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Fundamentals of Brand Auditing
A quick overview of brand auditing and how to do it right
Fundamentals of Brand Auditing
A quick overview of brand auditing and how to do it right
brand resources
What is brand auditing?
As the name implies, a brand audit takes stock of your brand assets in order to asses their value and performance at a given moment in time, and is typically launched to address a particular problem like inconsistent messaging, stagnant brand performance, or some other issue. Sometimes, changing market trends or the arrival of new competitors can also trigger a brand audit.
Unlike other kinds of brand research, a brand audit is meant to create a snapshot of your brand’s current status, and is often used as a starting point to move on to more in-depth explorations of the brand itself or market research more generally.
A brand audit measures the dynamics affecting things like brand loyalty, brand perception, brand positioning, brand value and brand identity, but it doesn’t probe for solutions. Its only purpose is to identify existing or potential problems in order to form a clear picture.
Where do I start?
First, define your scope or area of investigation. Below are some of the most common lines of inquiry for brand audits:
- Is your positioning still relevant? | Market positioning is where your brand lives in the mind of the consumer, and as a core tenet of your entire branding proposition, it is imperative to know if it continues to resonate with your target market, or if a dramatic shift in market trends call for revisiting your positioning.
- How compelling is your value proposition? | Is your value proposition reflected properly in your branding? A brand audit can reveal if your value proposition isn’t strong enough or help you pinpoint misaligned brand messaging, and other factors that may be causing a brand communication breakdown.
- Is your brand identity achieving consistency across channels? | Whether your logo is not being presented properly or your brand’s voice fails to strike the right tone, inconsistent applications of your brand identity, a brand audit can mitigate harm to brand awareness and recognition.
- Does your logo communicate properly? | Sometimes, a poorly designed logo can short-circuit brand communication. Make sure your logo is doing its job by auditing all graphic elements and assessing its effectiveness in conveying your brand to the general public.
- Are your customers noticing you? | Brand awareness is hard to achieve. It can take a lot of time and resources to put your brand where it can be seen on a consistent basis so people can recall it. A brand audit is a great way to know if your efforts are paying off or if you should try a different tactic.
Setting up your framework
Collect all available brand identity assets, like logos, color palettes, icons, etc. These may be pieces of printed collateral, like stationery or digital instances on your website and email headers. Include institutional copy, such as taglines, slogans, mission statements or other customer-facing brand copy.
Divide these assets into two categories: Tangible and Intangible. All your logos, colors and basically anything visual goes into your tangible bin, and all your brand copy – both internal and customer facing –, lands in the intangible bin.
Once you have all you have accounted for all assets and determined the focus of your inquiry, you can begin to build your framework or plan of action. For this, it is important to consider the following:
Take a factual approach
Brand audits should be quantitative rather than qualitative in nature to give an objective picture of the present state of your brand. Design your questions to elicit binary responses like yes or no, and refrain from asking leading questions or drawing conclusions. Remember, you’re collecting data, not opinions.
Know your competitor landscape
Make sure you have an understanding of what your competition is doing relative to your particular focus. This information will be critical for identifying your advantages or shortcomings in the final analysis.
Apply the Great Minds Concept
Tap into your circle to find high-level people inside or outside of your organization, who can provide valuable insight and help you discern the information, or maybe even share their own experience with brand auditing.
Avoid AI or cookie-cutter solutions
There are a lot of AI brand auditing tools out there these days promising instantaneous, data-driven results. While AI may offer some value when it comes to sorting through massive data sets and large-scale pattern recognition, the reality is that effective brand auditing cannot be done by machine alone.
Vet your sources
As with any research endeavor, try to vet your sources of information and filter out any fraudulent data. This is especially important for any Internet-based data, such as website analytics or online surveys. The cleaner, the better.
Conclusion: What you can learn
The results of a brand audit will help you find where your brand is coming up short in relation to your competition and/or your own business objectives. A comprehensive view of your brand’s overall performance can catch problems before they spiral out of control or it can inform ways in which you can take your company to the next level.
For example, if your brand audit reveals that your positioning no longer resonates with your target market, it may be necessary to launch a market study to know what the latest trends are in your particular niche in order to recalibrate your brand positioning. On the other hand, a positive result can reinforce your branding acumen and help you lean in to certain marketing directions, with more information than you had before.
Ultimately, it is a tool for gauging the overall health of your brand. Its purpose is to diagnose, but it’s just a starting point for further research that can help you find the right solutions to any problems or the next steps to take your company to the next level.
