[GTM glossary](/glossary.md) Share of voice Marketing # Share of voice In short Share of voice (SOV) is the percentage of total visibility in a market that your brand holds compared with competitors. Visibility can be measured by ad impressions, search rankings, social mentions, or media coverage. It is a relative metric. Growing from 10 percent to 15 percent of the conversation means you gained ground, even if total volume stayed flat. Teams use it to judge brand awareness and category presence. ## How share of voice is calculated Pick one channel, define a competitor set, and divide your count by the total for all brands in that set. ### Formula Share of voice = your brand metric divided by the total metric for all brands in the set, times 100. ### Example Say a category topic produced 200 mentions in a month across your company and its competitors, and your company accounts for 50 of them. Your share of voice for mentions is 25 percent. --- ## Types of share of voice * **Paid:** Your share of ad impressions or spend in a market. * **Organic search:** Your share of clicks or ranking positions across a set of target keywords. * **Social:** Your share of brand mentions or engagement on social platforms. * **Earned media:** Your share of press and analyst coverage. --- ## How to use it ### Choose the set carefully Include direct competitors and the alternatives buyers actually consider. A wrong set gives a misleading number. ### Track it on a schedule Measure monthly or quarterly with the same method so trends are comparable. ### Compare with pipeline If share of voice rises but demand does not, check whether you are visible to the right audience. --- ## Common mistakes * **Mixing channels:** Adding search and social numbers into one figure hides what changed. * **Measuring vanity topics:** Count mentions of the category and buying topics, not general brand chatter. * **Treating it as a goal alone:** It is a diagnostic. The aim is revenue, not the number itself. --- ## Share of voice FAQs **What is share of voice in marketing?** Share of voice is the portion of total market visibility your brand holds compared with competitors. It can be measured through ad impressions, search results, social mentions, or press coverage, and is expressed as a percentage. **How do you calculate share of voice?** Choose a channel and a competitor set, measure your brand and the total for all brands, then divide your number by the total and multiply by 100. Use the same method each period so changes are meaningful. **Why does share of voice matter in B2B?** B2B buyers often form a shortlist before talking to vendors. A larger share of voice means you are seen more often during research, which makes the shortlist more likely. It is an early indicator of brand awareness and category presence. **What is the difference between share of voice and market share?** Market share measures your portion of actual sales or revenue in a market. Share of voice measures your portion of visibility or attention. The two are related, but visibility does not guarantee sales. Share term --- ## More related phrases * [AI search visibility](/glossary/ai-search-visibility.md) * [Demand creation](/glossary/demand-creation.md) * [Alternative pages](/glossary/alternative-pages.md) ## Similar phrases * [Brand awareness](/glossary/brand-awareness.md) Brand awareness is how familiar your target market is with your company, and it shapes whether buyers consider you when a need arises. * [Paid search](/glossary/paid-search.md) Paid search places ads on search engine results pages and charges per click, letting B2B teams reach buyers at the moment they search for a solution. * [Demand generation](/glossary/demand-generation.md) Demand generation is the set of marketing activities that create awareness and interest in a product among target buyers, before and alongside lead capture. * [Marketing mix](/glossary/marketing-mix.md) The marketing mix is the set of levers a company controls to bring a product to market: product, price, place, and promotion, often called the 4Ps. * [SEO (SEO)](/glossary/seo.md) SEO (search engine optimization) is the practice of improving a website so it earns more unpaid traffic from search engines such as Google.