Share of Voice (SOV)
The percentage of total market conversation, mentions, or visibility that your brand owns compared to competitors, measured across search, social, media, and advertising channels.
Share of Voice Predicts Market Share
The relationship between share of voice and market share is one of the most well-documented findings in marketing. Brands that consistently maintain SOV above their market share grow. Brands that let SOV fall below market share decline. In SaaS, this means the company that dominates the conversation — in search results, on LinkedIn, at conferences, in analyst reports — will eventually dominate the market.
This is not theory. Track the SOV of any category leader in SaaS — HubSpot in marketing automation, Salesforce in CRM, Snowflake in data warehousing — and you will see they consistently outspend and out-talk their competitors across every channel.
Measuring SOV by Channel
| Channel | How to Measure | Tools |
|---|---|---|
| Organic Search | Keyword visibility score vs competitors | Ahrefs, SEMrush |
| Social Media | Brand mentions, engagement, followers | Brandwatch, Sprout Social |
| Paid Advertising | Impression share in Google/LinkedIn Ads | Google Ads, LinkedIn Campaign Manager |
| Media/PR | Press mentions vs competitors | Meltwater, Cision |
| Community | Forum mentions, podcast appearances | SparkToro, manual tracking |
Growing SOV Without Outspending Competitors
You do not need the biggest budget to win SOV. You need the most consistent presence. Publish daily on LinkedIn. Rank for 200 long-tail keywords instead of fighting for 5 head terms. Get your CEO on 3 podcasts per month. Write guest posts for industry publications. Each touchpoint is small. The cumulative effect is a brand that feels omnipresent — and omnipresence drives recall, which drives shortlisting, which drives pipeline.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you calculate share of voice?
SOV = Your brand mentions or visibility / Total market mentions or visibility x 100. Measure across channels: organic search SOV (your rankings vs competitors for target keywords), social SOV (mentions and engagement vs competitors), paid SOV (impression share in Google Ads), and media SOV (PR coverage vs competitors). Tools like Ahrefs, Brandwatch, and SparkToro can automate this.
Why does share of voice matter?
Les Binet and Peter Field's research shows that brands with SOV greater than their market share tend to grow, while brands with SOV less than their market share tend to shrink. This 'excess share of voice' is one of the strongest predictors of future market share growth. If you want 10% market share, aim for 15%+ SOV.
