You’ve invested heavily in brand. But how do you know if it’s working?
Too often, branding efforts feel like a leap of faith. The outcomes are fuzzy, the ROI hard to prove. But Maria Van, Director for EMEA at a global enterprise overseeing 37 markets, makes the case that brand performance can and needs to be measured. This measurement must come with rigor, structure, and business relevance.
This is a must-watch for CMOs, brand leads, and digital marketers aiming to connect brand to bottom-line outcomes, not just awareness or sentiment.
Watch the interview
If you’ve ever struggled to quantify the value of brand (or convince leadership why that top-funnel spend matters) Maria’s playbook will give you the data, structure, and language to shift the conversation.
The high-level shift? Stop treating brand as a creative cost center and start managing it like a performance asset.
Why brand needs measurement more than ever
To start, Maria highlights a common perception: “Luxury brands excel at storytelling. Tech brands dominate data. But the winners combine both.”
The upside is immense. Enterprises that master data-driven storytelling earn:
- Greater executive alignment and investment.
- Deeper customer loyalty.
- Stronger integration between brand, demand, and product teams.
To build a foundation that enables this level of measurement, there are five key pillars that need to be incorporated into your team’s operations.
1. Social listening
Understand what customers are saying before and after your campaigns, while getting real-time sentiment data. Social listening tools track metrics like:
- Brand mentions
- Tone and topic shifts
- Reputation spikes
This layer of speed alleviates one of the most common complaints of brand measurements: the time required. Brands can get direct feedback loops from the market without waiting on lagging brand studies.
2. Brand perception surveys
Run structured surveys to understand how audiences describe your brand.
- What attributes do they associate with you?
- How do you compare to competitors?
This qualitative data becomes a foundation for positioning, creative, and even product roadmap decisions.
3. Attribution modeling
It’s time to go beyond first- or last-touch models. Brand touches influence performance but only when tracked properly.
Maria recommends looking at:
- Video engagement rates: Did users watch the full ad?
- Branded search lift: Did more people Google your name post-campaign?
Pro tip: Use GA4 to segment and attribute long-tail value from awareness efforts.
4. Omnichannel Integration
Modern consumers don’t distinguish between online and offline. Neither should your measurement.
Maria advises tracking:
- Foot traffic around stores during live campaigns
- Offline conversion rates tied to online media
- QR code tracking from print to web
This is how brand can become more actionable, not abstract.
5. Unified experience metrics
Your brand is your experience. So Maria urges teams to monitor:
- App downloads
- Website visit patterns
- Lead gen form completion
- In-store purchases linked to digital campaigns
When these signals move in tandem, you know your brand is doing its job and supporting business initiatives.
Key takeaways
- When brand becomes measurable, it becomes investable.
- Branding isn’t untrackable. You just need the right frameworks and tools.
- Combine social listening, surveys, and attribution modeling to measure full-funnel impact.
- Focus on how brand drives behavior across all channels, not just impressions.
Brands need real-time, multi-channel intelligence to bridge the gap between brand strategy and measurable business outcomes. Do so with Insights24 and Mfour, two powerful solutions offered by Semrush Enterprise.
Decode the noise of online conversations, competitive shifts, and consumer behavior in real time with Insights24. With AI-driven analysis and lightning-fast data processing, Insights24 empowers marketing leaders to:
- Benchmark brand sentiment against competitors.
- Track shifts in brand perception before they impact market share.
- Forecast emerging trends that influence campaign performance.
MFour then bridges the gap between consumer intent and action. With access to first-party mobile data, enterprises can gain insight into:
- Behavioral tracking to see where your audience engages.
- Location intelligence to measure foot traffic and omnichannel impact.
- Survey-based insights to understand why consumers behave the way they do.
Together, these solutions help you not just measure brand, but manage it proactively. Marketing leaders get the clarity they need to align strategy, creativity, and data, transforming brand from an abstract asset into a performance-driven growth engine.