Been running brand campaigns for months now and my conversion rates are up 40%.
But honestly can’t tell if it’s the brand work or just better targeting. The attribution is all over the place and brand metrics feel so fluffy compared to performance data.
Don’t waste time trying to perfectly isolate brand impact - it’s impossible. Just run holdout tests. Split your audience: hit one group with brand and performance ads, give the other group only performance ads. Compare conversion rates after 60 to 90 days. Also watch your organic brand searches and direct traffic spikes. When people search your company name or type your URL directly, that’s brand advertising working. Want the real test? Turn off brand spend for a month and see what happens to your overall conversions.
Start with branded vs generic search tracking. When I ran brand campaigns for a dating app, I tracked how often people searched our actual app name versus just “dating app.”
The best signal? Conversion rate lift on your existing traffic. Our Facebook ads converted 20% better after 3 months of brand work - same targeting, better results.
Track time between first touch and conversion too. Brand awareness cuts that window down since people already trust you when they hit your performance ads.
Forget fancy brand lift studies. Just compare your cost per install before and after launching brand campaigns. If your performance ads get cheaper while keeping volume, your brand work’s paying off.
Monitor direct traffic and see if your performance ads get better as time goes on.