5 Steps to Perform a Brand Audit for Business Growth

The Ultimate Guide On How To Perform A Brand Audit

How to perform a brand audit? There is no simple answer to this question. To understand how to perform a brand audit, you have to understand what a brand audit is, the importance of a brand audit, the basics of a brand audit, and how to do a brand audit in general. We'll be more than happy to guide you step by step on how to make a proper brand audit and explain what is a brand audit so that you can have a clear understanding of all the aspects.

Start reading this article to become a professional in this question.

Most probably, your business is facing some further troubles

Why are you here reading this? Probably not because things in your business are going well. Or maybe you wish to learn more about how to perform a brand audit? We'll try to find out.

Sadly you lose sales because of the following problems:

• You attract fewer and fewer customers
• You're not sure who you need to attract
• Your brand does not generate a lot of loyalty from your current customers & customer retention is lower than you know it needs to be
• You cannot price your services/products as you'd want to
• You have products or services that do not align with your goals or business vision

Gladly, you can have the quickest way to solve all these problems with the help of this article. Learn how to perform a brand audit to get more sales, loyal fans of your brand & much more.

What you’ll get after performing a brand audit? 

Don’t read further until you get this clear. By the end of your brand evaluation, you will understand the following:

• What potential problems does your brand have & how does it hurts your business
• What next steps are needed to fix it
• The value of brand strategy and what to expect from it
• The understanding of opportunities to improve your business
• What can be done on your own, and the need for a brand strategy team to help you figure it all out while focusing on the best you do in your business.

So, what is a brand audit?

Brand Audit is the fastest and most thoughtful test for business owners and top-level decision-makers to see if there is a need for more profound work on a brand.

It often looks like a simple questionnaire, divided into several question groups. 

Why is a brand audit important?

The best way to describe - it's a regular brand health check, a quick and easy way to check any brand-related problems in your business.

A brand audit checklist is a necessary tool for any decision-making person in the company.

Best practice: keep it on your table and go through it once in 6 months. 

• On the one hand, your business grows, the brand evolves, your audience increases & the approach to them also changes.
• On the other hand, your customers' wants and needs are also changing.

It's essential to be on the same page with your customer, isn’t it?

What if you don't do it?

You might say, "Nah, it comes from my heart; how can someone else handle this better than me?"

Well, it's not about you only. It's all about communication with your target audience, customers, and how they perceive your brand.

If there's a way to improve the efficiency of communication & sale process to increase revenue - you better do it.

Please don't take our word; try not to do any brand audits & brand strategies. Soon you will get in trouble of attracting new customers, focusing on specific audiences, diminishing customer retention, and losing sales and revenue.

While it's not why you are in business, continue reading to get all the golden nuggets from this ultimate brand audit guide.

What to know before starting brand evaluation?

Sure, nobody knows your brand better than you in the end! Yet, there are some crucial reasons you'd better do it in the company of brand strategy professionals.

Why do you need a team?

In short: you are getting a more accurate brand diagnosis & save a ton of time.

Having experts by your shoulder in brand strategy, digital marketing, web development & design make your decisions action-ready and financially reasonable.

Let's talk about your brand now. We'll be able to help you figure out what you need to do step-by-step, formulate reasonable ROI & plan future scalability.

What is the difference between brand strategy & brand audit?

A brand strategy is a time-consuming process of analyzing your business & brand from A to Z. It dissects all your problems and formulates the most detailed plan of action to fix them.

A brand audit is a quick questionary that helps you detect some crucial brand strategy problems you might have.

The basics of brand audit

It's simple; answer the questions below one by one.

Yet it's not enough if you want to get the best result for your business. You need to understand the topics behind it.

1. We start with questions about your business only. You need to catch yourself and understand where you have possible flaws or inconsistencies.
2. We were hoping you could focus on your audience & customers. It might take some time to understand your customer and fill in the blanks. Do not be presumptuous about your customers; literally, ask them. You will see a gap between your customers' needs & your offer.
3. Next, we're going to explore your competitors & how they are dealing with their customers. Just take what's good and make it your way, just better.
4. At the last stage, you'll be able to formulate what are the gaps between your brand & your customers. It's better to have professional advice at this point to plan your actions further. Please don't waste your time any longer; get a free digital marketing & website review.

A proper brand audit outcome shows that you now need an accurate all-in-one execution that follows several steps. It is called brand strategy.

How to do a brand audit

Let's find out how to do a brand audit.

1. Analyze your business

• What’s your brand vision, mission & purpose?
• How do you pose your selling proposition & messaging?
• Who do you consider your target customers?
• What would you change in your visuals & why?
• Is your website & social channels conversion rate increasing? Why?
• How do your website & social channels perform? Do you have analytics?
• What would you change in your website & why?
• How would you improve your social channels & why?

2. Analyze your customers

• Do you know your customers' needs & wants? Do you fulfill them?
• Do you know what they say about your brand?
• Do you have an inner image of your ideal customers?

3. Analyze your competitors

• How do you see their selling proposition & messaging?
• Who do you consider their target audience?
• How successfully do they meet customers' needs & wants?
• How can you fulfill the customers' needs better, more innovative way?
• Are there other problems you can solve that your competitors can't?

4. Understand potential issues

Now, you can formulate your common brand issues and gaps. Organize them the following way:

1. Notes about your business & brand issues
2. Insights about your customers
3. Notes about strengths & weaknesses of your competitors

Before you start fixing issues, we advise you to have a free 30-min call with us. We'll help you formulate your problems and advise you on execution.

Indeed, we'll talk about our capabilities and how we can help you. But at the end of the day, you will be searching for experts to delegate and help you fix discovered issues. 

Don't hesitate to get our professional opinion directly. It's 100% free. Let's find ways to improve your brand awareness!

5. Perform proper brand strategy

We want you to know that this is not always necessary, but in 8/10, it is.

What's the reason? Brand strategy is a full service, by the end of which you have a complete step-by-step plan of actions, timeframe of implementation, realistic expectations on ROI, and exact expenses.

How to start a brand audit?

Download the brand audit checklist