Brand Audit Process

Empowering Brands

A Brand Audit is one of the most valuable tools you have to help successfully manage your brand. It can methodically examine and analyze current branding practices to gain insight and understanding into how your brand is presented and experienced in the marketplace.

An objective and comprehensive Audit is the first step in clearly understanding the brand and revealing opportunities for strategic alignment, effective brand messaging, and design consistency. Once completed, the Brand Audit provides a strategic roadmap for brand success.

Why is it important?

Your brand is your company’s most valuable asset. The combination of a brand strategy relevant for your audience and a powerful visual brand builds value and strengthens your company’s presence in the marketplace.

At its most basic, a Brand Audit is a thorough examination of all the ways your brand presents itself internally and externally — the font you use, your logo, the style of your images and tone, your use of white space, your brand colors, and all other aspects of your identity. The Brand Audit provides a mechanism for measuring the consistency of these key messages and design guidelines. Because consistency with these elements is critical to the success of your brand-building efforts, the Audit serves as a way to shine the light on where you’re doing well and targets areas for improvement. And as part of an ongoing measurement program, a Brand Audit can provide guidance and direction to maintain best practices in brand strategy and design.

Let’s face it; brands are meant to be emotional, right? Everyone has an opinion — both internally and externally. The Brand Audit provides your most objective and consistent form of measurement and sets your bar to which future brand initiatives can be compared.

Brand Audit Process

With a comprehensive Brand Audit, more is better. A range of materials and applications should be included in the Audit – corporate identity, websites, advertising campaigns, presentations, sales and product literature, newsletters, employee communications, signage, retail design, trade show booths, packaging, and promotions.

Process;

  • Each of these materials should be measured against specific criteria;
  • Clear messaging in support of the brand strategy
  • Appropriate use of brand attributes, tone, and voice
  • Correct and consistent use of the company logo and tagline
  • Strategic use of the brand color palette
  • Proper use of approved typefaces
  • Engaging and appropriate imagery
  • Overall visual appeal and effectiveness

An objective and comprehensive Audit is the first step in clearly understanding the brand and revealing opportunities for strategic alignment, effective brand messaging, and design consistency. Once completed, the Brand Audit provides a strategic roadmap for brand success.

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Gail Scardapane is a public relations strategist and a brand communications consultant. She served as Head of Brand and VP of Public Relations at Saladworks LLC., a leading franchise company where she was part of the small team instrumental in developing and scaling the brand.

Presently she works with organizations and individual clients to develop and activate integrated communications strategies to achieve business goals. She utilizes her public relations background to position clients as newsmakers, thought leaders, and influencers in their respective fields.

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