Common KPIs Tracked by Brand Strategists

Brand Strategists are responsible for shaping how a company is perceived and ensuring that every customer interaction supports the overall brand narrative. But without measurement, strategy remains abstract. That’s why tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) is crucial. KPIs give Brand Strategists insight into what’s working, what needs improvement, and how branding efforts contribute to broader business goals.

Why KPIs Matter for Brand Strategy

Unlike sales or direct-response marketing, branding is often long-term and intangible. However, carefully selected KPIs help quantify a brand’s impact over time. These metrics allow strategists to monitor awareness, consistency, sentiment, and engagement — providing the data needed to make strategic decisions that build brand equity.

Essential KPIs Every Brand Strategist Should Track

1. Brand Awareness

This measures how well your target audience recognizes and recalls your brand. Key ways to measure awareness include:

• Direct traffic: Users who visit your site by typing your brand URL
• Search volume for branded keywords: Indicates interest in your name or products
• Social reach: Number of unique users who see branded content
• Surveys and brand recall studies: Ask audiences if they’re familiar with your brand

2. Brand Engagement

Engagement shows how people interact with your brand’s content. It reflects the strength of the emotional or cognitive connection your audience has with your brand.

• Likes, comments, shares, and saves on social media
• Video views and completion rates
• Click-through rates (CTR) on brand campaigns
• Time spent on branded landing pages or blogs

3. Brand Sentiment

Understanding how people feel about your brand is essential for reputation management. Tools like sentiment analysis and social listening help you evaluate:

• Positive vs. negative mentions across social platforms
• Customer reviews and ratings
• Support ticket language and feedback trends

Tracking brand sentiment helps strategists catch perception issues early and align messaging with audience expectations.

4. Share of Voice (SOV)

Share of Voice compares your brand’s visibility to competitors within the same market. It’s a measure of how much you dominate the conversation:

• Organic search presence relative to competitors
• Mentions in media and press coverage
• Social media brand mentions compared to competitors

A growing SOV often signals improved brand authority and thought leadership.

5. Brand Consistency

Brand consistency ensures that messaging, visuals, and tone are uniform across all touchpoints. While harder to quantify, it can be measured by:

• Internal brand audits across platforms and departments
• Review cycles and brand compliance checks
• Consistency scores from digital asset management tools

Maintaining consistency boosts brand trust and recognition over time.

6. Customer Loyalty and Advocacy

Loyal customers not only buy more — they also become brand ambassadors. Track these loyalty-related KPIs:

• Net Promoter Score (NPS): Measures how likely customers are to recommend your brand
• Repeat purchase rate or customer retention rate
• User-generated content or brand hashtag use
• Referral traffic and program participation

Aligning Brand KPIs with Business Goals

To prove the value of branding efforts, KPIs should be tied to broader objectives like customer acquisition, retention, and revenue growth. For example, if the goal is market expansion, increasing brand awareness and SOV are top priorities. If the focus is retention, then brand loyalty and sentiment become more important.

Tools to Track Brand KPIs

• Google Analytics: For branded search traffic and website engagement
• Brandwatch / Sprout Social: For sentiment and social engagement tracking
• SEMrush / Ahrefs: For SOV and branded keyword monitoring
• Survey tools (e.g., Typeform, Qualtrics): For brand perception and recall studies

Conclusion

KPIs give Brand Strategists the data they need to connect creative vision with real-world impact. By consistently monitoring these performance indicators, strategists can evolve brand strategies with confidence — ensuring that the brand not only looks great but delivers measurable value over time.