How to do market research for branding and build a stronger brand strategy

Great branding isn’t just a creative exercise where marketing teams throw ideas around until something sticks.

Behind the best brands in the world—the ones you’re automatically imagining —there’s a lot of strategy fueled with market research, that has shaped every part of their branding—down to the last curve in their typeface.

The brands you love aren’t built on guesswork. They’re built on specific research that branding experts base their bold choices on. These decisions are some of the biggest and most important any business can make—so why wouldn’t you use research?

In this article, we’ll show you what the best branding teams in the world are doing and using to create the brands that everybody raves about.

What is brand research?

Brand research is the systematic collection and analysis of data about your brand, your competitors, and your target market to inform branding decisions. It helps you understand how consumers perceive your brand and what they want from it. Let’s define it more clearly and look at some terminology around brand research, so you can go in with a focused approach.

Brand research vs. brand analysis

While these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, there are key differences. Brand research is about gathering new data, while brand analysis is about interpreting existing data. You need both for a complete picture.

Brand research vs. brand auditing

Brand auditing is the process of examining all aspects of your brand to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. It’s more inward-looking compared to brand research, which looks both inward and outward.

Other important brand research terminology

But wait, there’s more! Here are some important terms that will help you define your research efforts.

Term	Definition
Brand awareness	The extent to which consumers recognize your brand
Brand association	The attributes people connect with your brand
Brand perception	How consumers interpret your brand and what they think of it
Brand equity	The value of your brand in the market and minds of consumers
Brand loyalty	The tendency of customers to choose your brand repeatedly
Brand positioning	Where your brand sits in the market relative to competitors
Brand image	How your brand is perceived visually and emotionally
Brand identity	The outward expression of your brand (logos, colors, voice)

The different types of brand research

Branding experts don’t just use standard market research tools—they adapt them specifically to create memorable brands people connect with. Here’s how they approach different research methods:

Surveys for branding

Top branding specialists use surveys to get beyond surface-level questions. They don’t really want to know if you ”like” a logo. They want to know how certain brand elements make people feel, what associations they create, and whether they align with the brand’s core values. For maximum impact, conduct surveys at multiple stages – testing initial concepts, refining ideas, and validating final decisions.

Focus groups for brand development

Focus groups allow branding experts to see immediate, unfiltered reactions to brand elements. The best brands use these sessions to observe body language and emotional responses that surveys can’t capture. They might show participants competing brands side-by-side, asking participants to personify each brand or describe what kind of party each brand would throw.

Competitor analysis in branding

Don’t just list competitor brands. Instead, create detailed maps of the competitive landscape, from your own perspective, and that of the consumer. Analyze not just what competitors say, but what emotional territories they own in consumers’ minds. This will help you identify gaps where new brands can carve out unique positions

Why brand research is vital to successful branding

Branding is how a company presents itself to the world. It encompasses everything from the company’s name and logo to the way it talks about itself to the public.

Contrary to popular belief, branding is about a lot more than colors and images. A tone of voice, a mission, values—it’s all part of it.

Good branding creates a positive impression in the minds of consumers and helps them remember the company. Great branding makes people fall in love with brands, and follow them almost blindly.

Rather than looking at the standard brands that are named in this context, let’s look at success stories that built brands through smart research. Companies like Trustpilot discovered through their work with Attest that while they had high awareness in the UK, they had medium affinity, highlighting the need to address the concerns of vocal detractors. By using research to inform their strategy, they were able to improve their brand’s trustworthiness.

Or take Lucky Saint, which tested different versions of their proposed ads with Attest before launching their biggest campaign to date. Their research helped them make crucial decisions about logo placement and messaging that led to their most successful Dry January ever.

The secret ingredient in great branding isn’t a massive budget or hiring the modern-day version of Picasso—it’s understanding what your audience truly wants and positioning your brand to meet those needs.

4 ways market research helps to improve branding strategy

There are many ways that market research can inform your brand strategy, and the benefits can’t be overlooked. If you’re not convinced yet on making brand research part of creating your company’s brand image, these advantages should do the trick.

It helps you anticipate audience reactions

Branding experts don’t use research just to avoid mistakes—they use it to anticipate how audiences will react to every aspect of their brand. They know that brilliant branding happens when you understand the cultural context your brand exists in.

Take MOMA, who tracked brand awareness and sentiment before and after launching their ATL campaign for Barista edition oat milk. By measuring consumer reactions in advance, they could prove their investment was paying off and understand what messages were resonating most.

Lucky Saint also used creative testing to anticipate audience reactions to different ad concepts before investing in a major campaign. This allowed them to identify and address internal debates about logo placement and copy choices with actual consumer data, rather than guesswork.

It can help create a customer-centric brand

Many brands seem to struggle to connect with their audience further down the road. Their brands are often created behind closed doors, with only people in the company giving their two cents on what the brand should look like. That can make it hard for potential customers to connect with the brand, and harder for marketers to achieve brand growth.

That’s why we’d recommend using the best market research tools, so you get a chance to talk to consumers and find out what they’re looking for in a brand. Take out the guesswork!

It helps when launching a new product or service

Brand research shouldn’t only be done when a new brand is created. Launching a new product or service can be tricky. Will potential customers recognize it as a part of your brand?

If you use what you learn in market research 101, they will. Focus on what is happening in that undiscovered territory and find out how you can successfully claim that part of the market with an unbeatable competitive advantage, whether it’s with a new brand or ‘just’ a new product or service for an existing brand.

It’s crucial in improving brand perception

Market research is an essential part of branding, and it can be used to improve brand perception in a number of ways.

Market research can help you define your brand’s personality, and with the right research methods, you can check in with your audience to see if this personality is hitting the spot—or missing the mark.

The best way to check in with them is through surveys. It helps you gather large amounts of reliable data, and respondents can be honest and open in their answers.

To take the first step in improving your brand perception, check out our free brand perception survey template, with questions to inspire you and get started easily.

The most important elements of branding

There’s more than meets the eye, especially when it comes to branding. Let’s look at some of the visual elements and also the less tangible elements of branding that aid your brand’s success.

Logo

A good logo is important for a brand for a number of reasons. First, it helps to create a recognizable identity for the brand. Consumers will remember the logo and be able to identify it quickly. This is especially important for global brands that operate in several countries.

Secondly, a good logo can help to create a positive association with the brand. It can communicate the values and mission of the brand to consumers. A well-designed logo can also be an effective marketing tool, helping to generate publicity and attract new customers.

But a logo can’t do it all. Don’t try to pack everything in it. Choose an important thing people need to know about your brand, an essential element, and try to communicate that through the logo. The rest should come from other elements in your branding.

Value proposition

A strong unique value proposition is essential for branding. In fact, all other elements of your branding will stem from this. It helps set straight what you want to communicate when it comes to values and mission of the brand to consumers, and can be an effective tool to test whether anything you create is aligned with what you want to be known for.

Colors

Color is an important element of branding, and can be used to communicate a wide range of messages to consumers.

Different colors can evoke different emotions and reactions, which can be useful for brands looking to create a specific mood or feeling.

For example, red is often associated with excitement and passion, making it a good choice for brands looking to create a sense of energy and enthusiasm. Blue is often associated with trust and reliability, making it a good choice for brands looking to create a sense of security and dependability.

Graphics

Graphics are another important element of branding, and can be used to communicate key messages about the brand to consumers. They should be simple and easy to understand, so that people can quickly absorb the information they contain. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel, the play or pause button, or anything else people intuitively know.

Tone of voice

The tone of voice used by a brand is important for creating a consistent and coherent brand identity. It helps to create a distinct personality for the brand and can be used to communicate key messages to consumers.

See it like this: the tone of voice is as important to a brand as the way you speak is to your friends, family, lovers and colleagues. It matters. It can change how people feel. It makes you easy to recognize.

If you do it right, that is. Your tone of voice should be consistent across all branding materials, from advertising to customer service interactions. It should be friendly, upbeat, and positive, and should never sound condescending or unprofessional. Some brands are wittier than others. If you choose a certain direction, make sure you stick with it. If it’s authentic, this should be relatively easy to do.

Positioning

When it comes to positioning, it’s important to think about what you want to be known for. What is the one thing that you want people to remember you for? What do you want to be known as?

Once you have this figured out, you can start to create a positioning statement. This statement will encapsulate what your brand stands for and will help to communicate it to consumers. It should be clear, concise, and easy to understand. Don’t overcomplicate things. Being unique doesn’t do any good if people all have a different answer to ‘who you are’.

How to conduct market research for branding

Branding research isn’t just about gathering generic consumer insights—it’s about uncovering the specific emotional connections and perceptions that will make your brand stand out. Here’s a detailed approach that brand strategy experts use:

1. Map your brand’s ecosystem

Before jumping into research, create a detailed map of everything that influences brand perception. What you are after is:

• Category conventions: What visual and verbal codes are common in your industry? Which ones are required for credibility, and which can you break?
• Cultural trends: What broader shifts in society could impact how your brand is perceived?
• Customer journey touchpoints: Where and how will people interact with your brand, and what are their expectations at each stage?
• Internal culture: How does your company’s internal reality match (or clash with) the brand promise you want to make?

2. Conduct multi-layered audience research

Gather more than just demographic data to truly understand the psychological and emotional drivers behind brand choice. Solid research typically includes:

• Projective techniques: Using exercises where consumers assign personality traits to brands or create collages representing what a brand means to them
• Ethnographic research: Observing how people interact with products in natural settings to uncover unspoken needs
• Archetype analysis: Identifying which universal character types (hero, caregiver, rebel, etc.) resonate with both your target audience and your brand’s essence
• Value alignment studies: Understanding which core values your audience prioritizes and how your brand can authentically embody them

3. Test brand concepts holistically

When testing brand concepts, don’t just show logos in isolation— create immersive scenarios that test the entire brand experience:

• Contextual testing: Showing brand elements in real-world contexts where consumers would encounter them
• Cross-element coherence: Testing how all brand elements work together rather than individually
• Competitive framing: Evaluating brand concepts within realistic competitive environments
• Longevity assessment: Testing whether concepts have staying power or simply follow current trends

4. Implement continuous brand tracking

Smart brands don’t just research during development—they create ongoing brand monitoring systems:

• Sentiment analysis: Using AI tools to track how people talk about your brand across social media
• Brand health scorecards: Developing custom metrics that track not just awareness but emotional connection
• Competitor shift alerts: Setting up early warning systems for changes in competitor positioning
• Cultural relevance tracking: Measuring how connected your brand stays to evolving cultural conversations

5. Translate research into actionable brand guidelines

The final step that separates great branding from good is how research translates into practical guidelines:

• Brand essence definition: Distilling research into a single compelling brand promise
• Decision-making frameworks: Creating simple tools that help everyone make on-brand decisions
• Expression principles: Developing clear guidelines for how the brand should look, feel, and sound
• Evolution roadmap: Planning how the brand can grow while maintaining its core identity

Get started on market and brand research with Attest

Brand research is a crucial tactic for brands who want to stand out from the crowd. If you’re looking to start your brand research to improve your marketing strategy, Attest is the place to go.

We’ve got everything you need to conduct brand research: a smart tool for the competitive analysis part of it, experienced market researchers who will help you ask the right questions and improve your brand’s access with every online survey that’s sent out.

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