What is a brand audit and why do we need it?
The initial stage of developing a new brand, determining positioning or updating a company's branding strategy is a brand audit. This is a comprehensive assessment of the current position of the brand in the market, the level of brand awareness, customer loyalty and the breadth of the target audience. The assessment is comparative, its results correlate with the position of competitor brands or industry leaders.
The brand analysis consists of several stages and includes the evaluation of all the components of the brand, its internal business processes, the level of knowledge and attitude of the clients to the brand and the study of competitors.
The necessity of brand audit can be dictated by a specific strategic task, preparation for entering a new market, or a new stage of company development. Whatever the reason for the audit, its results will help to strengthen the position of the brand, to optimize the costs for promotion, and to make an action plan to increase loyalty.
Brand audit is obligatory in case of change of company management, brand renewal or repositioning, new product line launch or assortment extension. Brand assessment should also be carried out in case of negative processes, for example, decrease in demand and fast decrease in profit.
The purpose of the audit is to fulfill one of the strategic objectives:
- determination of promising areas of brand development;
- search for new segments of the target audience;
- formation of a current and demanded range of goods and services;
- product portfolio management, etc.
Types of brand audit
Systematic assessment of the brand position provides the business owner with important information about the current position of the brand in the market, its competitiveness, as well as the internal state of affairs in the company in terms of staff loyalty. Based on this, there are two groups of tasks - for external and internal brand audit.
Internal brand audit
When carrying out internal brand assessment the internal processes and interactions in a company are examined and analyzed. The ideological foundations of the company's activity, corporate standards, culture of relations among employees are to be studied and evaluated.
The internal audit includes:
- Reputation analysis. In the analysis of reputation the evaluation of the brand in the eyes of consumers is studied, correlating brand positioning and its real position, the associations that the brand wants to cause and causes.
- Identification of strengths and weaknesses, risks and prospects. A complete and in-depth SWOT-analysis will provide important information for the design and adjustment of the development strategy, brand positioning, and effective management system.
- Study of marketing indicators. Data on sales volumes, profits, the cost of attracting a customer, market share, conversion rate - important information that will allow you to draw conclusions about the success of the current strategy or the need to adjust it.
- Ideology of the company. The mission, goal, and basic principles of the company's activity are studied in order to form a system of key values. A strong ideological platform will provide the maximum potential for business development and team cohesion.
- Audit of internal loyalty. Data from the assessment of employee loyalty to the company will help to form a plan to improve personnel policy, improve the corporate climate, increase staff loyalty and keep experienced professionals from the decision to move to the side of the competition.
External brand audit
External brand audit evaluates the industry as a whole, market conditions and trends, analyzes consumer sentiment, preferences and behavioral scenarios.
Stages of external analysis:
- Study of macro environment. Analysis of new economic trends, trends, development and implementation of innovative tools in science, business and production. The data obtained are used to adjust the development plan and positioning of the company.
- Comprehensive market analysis. General assessment of market share, level of demand, volume of consumer audience, analysis of the competitive environment.
- Study of the opinion and behavior of customers. Analysis of the overall impression of the brand, the associations it evokes in consumers, the study of the benefits and advantages, the factors that encourage customers to choose products and make a purchase.
- Competitor analysis. Competitive analysis allows to reveal strengths and weaknesses of the positioning and promotion strategy of own brand and competitor brand, to get insides to strengthen the existing market position and to evaluate the competitiveness of the company and its product.
The result of a modern brand audit
Modern brand audit is carried out in the form of a series of brand sessions - interviewing employees, surveys of focus groups of consumers, holding discussions. During the audit events the necessary information is collected. The obtained data is processed and analyzed.
The result of the modern brand audit is a detailed report on the current position of the brand in the market, its place among consumer preferences and the level of loyalty to the company of its own employees. The report also contains a list of recommendations to strengthen the existing position, improve the position and further development of the brand.