How to Conduct a Brand Audit (6-Step Guide for Big Brands)

Mar 25, 2022|Read time: 12 min.

Jonas Sickler SEO Manager

Key Points

A institution rises and falls connected the spot of its brand. Companies with beardown brands pull much customers, much easy fend disconnected competition, and presumption themselves for growth. That’s wherefore it’s truthful important for selling teams to behaviour a marque audit.

What is simply a marque audit?

Brand Audit

Definition

A marque audit is simply a elaborate introspection of each aspects of a brand, including its history, mission, vision, values, people markets, products and services, selling mix, and competitory landscape.

It helps brands measure their strengths and weaknesses, place areas for improvement, and make a program to fortify their marque identity.

A marque audit covers, astatine a minimum, these 3 areas:

Brand Identity

What is the DNA of the brand? What does the marque basal for, what are the marque values, and however would your customers picture your brand? How good does the people marketplace recognize the brand? What are the cardinal marque messages, and are they being communicated effectively? How beardown is the affectional transportation betwixt the marque and customers? What is the wide lawsuit acquisition like?

Brand Positioning

Where does the marque acceptable successful the wide market? How bash the brand’s products oregon services stack up against the competition? How does the pricing comparison against akin brands? Is the marque targeting the close marketplace segments?

Brand Performance

How effectual is brand management? How does the people assemblage consciousness astir the brand? Do products and services conscionable lawsuit needs and expectations? Is the marque being managed successful a mode that is accordant with its strategical individuality and positioning? Is marque equity expanding implicit time?

To enactment it different way, a marque audit should beryllium some interior and outer successful orientation. It should encompass interior branding elements, similar values, mission, institution culture, etc. It should besides screen outer branding elements, similar PR, societal media, hunt motor optimization (SEO), lawsuit relations, content marketing, lawsuit support, and more.

At a minimum, a marque audit answers the pursuing questions:

• Who bash we privation to beryllium arsenic a brand?
• Are our actions aligned with our goals?
• Are our marque values clear, and bash they resonate with the people audience?

When you’re successful the trenches of a concern connected a regular basis, it whitethorn beryllium hard to measurement backmost and spot however your marque looks done the eyes of your people audience. That’s wherever a marque audit serves you well. It tin assistance you objectively measure your marque and marque people corrections if needed.

Why you should behaviour a marque audit

A marque appraisal mightiness look similar an abstract, vague conception without wide objectives. However, determination are respective factual benefits of conducting a marque audit.

Brand audits assistance measurement marketplace performance

First, performing a marque audit allows you to measurement your wide marketplace performance. The process forces you to revisit your superior concern objectives, the metrics and KPIs tied to those objectives, and your brand’s wide show compared to those KPIs.

During the marque audit process, you whitethorn observe 1 of 2 things:

• Existing marque guidelines don’t lucifer your existent brand
• Published contented and/or concern actions that aren’t aligned with your brand

Conducting a marque audit gives you clarity regarding however your marque is performing against your established KPIs and guidelines.

Brand audits uncover people assemblage needs

Second, a marque audit clarifies the needs of your people audience. The process uncovers details astir their motivations, their acquisition behaviors, and critical lawsuit interaction points with your marque on the buying journey.

You’ll larn much astir the users wrong your people market, what they privation from your brand, and however to scope them passim the customer lifecycle.

Obviously, knowing the needs of your people assemblage helps you amended your products oregon services. But it besides helps you trade selling campaigns that pat into the desires and goals of your audience.

Brand audits assistance comparison your competitory position

Third, a marque audit tin assistance you summation a amended knowing of your competitory position. You’ll beryllium capable to spot however good you stack up against rival brands successful presumption of merchandise offerings, selling strategy, and people customers. This accusation tin assistance you set your concern strategy arsenic needed to enactment up of the competition.

It’s besides important to enactment that a marque audit tin assistance you place imaginable caller markets oregon niches for your marque to enter. As you comparison your marque against your competitors, you tin place underserved areas of the marketplace that you could pat into.

Additionally, you tin comparison the wide sentiment astir your marque versus your competitors. For example, if a rival is known for selling high-quality products, you tin find whether you privation to vie against them successful presumption of merchandise prime oregon prosecute different marque differentiator, similar terms oregon service.

Brand audits assistance support your brand

A cardinal payment of a marque audit is accrued marque protection. As immoderate concern grows, it faces accrued scrutiny from consumers, regulators, and the wide public. Expectations are precocious that you’ll beryllium a bully societal and biology steward, and you’ll present connected your marque promises.

When your marque messaging strays from your halfway values, it tin harm your institution reputation. A marque audit catches these inconsistencies earlier they interaction lawsuit perception.

When to behaviour a marque audit

Ideally, you should execute a marque audit erstwhile each fewer years to guarantee your marque strategy is cohesive and each departments are operating successful alignment with your halfway values.

However, determination are besides circumstantial circumstances that, erstwhile they arise, merit a marque audit.

Marketing campaigns underperform

If your selling efforts are underperforming, it could beryllium a motion that your contented is not accordant with your brand. Maybe the marque messaging doesn’t resonate with your people audience, oregon the ocular individuality is jarring. Perhaps the worth proposition oregon marque committedness is weak. Or possibly the marque is being tone-deaf to satellite events.

In these cases, conducting a marque audit tin pinpoint the disconnect truthful you tin hole it.

An illustration of this was erstwhile Coca-Cola changed its classical look and rebranded their soda arsenic “New Coke.” The nationalist reception was astir instantly and comprehensively negative, showing the institution didn’t recognize their people assemblage well. Within 3 months, Coca-Cola went backmost to their archetypal look and saw a corresponding surge successful sales.

If you motorboat a selling run and the results are mediocre, it could mean:

1. Your run moved distant from the halfway marque values that initially attracted caller customers.
2. Your halfway values person shifted and nary longer resonate with your people demographic.

Performing a marque audit helps you place the basal of the occupation and resoluteness it arsenic rapidly arsenic possible.

Before a marque refresh oregon rebranding

If you’re considering a marque refresh oregon rebranding, it’s important to execute a marque audit first. This volition assistance you get a wide thought of what your existent marque stands for, what elements request to beryllium kept, and what needs to beryllium changed. Performing a marque audit earlier immoderate drastic changes are made tin assistance guarantee the extremity effect is cohesive and on-brand.

Gap learned this the hard mode erstwhile they implemented a logo change backmost successful 2010. Gap greatly underestimated the affectional transportation that loyal customers had to the longstanding logo and the alteration resulted successful a immense backlash for the brand. Less than 1 week aft the motorboat of the caller logo, Gap decided to instrumentality to the original.

If they had done a marque audit first, they whitethorn person saved a batch of time, money, and their brand reputation.

A marque refresh oregon rebranding besides gives you the accidental to reevaluate your halfway values and find whether they inactive bespeak who you are arsenic a brand. If they don’t, you tin signifier your values to amended bespeak your marque and past alteration your branding materials to much accurately bespeak your caller values.

Customer loyalty is lacking

If you announcement that lawsuit loyalty is declining, it whitethorn beryllium a motion that your marque isn’t arsenic beardown arsenic it erstwhile was. Maybe you began to favour information implicit innovation, and edgier startups stole immoderate of your marketplace share. Or possibly stakeholders prioritized amended margins implicit idiosyncratic acquisition and an improved income process.

Conducting a marque audit tin uncover wherefore the narration with your customers changed, and however to triumph them back.

Target assemblage is not responding to the existing marque identity

If your purchaser personas aren’t responding good to your existent marque identity, it either means you don’t recognize your assemblage oregon that thing is disconnected with the marque individuality you’ve built.

Performing a marque audit tin assistance you get to the bottommost of the occupation and marque the indispensable changes truthful that your people assemblage starts responding to your branding efforts. The usage of an empathy map tin assistance your enactment summation important penetration into customers’ needs and wants.

Example of a palmy marque audit

In the 1990s, Nike was facing important contention from Reebok. As a result, Nike’s marketplace stock began to decline.

Nike conducted a marque audit and discovered they needed to link with the mundane wearer, not conscionable apical athletes.

As Nike laminitis Phil Knight told the Harvard Business Review:

“The problems forced america to instrumentality a hard look astatine what we were doing, what was going wrong, what we were bully at, and wherever we wanted to go. When we did that, we came to spot that focusing solely connected the merchandise was a large mode for a marque to start, but it conscionable wasn’t enough. We had to capable successful the blanks, starting with knowing who the user is and what the marque represents.”

In different words, performing a marque audit helped Phil Knight and his squad to recognize that they didn’t recognize a important information of their lawsuit base. They were capable to set accordingly and yet go the footwear juggernaut they are today.

How to behaviour a marque audit

To support your marque audit task connected way and aligned with concern goals, travel these six steps.

1. Determine goals

Before you bash instrumentality immoderate circumstantial actions, find what you privation your marque audit to achieve. For example, bash you privation to:

• Improve marque clarity
• Revitalize a declining brand
• Grow marque awareness
• Strengthen lawsuit loyalty

Having a wide acceptable of goals successful caput gives you overmuch much clarity passim the marque audit process. Your goals tin usher the accusation you collect, what squad members are involved, and the actions you instrumentality a effect of the audit.

2. Conduct an assemblage survey

One of the astir effectual ways to observe however your people assemblage feels astir your marque is to stitchery Voice of the Customer feedback. Whether you nonstop retired questionnaires, inquire for reviews, oregon measurement your Net Promoter Score (NPS), lawsuit insights are important to your success.

There are respective antithetic types of questions you tin ask, but immoderate examples include:

• What words travel to caput erstwhile you deliberation of our brand?
• How apt are you to urge our marque to a friend?
• Which channels bash you similar for interacting with us?
• What bash you deliberation we’re doing well?
• What could we beryllium doing better?

Make definite the questions are unfastened ended and don’t pb radical to reply successful a peculiar way. You privation honorable feedback, adjacent if it’s not each positive.

3. Audit your website analytics 

Another effectual mode to recognize your assemblage is to look astatine your web analytics and income data. This information tin uncover which pages are astir visited, however agelong radical prosecute with your site, and what devices they usage to entree it.

You tin besides usage this information to find which selling channels are driving the astir postulation and conversions for you. This is invaluable accusation to assistance you marque decisions astir wherever to allocate your resources going forward.

Some important SEO metrics to look astatine include:

• Bounce rate
• Pages per session
• Session duration
• Traffic sources (e.g., organic, direct, referrals)
• Conversion rate
• Device types

Additionally, behavioral analytics mightiness uncover areas of your tract that are confusing oregon hard for visitors to navigate. For example, you mightiness announcement astir users who sojourn a definite conception of your website instrumentality to the location leafage aft a fewer seconds. This whitethorn bespeak a occupation with that section, including misaligned content, confusing navigation, oregon different usability issues.

Auditing your societal media channels provides you with invaluable information, some astir your marque and your audience. As you audit your societal channels, effort to reply these questions:

• Is our marque dependable accordant crossed each platforms?
• Do our societal posts align with our marque values?
• Do our societal media channels bespeak our marque identity?
• Are we regularly engaged with our followers?
• Do we stock a assortment of content selling types?
• On what level are our fans astir engaged with our content?

Social analytics tools similar Sprout Social, Hootsuite, oregon CoSchedule tin supply you with elaborate insights regarding your enactment crossed each platforms, making it easier to summation the afloat picture.

5. Evaluate competitors

Part of immoderate bully marque audit is doing a rival analysis. This volition springiness you an thought of what’s moving good for them, and opportunities for you to differentiate your ain brand.

Make an effort to find your competitor’s:

• Precise people audience
• Marketing strategies
• Marketing channels
• Core strengths
• Potential weaknesses
• Market positioning
• Overlap betwixt your marque and theirs
• Brand distinctions

If you request a much defined operation for evaluating your competition, the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) tin beryllium helpful. It helps you cautiously analyse your ain marque compared to the competitory landscape. The insights you summation tin past beryllium utilized to fortify your presumption comparative to your competitors.

6. Review marque assets

Your marque assets are each the elements that marque up your marque identity, including things similar your logo, fonts, colors, and taglines. As portion of your marque audit, it’s important to reappraisal each these elements and guarantee they inactive accurately bespeak your brand.

If you alteration thing (e.g., you redesign your logo, update your colour palette, etc.), update each of your marque assets to beryllium consistent. Otherwise, you hazard sending mixed messages to your assemblage and confusing them astir your marque identity.

Take action

Follow the supra marque audit methodology to make a crippled program that aligns your institution imaginativeness with your customers’ needs and expectations.

Distribute your findings to the due parties and delegate tasks accordingly. It’s captious to make an enactment program truthful you cognize however to determination guardant collectively.

Conducting a marque audit is simply a challenge, particularly if your marque is good known oregon has experienced harsh nationalist scrutiny. But it’s a worthwhile endeavor. Your marque is, arguably, your astir important asset. Performing marque audits connected a regular ground ensures that it stays healthy.