What brand analysis tells you that sales don't
Sales show what has already happened, not why. Say a Tashkent furniture shop spends steadily on Instagram ads and orders stay flat. Maybe nobody has heard of it. Maybe people know the name but think it's too expensive, or not meant for them. The fix is different in each case, and revenue figures won't tell you which one you're facing.
Brand analysis measures three things: whether people know you, what they think of you, and whether they pick you over alternatives. A well-known, trusted brand is cheaper to grow, because more customers arrive through recommendations and search for you by name instead of comparing ten offers.
The brand funnel: where you lose people
It helps to picture attitudes toward a brand as a funnel. A measurement shows which step loses the most people, and that decides what you should do next.
- Awareness: the person has heard of you.
- Understanding: they know what you actually do.
- Consideration: you make their shortlist.
- Preference: they choose you over competitors.
- Loyalty: they come back and recommend you.
Unaided and aided awareness
Unaided awareness is tested without hints: "Which companies in this category can you name?" The first brand mentioned is the top-of-mind one, and it's the strongest signal. Aided awareness shows a list of names and asks which ones the person recognizes. It is always higher than unaided.
The gap between the two is informative. If people recognize you from a list but never recall you on their own, the brand exists but isn't part of the buying moment. That calls for steady reminders rather than a new positioning.
Perception, associations and digital signals
Awareness alone is not enough. Ask which words people link to you: reliable, expensive, modern, convenient. Then compare that with how you want to be seen. If you position yourself as affordable and customers call you pricey, that gap is your real problem.
Digital signals add a faster, cheaper layer. They update continuously, but they only reflect people who are active online.
- Search volume for your brand name and for competitors.
- Direct visits to your website.
- Mentions in Instagram, Telegram channels and group chats.
- Tone of mentions: positive, neutral or negative.
- Reviews on maps, Uzum and OLX: what people praise and what they complain about.
How to run a survey without common mistakes
Surveys remain the core method, supported by interviews and focus groups that give no numbers but explain where the numbers come from. You can survey online, by phone or in person, and in both Russian and Uzbek, as long as the questions mean the same thing.
- Ask unaided questions first, then show lists, or answers get distorted.
- Include your main competitors; a score without comparison says little.
- Survey your target audience, not only existing customers who already know you.
- Keep the method identical between rounds so trends are comparable.
- Don't draw conclusions from a small sample.
- Don't treat Instagram follower counts as a brand metric.
Turning results into decisions
Every finding should lead to an action. Low awareness means you need channels with broad reach. High awareness with weak consideration points to the brand image or the offer. If people consider you but don't choose you, you lose at the moment of decision: price, terms, service, or even how easy it is to pay through Click or Payme. Low loyalty after purchase usually means a product or service quality issue.
Measure regularly. Surveys usually run once or twice a year and before and after big campaigns, while digital signals can be checked monthly. Results that sit in an archive without changing any decision are wasted effort.
Where to start
Define your target audience, pick three or four competitors, write a short questionnaire and agree on when you will repeat it. Then connect the findings to advertising and sales data. End-to-end analytics helps here, because you can see how a change in awareness shows up in leads and customer acquisition cost. If you want to set up such a system, you can discuss the task with the markdev team.
FAQ
How is brand analysis different from sales analytics?
Sales analytics shows what happened. Brand analysis explains why: whether people know you, how they see you and what makes them choose you or someone else.
How often should I measure brand awareness?
Surveys are usually run once or twice a year and around major campaigns. Digital signals such as branded search can be reviewed monthly.
Can I do brand analysis without a survey?
Partly. Branded search, mentions and reviews give quick signals, but only for people active online. A survey of your target audience gives a fuller picture.
Why include competitors in the survey?
An awareness figure means little on its own. It becomes useful when compared with competitors in the same category.
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