The harsh reality of today’s business environment is that it is intensely competitive. The only way to survive and differentiate yourself from your competition is to “differentiate.” And what sets your company apart from the competition? Brand!
So, Is your company going through a rough patch at the moment? Do your competitors steal your potential customers? Is there a drop in sales and revenue that you’re not expecting? If this is the case, and you’re trying to figure out what’s causing the problems, you should start by doing a brand audit of your company.
This article will look at the advantages of conducting a brand audit. But, before we move ahead, let’s know what a brand audit is, what it identifies, and what factors a brand audit considers.
1. What is a Brand Audit?
A brand audit is a thorough examination that assists a company in determining its position in the consumer market by revealing what it is doing well, where it can improve, and how it compares to competitors.
In general, it examines your brand’s strengths and weaknesses. Consider a brand audit to be a physical exam that your company will need to go through on a regular basis if it wants to grow. The procedure varies depending on the industry and the specialty of the company.
2. What Is Involved In A Brand Audit?
Brand audits are as diverse as the brands that they audit. A thorough brand audit will consider factors such as:
- A brand’s target audience’s goals, values, and message, as well as the effectiveness of communication and engagement.
- Visual identities, such as the logo, brand colors, typography, and consistency.
- Business cards, packaging, and other branded collateral.
- Website homepage, about page, header, footer, contact page.
- Social media accounts, and so on.
3. What Does A Brand Audit Identify?
So, by examining all of the ways your brand is conceived, expressed, and perceived, we can say that a brand audit process identifies the following:
- Your brand’s best qualities and strengths.
- What are the areas in which your brand may be lacking?
- Key areas for development and market/customer requirements.
- The current market position of your brand in relation to competitors.
4. 5 Benefits of Brand Audit
Consider the following example: You’ve been running your own cake shop for the past five years. You have a website, an active social media presence on Facebook and Instagram, print advertisements, and you’ve sponsored many local businesses. The cake shop has had some success, but you recognize that there are definitely areas for improvement if you want to see more and more outstanding sales—you don’t know which parts of the business need to be tweaked.
Your cake shop appears to be in need of a strong brand audit. Isn’t it?
A brand audit seeks to ascertain how well your company is perceived by its customers. A well-conducted brand audit can help you better understand your brand’s market and customer position. Hence, the importance of brand audit should not be neglected.
Following the five key benefits of brand audit-
4.1. Aids you in determining your company’s positioning and developing corrective solutions
Positioning is a marketing concept that describes how a business should promote its product or service to customers. This is accomplished through the use of promotion, pricing, location, and product. When its brand positioning approach is more intensive, its marketing strategy is often more effective. As a result, your brand should be positioned to help you achieve your business objectives. An audit is used to ensure that your current positioning is assisting you in meeting your brand objectives.
By auditing your brand, you can identify any issues with your positioning that are preventing you from reaching your full potential and areas where you can improve and add new features. Most importantly, whether your company is a new or established brand, the corrective solutions can benefit it.
4.2. Allows you to uncover your company’s strengths and weaknesses
A brand audit can help brands establish consistency and reinforce their most remarkable and memorable attributes. It enables you to capitalize on your strengths in the current environment.
Once you’ve identified your brand’s flaws and inconsistencies, you’ll be in a much better position to shift them into strengths, or at the very least reduce the portions of those flaws that make your brand less effective when compared to competitors. A brand audit health check can also aid in discovering and identifying new growth and innovation opportunities.
4.3. Assists you in better aligning your offers with customers expectations
Consistency fosters familiarity and trust, which helps to manage customer expectations. Customer satisfaction can be increased by managing customer expectations. Knowing how your brand communicates makes managing customer expectations easier. A brand audit also provides information about how people perceive your brand.
A brand audit promotes brand loyalty by ensuring brand consistency. A brand audit will help you enhance your brand by ensuring customer preference in purchasing decisions, establishing a solid customer loyalty base, and outperforming your competitors by aligning all offers with the customer’s expectations.
4.4. Establish your brand’s competitive position in the market
What distinguishes your brand from the competition? Do features and benefits solely define your competitive advantage, or have you established yourself as substantively and authentically unique? The more powerful your brand, the more successful you will be, and your company will be more valuable. Aside from surface-level distinctions, an audit can assist you in identifying opportunities for true uniqueness.
A thorough brand audit includes an accurate study of your competition. Your brand’s position in relation to competitors should be the focus of your audit. It is impossible to assess the brand value in a vacuum. A thorough audit of your brand should compare it to competitors in today’s ever-changing market. You can track your brand’s influence and success by submitting a status update.
4.5. Recognize how the public views your brand and business
In the customer’s eyes, a lack of alignment leads to confusion. As a result, it is critical to build trust by aligning your brand with your company’s vision, goals, or objectives.
One of the most crucial aspects of a brand’s success is public perception—how people perceive and comprehend your brand. It makes no difference what your company claims to be capable of. If your customers believe your brand stands for something else, that perception will influence their future interactions with you. Therefore, brands must be aware of their brand perception and work to align it with their vision and purpose to provide a great customer experience.
Brand Audit will assist you in determining all of these factors, including what is being used and what is most important. After that, you can decide which touchpoints need to be addressed to be most effective with this knowledge.
5. Summing Up
Now that you understand the five key benefits of brand audit, you can perform it to expand and build your business empire. Doing brand auditing on a regular basis will help you maintain your brand’s impact, no matter where your company is in its life cycle. A brand audit once or twice a year is a good starting point for most businesses.
Let us know your questions regarding brand audit in the comments below, and stay tuned for more upcoming informative articles!
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