Arek Dvornechcuck
Branding Expert
Whether you're a CEO contemplating a rebrand or a marketing manager under pressure, a brand audit is an invaluable tool to help you take your brand to the next level.
In this article, I will walk you through the process of conducting a brand audit.
I had the opportunity to conduct a brand audit for my client, Medihuanna, which is a company specializing in online education in the cannabis space.
This experience allowed me to put the principles and steps outlined in this article into practice and provide you with graphics to illustrate the concept.
So without further ado, here's a seven-step process for conducting a brand audit.
The first step in conducting a brand audit is identifying your key competitors.
Start by surveying the competitive landscape and identifying your top competitors.
This process involves examining both: your direct competitors—companies offering similar products or services.
But also indirect competitors—companies who could satisfy the same customer need but perhaps with a different product or service.
For example, some of Medihuanna's competitors are:
Remember, that a robust competitive analysis includes also elements of business strategy, things like the product range, market share, pricing, marketing strategies, and overall reputation in the industry.
However, in this article, we’ll focus more on the visual and verbal aspects of branding.
It’s also important in this step to clearly define your goals—why you’re performing the brand audit in the first place?
My client’s main goal was to design a new website in order to increase sign-ups and ultimately improve conversions.
Analyzing your brand's visual identity and how it stacks against your competitors is one of the first steps you should take into consideration.
This includes analyzing the logos, colors, fonts, imagery, and overall aesthetics.
First of all, evaluate if your visual identity still aligns with your brand strategy.
Then, make sure that your visuals also stand out among competitors.
Is it distinctive? Is it recognizable and memorable?—Remember, that visual identity goes beyond just attractiveness.
Your identity should communicate the essence of your brand and help you stand out among competitors at the same time.
Here’s an example list of what types of visual assets I analyze for my clients.
Visual Identity Assets:
Then, simply draw conclusions to see whether you need to update your visuals to stay consistent but also differentiated from the competition.
I designed the original brand identity for Medihuanna back in 2021, but it works—the identity looks fresh and it’s aligned with the strategy.
Questions to ask when analyzing visual identity:
We decided to retain the existing logo and visuals, but at the same time make sure it’s utilized consistently.
Closely tied to visual identity—it’s also important to analyze your brand's verbal identity including your brand voice, messaging, taglines, and any written or spoken content.
This step of the audit involves examining whether your copy is consistent across all platforms and how well it resonates with your target audience.
Your verbal identity (e.g. website headlines and paragraphs) should clearly convey your brand’s values and unique selling proposition.
Also, examine the linguistic content of each competitor to understand their messaging and brand voice, to see if you can adjust yours.
Here’s an example list of what types of verbal assets you can audit.
Verbal Identity Assets:
I wrote the original copy for Medihuanna back in 2021, but we decided to revise it as some of the aspects of their business strategy changed and evolved, such as product range, pricing, shopping experience, etc.
Questions to ask when analyzing verbal identity:
In the next steps, it’s also important to look at your web analytics as this can provide valuable insights into your brand’s current performance.
If you use Google Analytics, you can review metrics like website traffic, bounce rate, session duration, conversion rates, etc.
These metrics can help you understand how visitors interact with your brand online, what draws them to your site, and where they may be dropping off.
Remember, web analytics is not just about numbers but the story they tell about user behavior.
Here’s an example list of what website analytics you should gather.
Web Analytics List:
Then, you can also use tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to spy on your competitors as well.
Based on that, try to figure out what your competitors do well and ultimately what’s the gap between you and them.
That way you’ll be able to make some recommendations as it relates to your client's objectives.
For example, I found quite a few bugs on the existing Medihuanna website which impacted site load speed, navigation, and the overall user experience.
Besides website analytics, it’s also important these days to look at social media data.
Review your performance across various platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.
Look not only at follower count, but also engagement rates, and the overall sentiment towards your brand vs. your competitors.
Here’s an example list of what type of social media data you should consider.
Social Media Data List:
It's important to understand what type of content resonates most with your audience and drives engagement, so that way we can make a realistic plan on how to improve these numbers.
For example, we came to the conclusion that Medihuanna should invest more in content production for Instagram and LinkedIn (that’s where their audience is) to drive more organic traffic to their website.
Customer surveys can provide direct feedback from your customers about their perception and their overall experience with your brand.
Customer feedback is a gold mine of information when it comes to auditing your brand.
Ask your customers questions about their satisfaction levels, what they like and dislike about your brand (your products and services), and how they perceive you relative to your competitors.
You can also dig into your competitor’s reviews trying to understand where they’re lacking so that you can improve upon your products, services, user experience, customer service, etc.
Here’s a list of sample questions to ask your customers (e.g. after purchase).
Survey Sample Questions:
Customer surveys, reviews, and testimonials in general can provide great insights into your brand’s strengths and areas that need improvement.
For example, my client (Medihuanna) regularly runs surveys—I used that feedback to develop some recommendations, for example: providing 24/7 customer support, redesigning the dashboard, changing the pricing model (subscriptions), etc.
Finally, once all the data has been gathered and analyzed, the final step is to compile a comprehensive brand audit report.
You can compile your findings into a PDF document or Canva presentation, highlighting key takeaways and recommendations.
The report should include a summary of your findings, insights drawn from each analysis, and recommended strategies for improvement.
You can simply design a presentation with screenshots, data, and your comments or proposed solutions.
This report should serve as a roadmap for achieving your goal (e.g. “design a new website to increase sign-ups”) and ultimately guide your decision-making and provide a benchmark against which you can measure future progress.
In summary, conducting a brand audit is an invaluable process that provides insights into how to improve your overall brand performance.
Your brand audit, if done well, should become a powerful tool that provides a clear, objective understanding of the current state of your brand together with recommendations for future growth.
Whether you're considering a rebrand or simply want to improve your website, a solid brand audit can provide the insights you need to make better decisions.
I’ve also compiled a list of the most frequent questions about brand audits, together with my clear and concise answers to each.
A brand audit is an in-depth analysis of a brand's position in the market.
It involves a deep dive into the brand itself, and a thorough examination of the brand's competitive landscape.
The goal is to identify the brand's strengths and weaknesses and to pinpoint opportunities for differentiation.
The findings of a brand audit are documented in a report, which provides recommendations for achieving your business goals.
A brand audit offers numerous benefits, from enhancing branding consistency to maximizing brand equity.
Here are some of the key advantages:
There are several scenarios when a brand audit is particularly beneficial:
Generally, you can do it annually or quarterly (e.g. when you do taxes).
Remember, it’s a proactive approach that will help your brand to stay relevant and competitive, helping you grow in an ever-changing marketplace.
Nowadays almost every industry is moving very rapidly, so the more often you can audit your brand, the better it will turn out for your business.
A brand audit is best conducted by an objective, third-party team, ideally from your branding agency partner.
It’s best to hire an external company because it will allow you to get an objective, and non-biased perspective on what’s really going on.
The auditing team could include a brand strategist, a senior graphic designer, a senior copywriter, a marketing expert, etc.
Need help with your brand?—Just send me an email or schedule a call.
