Branding: A Missing Brand Audit Puts Businesses at Risk

Your brand is arguably the most important part of your business. Founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos said “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room”.  

It’s safe to say that in branding your brand identity is more than a symbol or a logo, it’s the message that your company is built upon and sets the tone for how your customers/clients perceive and interact with you. So, you can understand just how important it is to maintain the health and stability of your brand.  

Enter: Brand Audits.

Often, the word audit is paired with taxes, or other menial tasks that you try to avoid. The reality is that brand audits sound a lot more complex than they actually are. So, let’s break it down.

[#section1]What Is a Brand Audit?[#section1]

A brand audit is simply an in-depth analysis of your brand to evaluate the congruence between your value proposition and brand identity. By this we mean your value proposition being the promises your company makes with clients or customers who engage with your brand. Your value proposition directly impacts your brand identity.

If your company fails to upkeep the promises it sets for itself; the brand identity will begin to suffer, causing a decline in overall performance. A brand audit will give you invaluable insights into your strengths and weaknesses, how your brand compares against your competition and will also help you better understand how you are performing in the marketplace.

A brand audit can be seen as a health check-up for your brand where you – as the doctor – evaluate its health and strength capabilities. It should be said that is essential for both new and successful businesses, particularly if you want to maintain relevancy with your target market.

[#section2]Why Conduct a Brand Audit?[#section2]

Identify strengths and weaknesses

A brand audit allows you to identify what is working well for your brand, while also identifying any pitfalls that could be hindering your brand from achieving your business or marketing objectives. For example, your email marketing may be resonating more with your audience than your social media marketing, so this allows you to pivot your strategy in order to maximize ROI.  

Understand your position in the market

A brand audit will provide invaluable data to help you understand how customers view and interact with your brand, particularly in comparison to your competitors. One way you can do this is through customer surveys, whether it be through an email campaign, online or across your social media channels. This may give you insights into ways that you can better engage your customers.  

Understand your competition

Part of your brand audit will be conducting market research to understand your competitors. By analyzing their messaging, branding and the type of content that they are putting out to get engagement, you can find strategic ways in which you can differentiate your business in the marketplace.  

Identify and resolve problems

Conducting a brand audit can help you identify and resolve problems that you may not have noticed otherwise. For example, you may be seeing a decline in sales or leads being generated through your website so the audit will give you the data to understand why and implement a plan or engage the right professionals who can help you.  

Align internal and external branding

The Harvard Business Review says that internal branding is crucial to helping your employees make a powerful emotional connection to the products and services you sell and the values and mission of your business. It’s much easier to fulfill your brand’s promise when you have an engaged team - remember, they are your brand ambassadors!

A detailed audit gives you the chance to compare how your employees and customers view your brand. Additionally, it identifies if there is a problem with your messaging if the perspectives are very different. If your internal messaging isn’t giving your employees an accurate sense of what you want your values and mission to be, those employees won’t convey them to customers effectively.

Improve customer experience with your brand

Your external brand is everything your customer sees and interacts with, so in order to improve your overall customer experience, you should first begin with reviewing the following elements.  

• Brand colors
• Logo designs
• Advertisements
• Typography (font types)
• Business cards
• Tone of voice (used in communications)

When it comes to anything to do with your brand, consistency is key. All platforms, documents, emails, creative content etc. should share the same appearance. All of these seemingly small details make your brand more easily identifiable with current or potential clients.

If you need help with your brand but don’t know where to start, our team at Tiny Giants have over 16 years of experience with branding, business strategy, and marketing. We’d love to connect and chat about how we can contribute to your growth!

Contact us today to learn how we will conduct your brand audit.