Growth in Brand Monitoring

There has been substantial growth in the brand monitoring service industry in recent years. There are full service organizations which will monitor all aspects of a businesses' brand, focusing primarily on consumer generated content. According to a recent Forrester Wave Report, "Brand monitoring solutions support four key steps:

1) Data Collection
2) Information Processing
3) Data Analysis
4) Insight Delivery."

In this report, Forrester went onto evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the seven leading brand monitoring vendors. In a separate interview, Peter Kim, author of the aforementioned Forrester report indicated that a full-scale analysis of all major media, including internet, television and print can cost as much as $75,000. This high cost presumably would include the most thorough data collection and analysis, as well as industry leading advice, or 'insight delivery'. As a field, there is strong indication that venture capital and angel funding is on the rise, as this is seen as a high growth, high potential industry. Also, as more consumer generated content fills the internet, and becomes increasingly organized and accessible, the need for competent brand monitoring services will grow. Supply will meet demand it seems, and a competative landscape is shaping up for the monitoring vendors.

It may come down to the size and scope of your business whether this magnitude of monitoring and evaluation is necessary or even feasible. But there are alternatives, many of which are 'free' of charge (don't forget that it takes time and resources to decipher this information yourself!). In either case, the relevance of monitoring your brand cannot be overlooked, and there will be people who want to do that for you. Do your research on these vendors carefully, Forrester is a great source of information.