 employees.

The study – “Branding Measurement in Today’s Accountable World: A Tale of Two Marketers” – by leading cross channel marketing attribution software provider Visual IQ, uncovers the challenges faced by brand marketers when it comes to quantifying performance. It found that whilst 71% of UK marketers believe branding metrics are very or extremely important to campaign measurement and optimisation, only one in five (20%) of the UK marketing community rate their organisation as very good at measuring which combination of digital channels and tactics will produce the greatest lift on branding metrics.

The rise of digital marketing and the advent of advanced measurement solutions have made it easier than ever to track traditional, direct response marketing results, but for brand marketers who are tasked with measuring harder to quantify engagement metrics, it’s a different story. The study supports the fact that brand marketers have little confidence in the key performance indicators (KPIs) they are producing. When asked what obstacles they face when it comes to measuring brand performance, more than half (51%) of marketers said they lack advanced measurement tools and/or methodologies, and 37% are unable to calculate a single engagement score metric.

“After ten years of explaining online to marketing professionals, I spent the next ten years explaining marketing to online professionals. Brand recognition and affinity are crucial to the success of any product but measuring it remains complex and convoluted. With the arrival of ever more powerful analytics, the pressure on the branding side of the house is measurably elevated,” said Jim Sterne, Board Chair of the Digital Analytics Association and founder of the eMetrics Summit.

“As branding initiatives don’t necessarily result in conversion, measuring their success has always been far more tricky than with direct response tactics, as it’s harder to link to real business outcomes” explains Vanessa Tadier, General Manager of Europe, Visual IQ. “This study has made it clear that the industry has significant work to do in addressing the challenge of accurately measuring the impact of branding initiatives.”

About Visual IQ

Visual IQ produces the world’s most powerful cross channel marketing attribution software products. As a pioneer in the space, the company has been offering products since 2006. Its SaaS-based IQ Intelligence Suite reveals cross channel performance insights hidden deep within companies’ marketing data, providing actionable recommendations and optimised media plans to improve marketing effectiveness. These recommendations enable marketers and agencies to adjust their advertising strategies and tactics to significantly increase marketing ROI across their entire marketing mix – both online and offline. The functionality behind these products combines a powerful, user-friendly interface with multi-dimensional fractional attribution science and predictive analytics that clearly and accurately show marketers where opportunities exist for improvement.

Visual IQ was named a leader in cross channel attribution in 2014 by a leading market research firm, won The Drum’s 2015 Digital Trading Award for Best Attribution Solution, won the 2014 ASPY Award for Best Data or Analytics Solution, and was a finalist in the Digital Analytics Association Excellence Awards in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The company is a member of the IAB in the US, UK, France and Italy and sits on the association’s Advertising Technology, Data, Public Policy and CFO councils, as well as on the Standards Committee of the Digital Analytics Association.

Visual IQ can be reached at [email protected] or by visiting www.visualiq.com.