Topic Trackers v. Brand Trackers: What Makes Sense?

Brand Trackers have a legacy of providing organizations with a treasure trove of information. But when an unexpected business question needs answering, their breadth can be their undoing. Many brand tracking studies are like the Titanic – big, and hard to turn quickly. This inflexibility doesn’t help when a company needs answers about a trending topic or new technology. Not only that, but the idea of managing and analyzing a behemoth tracker can inspire more anxiety among teams than it does insights — especially for resource-constrained teams.

A Topic Tracker can eliminate many of the issues that plague traditional trackers. Topic Trackers hone into a specific area of interest, allowing teams to focus on what they need to know, and nothing they don’t. When teams focus on the must-know information and zone out miscellaneous noise, it allows decision-makers to act at speed.

This doesn’t mean we can eliminate Brand Trackers altogether; both are part of an effective market strategy when used in tandem. Brand Trackers are excellent at gathering information over time about high-level brand perceptions and KPIs. Topic Trackers shine at measuring the moment in a mercurial market. But when teams try to force timely topic tracking into an established Brand Tracker, it can transform into an amalgamation of many different topics. Brand Trackers and Topic Trackers complement one another, stepping up where the other falls short.

Benefits of a Topic Tracker:

• Topic Trackers protect Brand Trackers from too many changes, maintaining consistency in data collection. This protects teams from wading through irrelevant questions that are no longer of interest, making results easier to digest and understand.
• Surveying disengaged respondents can harm data validity, but we can combat this with focused, short surveys. By nature, Topic Trackers are shorter, and can prevent Brand Trackers from getting longer. Respondents stay engaged from beginning to end of the survey, meaning that organizations can more confidently explore the nuances in the data and derive meaningful conclusions.
• Topic Trackers are nimble, getting teams information they need in a format that fits the objectives, so that they can go forth and do their best work. CMB’s Topic Trackers are customized, and don’t try to be everything for everyone. Different objectives require different approaches. Keeping an eye on a viral trend or an upcoming event might warrant daily or weekly data measurement, with results communicated via a live dashboard. Monitoring campaigns or new products can be measured on a bi-weekly basis, with a high-level topline delivered every month. Tracking perceptions on a topic of interest can perhaps span to a quarterly basis, with a report that dives deeper to generate rich insights.

CMB has used Topic Trackers to monitor consumer sentiment and behavior in a quick-moving industry, supplement social media monitoring to identify emerging consumer trends or unmet needs, monitor the competitive landscape to ensure a new entrant or disruptor isn’t overlooked, and more. Have a topic in mind you’d like to track?  Reach out to our CMB Accelerate team today.