Your online brand audit. Step 1 of 7 14% From the CEO I’m excited to welcome you to this tool to guide you through conducting a brand audit! Do you know how your brand is performing? If you’re like most professionals, answering this question can be rather difficult. The best way to get a clear answer is by following a process like the one we’ve devised. A brand audit is essentially a checkup that evaluates your brand's position in the marketplace, its strengths and weaknesses, and how to improve it. Your brand is your organization’s most important asset. So, keeping it fine-tuned is critical. While you can certainly choose to hire Remixed to conduct a thorough brand audit on your behalf, we believe it is important to empower you with features like this simple 5-step process, so you can independently get a helpful picture of the health of your brand. Douglas BergerCEO So, let’s get started, shall we? Step One: Understanding Branding What is a Brand? A brand is the way a product, company, or individual is perceived by those who experience it. Your brand is much more than just a name or logo – it is the feelings evoked by viewing your brand assets and interacting with your company. What is Branding? Developing your brand is called branding. Branding is the process of creating a strong, positive perception of a company, its products or services in the customer’s mind by combining such elements as logo, design, mission statement, and a consistent theme throughout all marketing communications. What is your Brand Positioning? Positioning your brand means using the branding process to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers. This is crucial for any business, because of the overall impact it has on your company. Your brand positioning can change how people perceive your brand, and even interact with it. When done well, branding can drive new business by increasing brand awareness, which, in turn, elevates market share and margins. Perfecting your brand positioning requires constant consideration, whether you are just starting your business or have been around for decades. Even the most well known brands regularly take on refreshing their brand. Sometimes this means a total re-brand, that can involve changing the name, visuals, message, goals, and even audiences. Other times it may mean a cosmetic update to ensure your brand is putting its best face forward to maintain market place relevance and connection with your audiences. Your brand positioning will always impact the success of your brand. What is a visual brand? A visual brand is essentially a design system, which may be comprised of your logo, a specific color palette, imagery, and dedicated typefaces. We use these carefully designed components to create a wide array of deliverables and assets:Which ones do you already have? House Style Guide Digital Media Print Collateral Interactive and Web Social Media Promotional Items “It’s impossible to maintain brand integrity without a properly defined and applied visual language.” — Simon Jacobsohn Step Two: Who Are You Right Now What is your Scope & Scale? Define the following in brief terms, as it relates to your brand. History Distinctives Messaging Customer Experience Social Channels Custom Hashtags Region & Reach Do you meet the basic Brand Requirements? Generally establish the following: Have you fulfilled internal brand requirements? This would indicate a messaging platform that aligns your brand story from “who we are” to “who we serve,” in relation to your company’s vision, mission, position, tone, and core values. Do you meet external brand requirements? This is essentially how your brand is presented to the public. Are there inconsistencies in how your logo is applied, what colors you use, your marketing strategies? Does the online experience, out-of-home advertising, and in person experience all align with your internal brand requirements? What is the customer experience? How does your staff present itself to your audiences? What is the environmental aesthetic and tone of your company's physical space?We can help you really dial in on this a little bit later, if you’re having trouble! Who will your Branding Champions be? First, we need to understand your Internal Decision Tree.Depending upon the size of the company, some decision trees are less complicated than others. Ideally, there will be internal input from: HR - Human resources can provide feedback related to culture and employee insight. Marketing - Will provide guidance regarding touchpoints, consistency, and efficacy. Sales - Has knowledge of customer and partner expectations. Communications - Can offer an understanding of existing brand guidelines, and how to elevate and evolve them. Production - Production speaks to specifications of products and services provided, and their intended benefits. Based on the criteria you have now established, you can determine what kind of team you need to carry out the branding or repositioning process. Individual / Internal Consultant Branding Agency Things to consider Pricing Referrals Decision Factors Internal lacks objectivity Consultants are usually niche-based Agencies are often adaptive, and provide valuable insight, expertise and points-of-view for reaching a vast array of audiences. Which route do you think you will choose?Please select oneInternalConsultantAgencyUndecided Step Three: Performing Your Brand Audit What is your Value Proposition? What problem(s) do you solve for your customers?What solutions do you offer that solve these pain-points?What kind of brand connection does that create for your customers?What makes you better than your competitors?The answers to these questions define your value proposition. When we understand your customers and competition, we can identify your competitive advantage and overarching value proposition. Customer Experience The critical keystone to a brand audit is understanding the customer experience in relation to the brand perceptionDefine your target customers Demographics Psychographics Purchasing Habits Solicit Feedback Informal / one-on-one Focus groups Market research Online reviews Evaluate whether your customer feedback matches your intended branding goals. Internal Audit What is employee brand perception like? What are their feelings about the company, both positive and negative? How do your employees communicate your offerings to others? Does your team’s experiences match your brand story? External Audit Conducting an external brand audit means locating and evaluating your brand anywhere and everywhere. This means we need to discover the visual and verbal representations of your brand externally. Partners and Affiliate mentions Press Newspapers Magazines Television Radio Podcasts Blogs Newsletters Professional Associations Conferences & Events Sponsorships Social media Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Twitter TikTok Snapchat Review Platforms Google Yelp Expedia Travelocity GlassDoor Does the story you are seeing match with the story you are wanting to tell? Yes No Maybe I'm not sure Step Four: Reflect Creating the Connection Do you even need to make any changes to your brand? If not, then it’s time to come up with solutions. How can you demonstrate your messaging platform in a way that connects with all of your audiences? Your audits will determine whether this is a comprehensive or partial brand repositioning. Sometimes it’s just a matter of modifying the customer experience. Other times, it’s realizing the overarching goals and objectives of the company have changed, which means the identity may need fine tuning or a brand new representation. Remember, when your internal audience is dialed in, your external audience reflects and projects your brand story, and your customer experience is optimized, you will have a powerful brand.Upon completion of the customer experience, internal and external audits, do the responses align? Yes No Maybe I'm not sure Step Five: Finalize the Process Now that you have completed the initial steps, it is time to unify your internal, external and customer brand experiences. If you're ready to engage with us, just click the "Get Started" button below. CommentsThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
