Skip the surveys. At small-business scale, awareness casts measurable shadows: branded search volume (Search Console queries containing your name), direct traffic trend, profile views on Maps, 'heard of you' answers at intake, and referral mentions. All free, all already flowing.
Track them quarterly on one line each. Rising branded search is the cleanest single signal. Nobody googles your name who hasn't encountered you somewhere.
The honest framing for spend decisions: awareness is a means, not a result. If sponsorships and billboards never move the shadow metrics, or the shadows move but leads never follow, the awareness story is a story.