How to Measure Brand Awareness on a Small Budget

My main priority is to see if more people are searching for our name. Branded search is a quick way to check if people are interested enough to look us up online.

Pair this with a simple question for customers: “How did you hear about us?” Search data shows interest, and customer answers reveal where it began. Together, these give your team a useful starting point without needing to buy a research tool.

Branded search and customer feedback show how aware people are of your brand and how interested they are. If you need to know an estimate of the percentage of your target market that knows your brand, use an awareness survey. For most marketing decisions, these simple steps are enough.

Google Search Console is a free starting point if your website is verified. Its search performance report shows the queries for which your site appeared, along with impressions and clicks.

Set up a way to look at the same group of searches every time, so you can compare results easily.

• Open your search results performance report. Filter the queries to show your brand name, and be sure to include common misspellings and unique product names. If you have more than one term, try using a custom regex filter.
• Look over the queries that match your filter. If your brand name is also a common word, adjust the filter so it leaves out searches that don’t relate to your business.
• If needed, set the country filter to focus on the market you serve.
• Track impressions and clicks over the same time period each time, such as every calendar month. Use the same query definition so you can compare your results later.
• Watch for any changes in your search ranking. Write down any campaign launches, PR, or promotions that might explain these changes.

Search Console shows searches where your site appeared, so call the numbers “branded search impressions” and “branded search clicks.” These are not the total number of people aware of your business. Some searches are left out for privacy, and ranking changes can affect what you see. When trends change, check the search queries. More people searching your name with a product term means something different than a spike in job searches or support questions.

A customer might hear about you on the radio, search for your name, and then click on an ad. While your website report shows the visit, only the customer can tell you what made them look you up.

That’s why I like to keep How Did You Hear About Us (HDYHAU) responses alongside search data. Ask this question at the same point in the customer journey each time, and store the answers in a shared spot.

Use the same categories each time so you can compare results, but also let people answer in their own words. Sometimes, a written answer will mention a specific event, person, or campaign that a general “social media” option would miss. Our HDYHAU guide explains how to use these answers with digital tracking.

Keep track of how many customers answered and what they said. If more people respond just because you made the question easier to find, you should know that before thinking the change is due to a campaign.

Look for patterns in the responses. Are people talking about the activities you’ve invested in? Do their answers show they understand your product? These details help you decide what to keep doing and what needs more explanation.

Your baseline is the starting point for comparing future results. Export any reliable history you have, then record your current search, customer feedback, and funnel numbers before your next campaign.

If you don’t have any history yet, just start now. Write down the date you began tracking and build from there. You don’t need a year of data to make good decisions.

Year-on-year comparisons are helpful because they show seasonal patterns. A slow month is easier to understand if you know it’s always slow then. Until you have that history, compare similar periods and note any holidays, promotions, or other changes that might affect demand.

Always check the actual numbers as well as the percentage changes. For example, going from two to four branded clicks is double, but the small scale matters when deciding if you should spend more.

• Each week, review early responses to live campaigns, watch for anything out of the ordinary, and confirm that tracking is working properly.
• Every few weeks or at least once a month, review your search data, customer feedback, and business results. Use these insights to decide if you should make any changes.
• Once you have enough data, compare the same season from one year to the next to see if things are getting better over time.

Make decisions based on your customers’ buying cycle. If it usually takes them months to decide, a week of higher branded search is just an early sign of interest, not a reason to expect quick sales.

When I joined a fintech, hardly anyone knew the product. We initially tried a promotional competition with cash prizes to build attention cheaply. It didn’t work as expected. The product launch kept getting delayed, and the competition ended up running for a long time, well before launch.

Later, we invested in PR, radio and billboards, focusing on selected areas in New Zealand. We introduced HDYHAU tracking and looked at the response by region. Over roughly 12 months, those answers and anecdotal feedback showed us that more people were becoming aware of the product.

The next problem was getting interested people to become customers. We adjusted the targeting and, particularly, the messaging to help people consider the product rather than just recognize the name.

We also changed the conversion process. People could still get started themselves, but we added sales help to complete the final step instead of expecting everyone to convert entirely through self-service. That approach worked well, and we saw customer acquisition cost fall.

Looking at awareness and conversion together showed us where we needed to improve. It wasn’t just about reaching more people; we also had to help interested people take the next step.

After you start tracking your own branded demand, comparing it to competitors can give you more context. Share of Search shows your brand’s searches as a percentage of searches for a group of brands.

Pick competitors that your buyers actually consider as alternatives. Use search-volume data from the same source, location, and time period for each brand. Don’t mix Search Console clicks for your site with an SEO tool’s competitor estimates, since they measure different things.

I worked at a company where we overlapped with a much larger competitor on one feature. Their brand covered several other categories as well. Their total branded search was a poor yardstick for whether we were winning that specific use case.

In that case, I also checked how visible we were for non-branded terms, searches for the solution instead of a company name. This helped us see which companies appeared when potential customers looked for that feature.

For competitors that are very similar to you, branded comparisons are more useful. Keep your own search-volume trend next to your share, so you can see if your business is gaining interest or if other brands are losing it. Our Share of Search guide has more details on how to set this up.

Only add another measure if it helps answer a question your current report can’t. Small teams don’t need to track every possible brand metric.

I’ve used Tracksuit for brand tracking with surveys. Surveys can reach people who know your brand but aren’t searching for it or visiting your site, so they’re helpful for understanding awareness in a wider market.

If your team is small, focus on search and customer feedback first. Finding the right survey sample and keeping questions consistent takes time and money. Surveying your current customers helps you learn about them, but to measure awareness among potential buyers, you need a sample from the wider audience. Be careful not to treat a large impression count as a successful brand campaign. Check who the activity reached and what response it generated. Reaching the wrong audience won’t solve your growth problem.

Our brand tracking tools guide compares different methods. For more on how awareness, consideration, and demand connect, check out the brand measurement guide.

When you see an increase in branded search, look at what else was going on. If a competitor is spending a lot, it can boost interest in the whole category, including your brand. A comparison page or news story can also make people search for your name. Put the dates next to your own campaign activity and look at the audience and intent behind the response.

• Is there more interest in the entire category, or is it just your brand seeing growth?
• Did you or a competitor recently launch a campaign, promotion, or new product?
• Do search queries and customer comments match the audience you want to reach?
• Have your tracking, filters, or search rankings changed recently?
• Are inquiries and signups increasing too, and where do people tend to drop off?

If both search and relevant inquiries go up, look into which activities people mention and see if you can build on them. If interest grows but conversions don’t, review your offer, messaging, and buying process. If the response is from the wrong audience, check your targeting.

Many things can change at once. Look for patterns to decide your next step, then note what you changed and see what happens. This approach is more helpful than giving all the credit to the last channel that got a click.

I like to keep funnel and financial data right next to brand metrics. Put them all in one report so you can see both the interest you’re creating and what happens next.

• Audience and period: Explain who your campaign is aimed at, who your target market is, and when your campaign will run.
• Activity and investment: Briefly outline what you did, when you did it, and the amount you spent.
• Brand response: Report how many branded search impressions and clicks you received, and highlight the main themes and numbers from HDYHAU responses.
• Business results: List the key steps, such as inquiries, qualified leads, sales, signups, trials, or paid customers.
• Costs: Share the cost for each stage of the funnel and the total customer acquisition cost. Use the same cost definitions for all stages.
• Next action: Describe what changed, explain why, and say what you plan to keep doing, adjust, or test next.

Keep your measures side by side instead of adding them up. A search, a signup, and a customer response might all come from the same person. Also, review awareness activities along with the channels that turn interest into results. This is how I look at marketing ROI and attribution too.

Begin with data you can collect reliably. A steady monthly report, customer feedback, and a clear record of your activities will help you make better budget decisions than just looking at reach or impression numbers alone.