Switching your brand tracking software may be necessary if your current solution no longer meets your needs. Although, while it can be a difficult move to make, there are five steps that make the switch to a new brand tracking software easier.
Step 1: Identify Issues
First, clearly identify the problem that warrants change. Ask questions like:
- Is data from your current brand tracking software believable?
- Does the data respond to your activity or market conditions?
- Is data always outdated when received?
- Is the data delivered through ‘death by PowerPoint’ or a hard-to-use tool?
- Does the current supplier struggle to engage internal teams?
Certainly, it’s important to understand the specific pain points or requirements driving change. Consequently, documenting issues provides the rationale and focus for your search for a better solution. It also supplies objective criteria to assess potential new partners.
Before searching for a new brand tracking partner, let’s dig deeper into understanding common drivers spurring this change:
Declining Value
Over time, some brands experience a disconnect between the costs and strategic value their brand tracking software provides. With flat insight budgets and competing priorities, brands may be forced to re-evaluate spending on brand tracking tools that are not providing sufficient value or insights.
If the data lacks credibility and responsiveness, its value plummets with internal stakeholders. A common factor for growing distrust from marketers is that the tracking data does not reflect the market reality and response to marketing activity. Furthermore, a perception of ‘unreliable data’ undermines confidence in the insights and decision-making.
Read next: The Future of Brand Tracking: Measure Brand Performance to Drive Business Results
Data Disconnects
Isolated brand tracking data that isn’t seamlessly connected with other sources such as CRM, analytics, and business intelligence systems is far less helpful. Manual analysis and stale PowerPoint reporting is light years behind BI tools and analytics applications. Teams want quick access real-time dashboards with data sources aligned and ready to go.
Slow Frequency
Where campaign analytics are linked to brand tracking, slower wave-based fieldwork and infrequent reporting fail to provide timely insights to marketers. With no real-time access, you can’t course correct campaigns. Typical brand tracking reports miss too much action to optimize tactics while still relevant.
Limited Integration
Many brands aim to centralize data and distribution to enable ‘single source of truth’ accessible across the organization. However, integrating siloed legacy trackers into modern tech stacks can take a great deal of effort. If teams cannot easily access insights from systems they use, the value diminishes.
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Leadership Shifts
New CMOs often bring fresh perspectives on ideal metrics, measurement partners, and tracking innovations. Change at the top ripples through priorities. Inheriting outdated legacy trackers may spur an evaluation of better aligning to updated objectives.
Responding to these forces requires more than superficial tuning of longstanding tracking approaches. In many cases, switching methodology platforms entirely is the best path forward.
Step 2: Search for New Solutions
Once you’ve documented your needs, begin searching for a new brand-tracking partner. That can include reviewing offerings at industry events, forums, word of mouth, RFPs, etc. Cast a wide net to ensure you discover top contenders.
Do your homework to develop clear criteria for your ideal tracking tool characteristics and capabilities. Outline your key requirements to evaluate potential vendors against.
Consider speed and frequency, measurement, integration, analysis capabilities, panel quality, industry standards, and other non-negotiable requirements. This keeps critical must-haves top of mind as you evaluate options and provides framework for vendor discussions.
Let’s explore core capabilities to prioritize in your search for the optimal brand tracking tool:
Speed and Frequency
Do you require tracking data daily or weekly for real-time insights to optimize decisions? Precisely how quickly must data be delivered to act while still relevant? Tracking is only worthwhile if it is fast enough to inform timely decisions, not just delayed retrospective reporting.
Measurement
What specific metrics and KPIs are non-negotiable to guide marketing, brand, CX and broader business decisions? Specify your exact must-have indicators.
Integration
Detail what internal systems the data must integrate with to be easily accessible and actionable across groups – CRM, analytics, BI tools, data warehouses etc. Smooth connectivity is essential.
Analysis
What customizations, benchmarks, modelling, or advanced analytics are required to go beyond surface-level insights to derive the best strategic insights from the data? Don’t settle for bare-bones delivery of data tables and charts without strategic guidance.
Panel Quality
Define specific sample quality standards expected for reliable, statistically significant survey results. Require details on panel sources, qualification criteria, quality checks, and profiling procedures to ensure confidence. Don’t take quality as a given.
Focus your search on tools capable of addressing your particular pain points around data credibility, timeliness, analysis, integration, etc.
Step 3: Brief New Partners
Carefully brief potential new partners on your business goals and what your brand tracking tool needs to achieve. Provide comprehensive background on your brand, objectives, and how insights will drive decisions. Ensure you comply with your procurement team.
After all, be clear on your exact requirements and prioritized needs from absolute essentials to negotiables. Leave no ambiguity on expected capabilities.
Supply context on your current tracking landscape, processes, and tech integration pain points. Clarify if historical data migration is a requirement and how long software tools might run parallel. This context enables tools to be tailored to your environment and use cases.
Guide vendors to demonstrate specifically how their platforms address your needs and where they fall short. Shape the conversation around your requirements.
Step 4: Assess Your Options for Brand Tracking Software
Once you have briefed partners and gathered proposals, vet methodology, technology capabilities, analysis, and reporting processes offered by candidate tools. Digest how each platform could solve or exacerbate your current limitations.
While methodology and metrics matter tremendously, also evaluate fundamental tracking delivery components like:
- Speed and frequency of reporting
- Specific KPIs and measurement matching your needs
- Integration with your internal systems
- Custom analysis and benchmarks
- Panel sample quality checks
Validate capabilities by asking for platform demonstrations, sample reports, client testimonials, and trial tests. Don’t just take their word if budgets allow. Experience the actual tool.
Tools should directly address your initial documented pain points around things like data credibility, integration challenges, lack of timeliness, etc. Measure against the criteria you outlined.
Step 5: Rollout Your Chosen Brand Tracking Software
Selecting the partner is just the starting point. Collaborate closely with your implementation team on rollout. Probe on training, support models, and dedicated points of contact.
Consider beginning with a pilot test before a full transition. Run a limited tracker in parallel during a transition period to enable direct comparisons. Don’t over-index on a massive enterprise launch before confidence builds.
While migrating tracking tools takes effort, the payoff is gaining real-time, integrated, strategic insights that were likely missing from your legacy system. Following this multi-step process reduces downside risks considerably.
