How To Conduct A Brand Audit

Tuesday 18 March, 2008

by Jane Toohey

Brand is what differentiates your company from your competitors. Taking an outside-in view of your company will drive initiatives that create greater market share and build customer loyalty. So how do you conduct a brand audit?

Brand is not just your company's name and logo.

Brand is:

• The unique impression you leave on your customers
  
• About how your customers feel about you
  
• How your company looks
  
• The special way you deliver your service and products
  
• Your attitude and the way you advertise yourself

Brand is important because a consistent brand means you can spend less money attracting new customers. It means that your customers keep returning, you're able to charge a higher price for your services, and you get more word-of-mouth referral.

Big companies the world over have huge folders devoted to their brand guidelines, with detailed instructions about how and where logos can be used, the colour palette allowed and what their promise to customers is. They have these folders and these rules, because they know the value of a strong, consistent brand. The good news is that it's easy for any business to get on board the "brandwagon"!

The brand audit process helps determine:

• The strength of your brand
  
• What's good about it
  
• Where it works
  
• How well your customers can recall it
  
• Uncover weaknesses and inconsistencies
  
• Show you where there are opportunities for improvement

The outcome of the audit is to ensure consistency in the way your business is promoted and perceived. This leads to a stronger brand and therefore, a stronger company.

To successfully conduct a brand audit your research needs to include:

1. Marketing brand audit
   
   A complete review of the physical representation of the brand (stationery/advertising etc.)
   
2. Internal brand audit
   
   Conducting employee workshops and management interviews
   
3. External brand audit
   
   Conducting external market research ie customers, target market and stakeholders from whom you want to find out how the company is spoken of, its current positioning and perceived culture

You need to go over a wide range of areas including:

• Typefaces and colours
  
  Are these consistent across your stationery, emails, website, marketing materials, uniforms and signage?
  
• Imagery
  
  Do the photos/illustrations you use all have the same hue, framing and characteristics?
  
• Email tagline
  
  Does everyone in the company use the same email tagline, or do some not use one at all?
  
• Tone of voice
  
  Do your sales material, website, emails and letters all use the same tone of voice and same language style?
  
• Reception area
  
  Is it in keeping with your brand?
  
• Name tags
  
  Are these consistent in typeface, colour and quality?
  
• Packaging
  
  Is your product's packaging distinctive and in keeping with your brand?
  
• Communication
  
  Is your phone answered in the same manner every time. Is this first introduction to your company in keeping with your brand?
  
• Advertisements
  
  Do you chop and change your style regularly or is your advertising instantly recognisable based on its theming?
  
• Employees
  
  Do they feel the same way about the company's values or is there a wide disparity in views? Do they treat customers in much the same way, or are there huge discrepancies? A mystery shopper program can be useful to determine this.

During an audit you might realise your company is promising one thing to your customers but delivering something else. This destroys customer loyalty, and reduces sales. Or you might discover your brand has lost its sense of direction and what it stands for. If this is your discovery, revitalising your brand would be the next step.

The most valuable brands in the world have achieved their position not just through implementing an initially strong branding strategy, but more so, by monitoring changes in customer perceptions over time, and being strategically flexible to these changes. Many businesses overlook the need to monitor their customer base in any great depth, as the focus is often all about acquiring new customers, not keeping current ones. A brand audit helps you do both.

Many unexpected positives can come out of an audit. You might need to make just a few tweaks to get back on track, or you might have to go through a thorough spring clean. Wherever you are on the scale, an audit helps give you an important perspective on your business. 

Source:ceoonline.com