Brand Awareness of Custom Software Development Companies

During a strategic marketing audit, when you don’t have the real data on the revenues of each and all your competitors in the custom software development outsourcing industry, it’s possible to rely on the number of employees in competitors’ companies (“market share by employees”). However, the number of employees is not a single and comprehensive sign of a company’s profitability. It’s also essential to consider the company’s ability to sell at market price or even above. I personally believe that you can close a deal faster with a client from a particular location if they recognize your brand. You also can grow more intensively not just at the expense of the number of employees but using a high-price strategy. That’s why I recommend calculating brand awareness of your company and competitors in those locations where your clients are.

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

Usually, the more staff a company employs, the more recognizable it is. Surprisingly, it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes, a company with the same number of employees as yours, or even fewer, has a better-known brand and probably earns more than you do.
Comparing your brand awareness with competitors in the location where your clients are, you need to narrow down the list of competitors. Thus, you can analyze, at the first stage, only those competitors who are better at marketing, all else being equal.

Methodology

There are several approaches to define brand awareness: brand awareness surveys, the number of social media followers, branded search volume, etc… We’re going to focus only on the branded search volume.
Before the start, we need a list of competitors to compare. For offshore custom software development companies, it’s better to have several lists, divided by countries. At the previous stage of our research, we defined who our competitors were in the particular country using the “market share by employees” approach.
Google’s Keyword Planner (KPT) tool is used to get keywords’ search volume, narrowed by location (the USA). The names of the companies from the list wll serve as the keywords.

#	Company	Branded keywords	Avg. monthly searches (summed, USA, Google Keyword Planner, Aug 2021	Brand awareness / USA	Staff in Belarus, Sept 2021	Staff, Total, Sept 2021
1	Epam	epam, epam systems	15300	68.06%	13400	48915
2	Sciencesoft	sciencesoft, science soft, sciencesoft usa corporation	610	2.71%	471	569
3	Exadel	exadel, exadel inc	530	2.36%	598	1170
4	Itechart group	itechart, itechart group	500	2.22%	2007	2200
5	Altoros	altoros	390	1.73%	261	382
6	Ciklum	ciklum	390	1.73%	61	3400
7	Coherent solutions	coherent solutions	320	1.42%	351	455
8	Itransition	itransition	260	1.16%	1280	1548
9	SaM Solutions	SaM Solutions	210	0.93%	419	640
10	Oxagile	oxagile	210	0.93%	337	383
11	Softeq	softeq, softeq development corporation	190	0.85%	247	291
12	Intetics inc	intetics, intetics inc	190	0.85%	232	638
13	LeverX	LeverX	170	0.76%	342	435
14	a1qa	a1qa	140	0.62%	465	521
15	Vironit	vironit	140	0.62%	135	144
16	Pixelplex	pixelplex	140	0.62%	84	92
17	N-ix	n ix	140	0.62%	7	1407
18	Innowise group	innowise, innowise group	120	0.53%	494	507
19	IBA Group	IBA Group	110	0.49%	1255	1432
20	Syberry	syberry	110	0.49%	133	154
21	VIAcodeBEL	VIAcode	110	0.49%	14	72
22	Elinext	elinext	90	0.40%	440	522
23	Emerline	emerline	90	0.40%	116	121
24	Dizzain	Dizzain	90	0.40%	19	20
25	Artezio	artezio	70	0.31%	154	278
26	Paralect	paralect	70	0.31%	125	143
27	HQSoftware	HQSoftware	70	0.31%	77	93
28	Akveo	akveo	70	0.31%	76	89
29	Armada labs	armada labs	70	0.31%	50	56
30	Scandiweb Bel	Scandiweb	70	0.31%	15	309
31	Lovata	lovata	70	0.31%	7	8
32	Instinctools	instinctools	50	0.22%	278	342
33	Promwad	promwad	50	0.22%	83	112
34	Cactussoft	cactussoft	50	0.22%	63	77
35	InData Labs	InData Labs	50	0.22%	45	60
36	Effectivesoft	effectivesoft	40	0.18%	326	347
37	XB software	xb software	40	0.18%	140	148
38	Itexus	itexus	40	0.18%	88	95
39	Wimix	Wimix	40	0.18%	61	65
40	Cortlex	cortlex	40	0.18%	48	73
41	Sumatosoft	sumatosoft	40	0.18%	41	60
42	Industry consulting service	industry consulting service	40	0.18%	25	30
43	Softteco	softteco	30	0.13%	333	353
44	Solbegsoft	solbegsoft	30	0.13%	332	363
45	Belitsoft	Belitsoft	30	0.13%	220	234
46	Itrex group	itrex group	30	0.13%	174	245
47	Specific-Group Belarus	Specific Group	30	0.13%	97	109
48	Logic way	logic way	30	0.13%	64	81
49	Bamboo Group OÜ	Bamboo Group	30	0.13%	51	62
50	Appstud BLR	Appstud	30	0.13%	7	40
51	ISsoft	ISsoft	20	0.09%	1180	1256
52	BelHard Development	BelHard	20	0.09%	102	108
53	Professional Software Associates	Professional Software Associates	20	0.09%	96	114
54	BelVirtualGroup	belvg	20	0.09%	84	92
55	MBicycle	MBicycle	20	0.09%	83	106
56	SpurIT	spurit shopify	20	0.09%	61	72
57	NEKLO	NEKLO	20	0.09%	54	70
58	Softarex technologies	softarex	20	0.09%	52	81
59	Digiteum	Digiteum	20	0.09%	35	47
60	Softacom	softacom	20	0.09%	30	33
61	InnoTech Solutions	InnoTech Solutions	20	0.09%	27	33
62	Coral Team	Coral Team	20	0.09%	26	31
63	ConsensusLab	ConsensusLab	20	0.09%	2	3
64	SOFTCLUB	SOFTCLUB	10	0.04%	309	316
65	IntexSoft	IntexSoft	10	0.04%	229	233
66	Aristek systems	aristek systems	10	0.04%	96	118
67	Invento Labs	Invento Labs	10	0.04%	92	92
68	Azati corporation	azati corporation	10	0.04%	82	93
69	Success Craft	Success Craft	10	0.04%	82	86
70	Twistellar Ltd.	Twistellar	10	0.04%	69	74
71	Lightpoint global	lightpoint global	10	0.04%	65	67
72	Jazzteam	jazzteam	10	0.04%	61	61
73	Expert Software Development	Expert Software Development	10	0.04%	59	62
74	Clevertec	clevertec	10	0.04%	54	55
75	Sunmait technologies	sunmait technologies	10	0.04%	51	54
76	Rubyroid labs	rubyroid labs	10	0.04%	49	52
77	Routine automation	routine automation	10	0.04%	48	48
78	On The Spot Development	On The Spot Development	10	0.04%	47	50
79	StyleSoft	StyleSoft	10	0.04%	35	41
80	Abiatec	abiatec	10	0.04%	33	40
81	UNL solutions ltd	unl solutions	10	0.04%	31	57
82	Twinslash	Twinslash	10	0.04%	29	29
83	Touchsoft	touchsoft	10	0.04%	27	27
84	Upsilonit	upsilonit	10	0.04%	27	35
85	INTELICO	INTELICO	10	0.04%	26	28
86	Omertex	omertex	10	0.04%	26	28
87	Touchlane	Touchlane	10	0.04%	26	27
88	Corpitech	corpitech	10	0.04%	25	25
89	Mifort	Mifort	10	0.04%	25	28
90	Right studio	right studio	10	0.04%	25	29
91	Arateg	arateg	10	0.04%	24	26
92	CleverLabs	CleverLabs	10	0.04%	24	24
93	Cedon BLR	Cedon BLR	10	0.04%	22	23
94	Antalogic	antalogic	10	0.04%	21	21
95	Finwin technologies	finwin technologies	10	0.04%	21	29
96	Techvice	techvice	10	0.04%	17	22
97	Nord-Soft	Nord Soft	10	0.04%	17	17
98	NavirIT	NavirIT	10	0.04%	14	15
99	Adexin	adexin	10	0.04%	11	15
100	Gersis software	gersis software	10	0.04%	11	14
101	Datarockets	datarockets	10	0.04%	9	22
102	Raisetech	raisetech	10	0.04%	8	10
103	Mind Games Software	Mind Games Software	10	0.04%	7	8
104	Sky incom	sky incom	10	0.04%	7	8
105	GloriumTech Bel	GloriumTech	10	0.04%	4	109
106	ArtisMedia	ArtisMedia	10	0.04%	3	4
107	ITA Evolution	ITA Evolution	10	0.04%	3	3
108	Aiscom LLC	Aisconverse	10	0.04%	2	3
109	Botcube	botcube	10	0.04%	1	1
110	Geomotiv	Geomotiv	0	0.00%	37	50
111	Insspring	Insspring	0	0.00%	28	29
112	Tapston Development	Tapston Development	0	0.00%	28	28
113	Naveksoft	Naveksoft	0	0.00%	27	28
114	BIQUANTS	BIQUANTS	0	0.00%	25	26
115	Fingers media	Fingers media	0	0.00%	24	28
116	AKDev Group	AKDev Group	0	0.00%	22	38
117	Lomray Software	Lomray Software	0	0.00%	22	22
118	SilkData	SilkData	0	0.00%	21	23
119	SQRD.tech	SQRD tech	0	0.00%	20	24
120	Aligned Code	Aligned Code	0	0.00%	19	34
121	OZiTAG	OZiTAG	0	0.00%	19	19
122	PlaysDev	PlaysDev	0	0.00%	19	19
123	North IT Group	North IT Group	0	0.00%	15	17
124	Axiopea Consulting	Axiopea Consulting	0	0.00%	13	15
125	Nezaboodka Software	Nezaboodka Software	0	0.00%	11	11
126	DigiTech7	DigiTech7	0	0.00%	9	9
127	CODECAVE PRO	CODECAVE PRO	0	0.00%	4	6
128	Intelligent Semantic Systems	Intelligent Semantic Systems	0	0.00%	4	4
129	Frontbyte	Frontbyte	0	0.00%	2	6
130	SCAND	SCAND	contaminated data	-	217	232
131	Forte Group	Forte Group	contaminated data	-	211	622
132	Klika Tech	Klika Tech, Klika	contaminated data	-	135	193
133	Exposit	exposit	contaminated data	-	81	85
134	Brimit	brimit	contaminated data	-	67	81
135	Spiral scout	spiral scout	contaminated data	-	66	85
136	OnePoint Ltd.	OnePoint	contaminated data	-	51	53
137	BSL	BSL	contaminated data	-	40	69
138	Smart it	smart it	contaminated data	-	40	62
139	Solveit	solveit	contaminated data	-	39	66
140	Lansoft	Lansoft	contaminated data	-	35	35
141	Applied Systems Ltd	Applied Systems	contaminated data	-	34	37
142	Mainsoft	mainsoft	contaminated data	-	33	61
143	Smartapp	smartapp	contaminated data	-	33	39
144	A2 consulting	a2 consulting	contaminated data	-	32	45
145	HF solution	hf solution	contaminated data	-	29	32
146	Celadon	Celadon	contaminated data	-	26	32
147	Mitrix technology	mitrix technology	contaminated data	-	25	27
148	Weband	weband	contaminated data	-	19	19
149	Smartpro	Smartpro	contaminated data	-	19	21
150	Apro software	apro software	contaminated data	-	16	18
151	Exaft	exaft	contaminated data	-	16	16
152	Ontid	ontid	contaminated data	-	16	16
153	Storymode	storymode	contaminated data	-	14	24
154	Jlab	jlab	contaminated data	-	13	61
155	Code inspiration	code inspiration	contaminated data	-	12	16
156	OTR	otr	contaminated data	-	12	397
157	Goodsoft	goodsoft	contaminated data	-	10	13
158	Owls Group	Owls Group	contaminated data	-	10	10
159	Creativeit	creativeit	contaminated data	-	9	12
160	Feeling Digital	Feeling Digital	contaminated data	-	9	10
161	General Soft	General Soft	contaminated data	-	9	14
162	Temsa	Temsa	contaminated data	-	8	16
163	Octopus Games	Octopus Games	contaminated data	-	5	5
164	Security Lab LLC	Security Lab	contaminated data	-	3	3
165	Innovative Future	Innovative Future	contaminated data	-	2	2
166	ITHub	ITHub	contaminated data	-	2	2
167	GP Solutions	GP Solutions	contaminated data	-	98	152
			22480

Methodology Limitations

We don’t know whether the selected keywords were entered into Google search engine by potential clients of the appropriate brands or market researchers.
It’s not rare that different companies share almost identical brand names. That’s why Google Keyword Planner aggregates the number of requests under one keyword. As a result, we observe an overestimated search volume. For example, “Forte group” is not only the name of the software development company, but also the company which sells luxury decorative kitchens and bathrooms, as well as the British hotel and restaurant company. To exclude the influence of this factor, keyword search volume of such brands were labled as “contaminated data” and didn’t count.
Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to count all branded keywords, because there is little chance that these keywords are used by prospects. For example, “epam stock”, “epam glassdoor” and so on. Therefore, it’s not necessary to include them. However, such manipulations with data are manual, so we can’t be 100% positive about the correctness of the final results after data cleaning.
The name of the company doesn’t mean that a user will enter this name into search engine using the exact spelling. For example, Google Keyword Planner suggests that “Specific-Group Belarus” (the official name of the company) is unknown as a brand in the USA, but “Specific Group” is. So for two- and more words brand names it’s neccessary to simulate and try different possible variants of spelling, using not only “Get search volume and forecasts” tool, but also “Discover new keywords” one from Google Keyword Planner and even some others like Semrush for more detailed research.
Google Keyword Planner doesn’t garantee to show all possible variants of keywords potential customers use to make a brand search.

Methodology Advantages

Uniformity. Any company’s name may come down to a couple of brand keywords. Google’s search history database allows to reveal these keywords, sum up their total volumes and get a more or less objective picture of the company’s brand awareness over against competitors among users from the USA.
Wider applicability. We can research the level of brand awareness of any brand in any country not only in the USA.
Reproducibility. You can get the same results using this methodology and tools (Google Keyword Planner), taking into account the seasonality.

Application of Results

You can compare the performance of your company with rivals:

calculate the difference between your brand awareness and theirs;
calculate the difference between your total staff (from LinkedIn!) and theirs;
compare the appropriate indicators;
if you see disproportion like 12.9x higher level of brand awareness comparing with just 1.6x higher number of staff or 6.3 higher level of brand awareness comparing with 1.2x less number of staff) it’s time to take a closer look at their marketing strategy.

Brand Awareness of Custom Software Development Companies

Key Takeaways

Methodology

Methodology Limitations

Methodology Advantages

Application of Results

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Vlad Kazankov

Brand Awareness of Custom Software Development Companies

Key Takeaways

Methodology

Methodology Limitations

Methodology Advantages

Application of Results

Leave a Reply Cancel

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