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It’s imperative that everything about your brand tracker remains stable over time so that you have full confidence that any changes seen in the data are a reflection of activity in the market. Adding in, removing, or even moving questions around can have a destabilising effect on the wave-on-wave data so it’s best practice that they’re left alone. 

But sometimes things might happen that you need to explore – for example, the launch of a new product or service by a key competitor. By including a ‘flexi-section’ in your tracker you can explore these kinds of topical events. In essence, a ‘flexi-section’ is an allocated blank space – usually at the end of the survey – where additional questions can be added in and taken out as required. This retains the stability of the core tracker whilst offering enough flexibility to respond to unplanned events.

The pattern of reporting is typically sequential.

From close of fieldwork through to analysis and reporting usually takes 6-8 weeks.

Clearly, if you’re running a monthly tracker, then this delay can have real implications on your ability to respond and react to shifts in your brand’s performance.

But there are other options. Consider development of an ‘always on’ digital dashboard, designed to pull in data and display key metrics as soon as the data comes in.

This is a much more agile output, giving you the information you need at the right time.

For less frequent tracking waves the turnaround time from fieldwork to reporting may not be as crucial.

Irrespective of cadence, reporting is usually face-to-face (online or in person) in a presentation format that includes data charts, tables, and a narrative. The key attributes of a good ‘debrief’ include:

• A narrative arc that tells you the story of your brand’s performance in the marketplace
• A focus on what this means for your business activities whether; marketing, comms, pricing, distribution, product mix, etc.
• Actionable insights and guidance

Other reporting tools and techniques can range from a regular ‘dashboard’ update showing key metrics in an infographic style output, through to a strategic annual deep-dive convened in a workshop style setting.

Consider, upfront, who your internal and external audiences are, what input they should have during tracker set-up, and what they will need in terms of ongoing reporting.

Internal audiences may include marketing, brand teams and sales teams, operations managers and the board.

External audiences are not so obvious but can include media buying agencies, advertising agencies, investors, and the press/media if you’re custodians of a household brand.