What is a Brand Audit and Why is it Beneficial to Your Business?

 

With almost 5 million users across the globe, the internet is clearly the only place to be if you want to increase your brand recognition.

Unfortunately, if you put a foot wrong online, there's no hiding your mistake from this large audience. A brand audit is the best way to measure how you're doing according to the grand scale of things.

Find out more about what's involved here.

 

What Is a Brand Audit?

Brand development’s an ongoing process, and what worked yesterday might not be as effective right now. A brand audit helps to gauge where you’re at and helps you plan a way forward for your brand.

A brand audit involves a detailed examination of everything to do with your brand.

It’s a type of pulse check for your brand, so you can figure out what’s working, what’s not, and what you might try in the future.

The brand audit process involves using data to precisely measure your performance objectively.

Every brand audit looks at the two main types of branding. These are:

Internal Branding

Internal branding involves aspects of how your business relates to its employees. Some of the aspects of this type of branding include:

• The tools and resources available to your employees
• How your brand resonates with employees
• Your positioning in the market
• Your USAP (Unique Selling Proposition)
• Company culture and values
  
  

External Branding

External branding takes your business's promise to your customers into account. It involves things like:

• Visual identity in the form of logos and other graphics
• Marketing and advertising initiatives
• Social media presence
• Website
  
  

Close analysis of these two types of branding allows you to compare your business with competitors and identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Does Your Company Need a Brand Audit?

All companies should indulge in a brand audit project now and again. The tell-tale signs that your company's long overdue for one are the following:

• You've noticed a loss in brand identity
• You feel you need more brand cohesion
• Customer loyalty seems to be waning
  
  

Any time you want to redirect your business focus or pivot your company offering is a good time to perform a brand audit.

How Can You Benefit from a Brand Audit?

The main purpose of a brand audit is to help you understand where you stand in the minds of your customers and within your market in general. A brand audit report can help you with the following branding aspects:

A SWOT Analysis

The first step in growing any business is determining the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats already in place. This is your starting point toward taking steps to improve and decrease these aspects appropriately.

A brand audit helps reveal data-driven answers to the following questions relating to a SWOT analysis:

Strengths

• Where does your brand excel often?
• What are the strengths and skills of your employees?
• Do you have something that customers can’t get anywhere else?
• Is your branding in line with your business mission and direction?
  
  

Weaknesses

• Does your business perform poorly in some areas?
• Does your team show consistent weaknesses like lack of motivation?
• Are some elements of your brand inauthentic?
• Do you fail to follow through on brand promises?
  
  

Opportunities

• Do any current trends benefit your brand?
• Are there new branding techniques you could use to improve your performance?
• Can you reach out to a new demographic?
• Are there more positive aspects to your brand that you could highlight?
  
  

Threats

• Can recent cultural shifts harm your brand in any way?
• Could current events cast a negative light on your brand?
• Are your competitors trying to discredit your brand?
• Does your brand have negative associations with entities or ideologies?
  
  

Determining Customer's Perceptions of Your Brand

Nobody in your company can tell you how customers perceive your brand. They're closely involved in it.

A brand auditor has no preconceptions, placing them in a much better position to paint an accurate picture for you. Thanks to their experience and objective analytical abilities, they can more easily form a clear picture of the qualities associated with your brand.

Realigning Your Offering to Better Suit Current Times

Thanks to a brand analysis, you can identify and improve areas where your brand can improve. Perhaps your service has slipped, or you're not making the best use of modern marketing efforts like social media.

A brand audit helps you explore your customers' needs and expectations, so you can position your brand accordingly.

Comparing Your Standing With That of Competitors

They can provide unbiased data on how customers view your brand compared to others and provide you with actionable insights on how you can improve.

A brand audit provides critical insights into your competitors' strengths and weaknesses. This helps you to find ways to make your brand stand out in a competitive environment.

Redefining Your Branding Strategy

Armed with all these concrete facts, it's much easier to find a way forward for your brand. Nowadays, you can't fly by the seat of your pants when it comes to branding.

Customers have long memories, so you need a calculated approach if you want to improve and grow your brand online. A brand analysis gives you a solid starting point for building a better brand.

Without this valuable direction, your company might never achieve its full potential.

Planning a Better Branding Future

The New Year's an excellent time to conduct a brand audit. That way, you can get a fresh start to your annual marketing efforts.

Browse our blog for more information for making the best use of the internet tools available to you.