A regular brand audit is a useful part of your ongoing marketing plan. Your brand is the strongest asset you have when it comes to engaging and retaining your customers.
So why do so many brands drift off course?
Business moves so fast, at an extraordinary pace sometimes, and many companies admit that there’s just no time to keep continually updating the brand. And this is where it can get left behind, no longer representing your business in the way it should as your business grow and develops.
The Power of a Brand Audit
A Brand Audit can sound like a scary project to undertake. But it can be one of the most useful exercises your business can ever undergo.
And there are 7 key steps to reviewing your brand and getting it back on track.
1) Setting clear objectives for your brand audit
Is it just a simple sense check to see where you stand in the market, ensuring you’re where you want to be?
Is your business is taking a slightly new direction with a new service introduced or a new target client base? And will your brand need to adapt?
Or are you wanting to better understand your competitor positioning and take advantage of any gaps in the market?
2) Gathering the data
With your objectives in place, you can start to build a picture of how your brand is perceived.
Looking at how your internal staff view your brand. Is everyone on the same page about the key things you stand for and your offer to clients? There can often be quite different opinions. Especially with long-standing brands where staff have joined over a stretch of several years.
You’ll be looking at feedback from existing clients. Through client surveys, questionnaires, recent testimonial reviews or face to face conversations.
And you can also learn from your potential clients. The ones who may have dropped off somewhere along the journey. You can reach out to them to find out why with a simple ‘help us improve our communications’ request. And a mystery shopping exercise can also be useful to see the pain points for yourself.
Your positioning in the wider market can also be learned through use of marketing intelligence tools such as BrandVue. Looking at brand awareness, familiarity and your brand considerations amongst consumers.
3) Visual Identity
Brand isn’t just a logo and it’s about more than the just the look and feel. But it does play a part in client engagement and in the recognition of your brand.
So, you’ll be looking at whether it’s in line with your desired brand positioning versus actual brand perception.
Examining whether it’s consistent across all your marketing materials. Whether it’s strong enough for clients to always recognise that it’s you, no matter which marketing channel they’re viewing.
4) Brand language and tone of voice
The language you use can be really confusing if there’s no alignment there. Different tones of voice in different channels. If it’s more formal in brochures, more friendly in email communications or more spirited in social media posts.
It can be easy for messaging to drift if you have several different products or services. Different categories of target audience, or a variation of USPs you want to get across to your potential client base.
So, developing solid content pillars is a really good way to avoid brand drift. A varied mix of content so your audience doesn’t get bored. But ensuring that it still relates strongly back to your core brand values and the essence of who you are as a business.
5) Competitor Analysis
Looking at 3 to 5 of your key competitors is a useful part of the process.
What are their USPs, and how is their brand positioning different to yours? Are there any gaps in what’s being offered?
And how can you make it really clear that you can deliver that missing part of the puzzle?
6) Audience engagement
Carefully examining your audience engagement is the next step in the process.
Looking at the social media posts that have had most engagement. And not just likes but comments as well, with real community interaction. Reviewing the emails that have had the most opens and clicks. The press pieces that have had most response, and the blogs that have been most read.
This will really help you to see what’s resonating and what’s not. Which parts of your current positioning are most engaging, and which parts of your client journey are the most compelling.
7) Creating a solid action plan
Each of your key findings will become an action point to build into the evolution of your brand positioning.
And as you make the relevant changes, always make sure to update your company brand guidelines. This is often something that just doesn’t happen. A document that’s created at the very start, that then sits in a drawer or a computer file and is never dusted off again.
But you need it to be a working document that’s an evolving frame of reference for everyone in your business. Not just used by the marketing department, but by every member of staff. Making sure your brand stays on point and changes with you over time. Engaging and retaining the clients who’ll take your business from strength to strength.
Get in touch here to find out more about effective Brand Audit support.