Brands are dynamic entities – never static. Marketing professionals need to nurture them and provide constant attention to support their development and protect them from threats. Marketers must act like parents and maintain responsibility for their brand even when it is owned by consumers out in the “real world.”

Here’s why.

A strong brand can still mean the difference between instant credibility or skepticism. Great brands can command a premium price and rake in higher margins. Brand recognition can open opportunities to new placements and partnerships that propel the brand to new heights.

However, it’s harder than ever to maintain a strong, healthy brand.

Whether a brand is established or emerging, it now exists in an increasingly complex media landscape and competitive environment. We see some mature brands struggle to adapt to the new environment and open the door for many hungry upstart brands to steal market share.

In either case, marketers need to have access to reliable brand intelligence that helps the business act in ways that support growth and development.

Successful brand tracking programs in today’s jungle usually have the following traits:

1. Conscious

Another reality of the day is shorter attention spans. Brand health data must be sourced using the most efficient methods possible – by focusing on what matters most and delivering the most value with the least amount of the consumer’s time. In short, keep your survey short by focusing on what is important.

2. Continuous

Everything moves at a much faster pace today – especially for marketers in the era of programmatic advertising and social media. When every data source is always on, checking in on brand health once a year doesn’t cut it. Brands that continuously measure their brand health can act faster to developments and have an edge over others that do not.

3. Correct

Sample and sample quality may not be the sexiest topic of the day – but it may be the most important. Consumer research data has undergone dramatic shifts as people moved online, then to mobile, and now stay connected in a myriad of ways. Simply put, not all research is reliable and today’s brand tracking champions are relying on panels that follow ESOMAR guidelines to produce reliable data.

4. Connected

Brand health data adds a powerful dimension to help marketers seeking to connect with consumers, but only when its connected in smart ways. For example, Marketing Mix Models that once relied on media spend and sales data to assess short term sales effects of media are now incorporating brand health data to optimize the media mix for long term sales. Brand health measurement and operational business performance data are both better when connected.

5. Compelling

The ultimate success sign of brand health measurement is that it compels the business to take action that helps the brand connect with the right consumers in the right way. It’s not enough to include brand metrics in a dashboard or company town hall. Programs must result in changes to the media mix, overall spend, brand strategy or marketing communications to be a useful tool for the business.

Continuous brand health data that is reliable and connected to other sources will compel the business to act.

If you’re uncertain if your company’s brand health measurement program has these 5 traits – take our brand measurement assessment to find out. This fast and easy assessment takes less than five minutes and will let you know how your program aligns to today’s best practices. Click here to get started.