Whilst ensuring that marketing and sales activity continue, providing support to promote the right impression, it is essential to regularly track and monitor a brand as it matures. This month’s article will provide an overview of what should be measured within tracking studies, why it is important to track the performance of the brand and who should be included in tracking and monitoring studies.
Neil Dobson 
Vicky McLellan 
21 Apr, 2009
Tracking and Monitoring – ‘Knowing Where You Stand’
Recently we have featured a number of articles that have highlighted the importance of conducting market research after a brand has been launched onto the market place. As previously identified, conducting market research post launch is vital in evaluating:
- The success or failure of the product launch
- How the brand is performing in the marketplace against key competitors or a changing environment
- How the brand will withstand the threat posed by emerging competitors
- If the brand’s performance is meeting forecasted targets
- If the brand is delivering against the overall strategy for the brand
In order to ensure that marketing and sales activity continue to provide support to promote the right impression, it is essential to regularly track and monitor a brand as it matures.
This month’s article will provide an overview of what should be measured within tracking studies, why it is important to track the performance of the brand and who should be included in tracking and monitoring studies.
What should be measured?
Before we look at how tracking can be run, we must explore what needs to be
measured and gain an understanding of which customers should be included. This
should not be a new exercise – redefining the important elements of the brand
to look at – but clearly linked to core planning aspects that will already
be in place prior to launch. For example:
- Strategic plan
- Relevant elements of the SWOT analysis (i.e. criteria to differentiate from key competitors)
- Target customer groups
- Positioning and key patient segments
- Potential importance and impact of bodies such as NICE and PCTs
- Implementation plans
- Key messages
- Individual targeting & segmentation
- Level of customer coverage
Once these metrics have been distilled from the above, quantifiable objectives around each metric need to be set. Some examples could be:
- 25 percent of target customers differentiating the brand on the basis of its key strength by month 6
- 65 percent brand awareness amongst all customers within the first year
- 85 percent of prescriptions being generated within the correct patient group
This then defines what you need to measure, against which types of customers, patients or groups and what success should look like. This is the basis on which to build your tracking plan.
Why should these be measured?
Clearly there is significant investment in bringing a new brand to market and an expectation that sales forecasts will be met or exceeded. It is therefore essential to understand how the brand is performing – not just from a sales perspective, but from an overall brand one too. This is best achieved by having a pro-active plan in place to track the critical metrics.
The old adage ‘fail to plan – plan to fail’ is very much true in this situation as the turmoil of post launch events can overtake even the most effective of brand teams. Without a plan, they can find themselves in the unenviable position of being a year into market with a failing brand, no understanding of why and, more importantly, no clear way forward.
The diagram below demonstrates three common examples of what can happen if key metrics are not understood within the launch phase of a brand:
Scenario 1: The brand never takes off as planned and the reasons behind this are not understood. Remedial action will be difficult as all aspects need to be researched
Scenario 2: The brand is on track until a competitor launches and ‘steals’ the brand equity. This may have been averted if there was clear insight into the strength of the brand.
Scenario 3: The brand appears to be pretty much on track, but tails off over time. Lack of understanding regarding the cause takes time to clarify and rectify
By appropriate tracking, any deviation within the key measures can be quickly detected and swiftly actioned, rather than relying on reactive investigation. This can often be the difference between a good solid product launch – fulfilling the brand’s potential – and a poor performance.
Who should be included in tracking and monitoring studies?
Identifying the right customers to include in any tracking study will be crucial to the success of that study. If brand metrics are not monitored amongst the correct customers it can undermine the whole validity of the research. This may deliver incorrect information and result in poor decisions that lead to the brand underperforming.
As mentioned above, the strategic plan will identify the main target customer groups to include within the different strands of research. Depending on the implementation plans, only specific segments within the key customer groups may be appropriate to be included in the research.
For some tracking studies there may also be benefits in going outside of these
targets and conducting the research amongst a wider, more general, cross section
of customers. The ability to do this, or indeed the appropriateness of this,
will depend on how specific customer targeting is. It may also depend on the
reasons driving targeting i.e. is it targeting derived on the basis of potential
prescribers or a result of limited sales resource?
Another reason to conduct the research amongst a wider audience is to see if there is a positive halo effect that was not anticipated. This can also assess whether beliefs in the wider audience pose a potential future threat to existing target groups.
Significant insight can also be gleaned if research is conducted amongst a number of different types of sub groups to see how, if at all, perceptions and behaviours vary. Some of the most useful types of sub group analysis may include:
- Prescribers vs. non prescribers
- Target vs. non target customers
- Regional analysis (e.g. North vs. South)
However, it is recognised that in reality it is not always possible to include a robust enough sample size, so often the ideal has to be off set against budget and internal priorities.
If the research is being conducted where market access may be an issue, it may also be appropriate to include PCTs/ Payors in some types of tracking studies. It is unlikely that PCTs/ Payors would be included in all studies, but it may be invaluable to clarify if they will offer positive endorsement or conversely, block the availability of the brand.
For some tracking studies, such as detail / sales follow up and message recall,
it is also advisable to conduct internal research with the sales representatives.
Including representatives will provide valuable insight into what the representatives
are actually communicating to their customers and how clear their understanding
of the overall brand strategy is. This research will make sure that representatives
are still on track and highlight any training needs or potential changes to
the communications materials. If there is any lack of clarity amongst the sales
representatives it can be guaranteed that the communication of the messages
to the customers will be diluted, which will lead to confusion amongst customers
and potential under performance of the brand.
In summary, this article has demonstrated what needs to be taken into consideration when thinking about tracking and monitoring studies, namely deciding on the parameters that need to be measured and amongst whom research should be conducted. This will ensure that plans are in place to monitor brand health and meet the changing demands of the market place.
Next month, we will be continuing our theme of looking at post launch tracking research by reviewing some of the most valuable and frequently used tracking and monitoring studies.
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