"Why has [brand management] become so popular? In an age of increasing product commoditization and choice, the brand is an easy way for people to break through the clutter. It helps them simplify certain choices in their lives." - Brad VanAuken, “Brand Aid”
Brand Audit & Competitive Analysis
In order to develop an authentic brand strategy, Covalent Logic will lead your efforts in gathering, drafting and finalizing an audit of your brand identity and compare it with your competitors. The process is well-developed and defined with a final deliverable in the form of a branded document to share with key stakeholders to create consistent messaging strategy and tactics.
What is a brand audit?
A brand audit provides an analysis of an organization’s brand, its brand management and marketing effectiveness. It assesses a brand’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It identifies brand growth opportunities, including those achieved by brand repositioning and brand extension. The audit should result in recommendations to improve brand equity, brand positioning, brand management and marketing effectiveness.
To assess the status of messaging, voice and personality, Covalent Logic will conduct an internal brand audit of materials, offer an online anonymous survey to all employees and conduct interviews with key stakeholders to form a baseline of current thoughts and opinions. These could include leadership, current employees and longstanding members.
Conducting a brand audit assesses the value of the brand as it stands today, both with internal and external audiences, so we can determine what pivots a brand needs to make going forward. Our audit allows us to assess, catalog and identify successful brand attributes, messaging, color schemes and imagery in order to develop new materials or reduce inconsistency within a company’s image.
Through this process, we also do a competitive analysis to review competitor brands, looking for insights and trends. The competitive analysis helps us identify and assess the visual assets of competitors to develop a strategic visual advantage, which is useful during transitions and new product development.
Typical Brand Audit Deliverables and Activities
Business Plans
Marketing Plans
Brand Positioning Statement
Brand Plans
Creative (or Agency) Briefs
Media Plans
Brand Positioning Research
Brand Asset Studies
Brand Equity Measurement System
Used to gauge awareness, preference, usage, value, accessibility, relevance, differentiation, vitality, emotional connection, loyalty, associations and personality.
Brand Extension Research
Product/Service Concept Testing
Logo Recall and Recognition Testing
Advertising and Promotional Materials
Company Leaders
Official Documents
Internal and External Communications
Marketers
Customer Service Employees
Company Newsletters
Other Employees
Business Partners
Any Client/Customer Points-of-Contact
Salespeople
Customer Service Employees
Frontline Customer Contacts
General Employees
Organization Charts
Department Mission/Vision Statements
Department Objectives
Common Objectives
Recruiting Criteria
Individual Competency Dictionary
Succession Planning Criteria
Planning and Resource Allocation Systems/Processes
Corporate Officers
Marketing Employees
Sales Force
Customer Service Employees
Employee Orientation
Manager Training
Sales Force Training
Website
Intranet Site(s)
Other Online Presence
Competitors’ Press releases, Advertising and Promotions
Industry Analyst Reports
Customer Comments
Business Partner Comments
Marketing Vendor Interviews
Press Kit(s)
Press Releases
Sales Collateral and Materials
Internal Communications
Business Cards and Letterheads
We review these items seeking to understand the answers to key questions that define the alignment between your authentic existence and the positioning you are putting forward.
Brand Advertising
- Do the ads break through the marketplace clutter?
- Do they powerfully communicate the brand’s promise and personality?
- Do they include the differentiating benefits?
- Do they connect with the target consumer on an emotional level?
- Do they tap into the consumers’ beliefs, values, aspirations, hopes or fears?
- Do they include components that are “ownable?”
Organization Design and Internal Brand Building
- Is the company market-driven, or does it have a traditional manufacturing company design?
- Does the company’s culture support the brand’s essence, promise and personality?
- Is the company’s marketing function centralized or distributed?
- Was the brand’s key differentiating benefit based on an analysis of consumer needs, organizational strengths (core competencies) and competitive weaknesses?
- Does the brand own a benefit that is highly differentiated, compelling and believable?
- What are the brand’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?
Brand Identity System and Standards
- How robust is the company’s brand identity system?
- How easy is it for the company’s employees and business partners to use?
- What brand identity controls does the company have in place?
- Is the company’s brand architecture simple and understandable?
- Which of the following brand identity components does the company use in its system: name, logo, icon, tagline, typestyle, colors, shapes, symbols, visual style, mnemonic (sound) device, brand voice, music, animation?
- Does the company have co-branding standards?
- How accurately and consistently have these standards been applied across all internal and external communications?
- Does the brand’s website accurately reflect its architecture?
“A brand audit is a comprehensive examination of a brand’s current position in the market compared to its competitors and a review of its effectiveness.” — Kellogg on Branding
Analysis For Start-Up or Pre-Start-Up
It’s crucial to understand your consumer base from the outset. Market research lets you reduce risks even while your business is still just a gleam in your eye. Another element of conducting a brand audit is learning more about your clientele and audience. Market research blends consumer behavior and economic trends to confirm and improve your business idea.
We can gather demographic information to better understand opportunities and limitations for gaining customers. This could include population data on age, wealth, family, interests or anything else that’s relevant for your business.
Then, we answer the following questions to get a good sense of your market.
- Demand
- Is there a desire for your product or service?
- Market Size
- How many people would be interested in your offering?
- Economic Indicators
- What is the income range and employment rate?
- Location
- Where do your customers live, and where can your business reach?
- Market Saturation
- How many similar options are already available to consumers?
- Pricing
- What do potential customers pay for these alternatives?
FAQs
A brand audit is the first of many steps in your company’s growth and development. So as you would with any form of research, you’ll want to analyze the results of your audit, and discuss the results with your stakeholders. These results provide you with invaluable insights into the minds of your customers. But in order for these insights to make a difference, you have to put them into practice. So focus on a few changes that you can make, and then monitor those changes for new results.
Even the most experienced marketing professionals require real-world data to ensure that their campaigns are working. Brand audits are unique, because they identify what your customers think of you, but they also allow you to see where you stand against competitors in the industry.
Results of a brand audit can be delivered in a number of ways, but at Covalent Logic, we prefer to schedule a meeting to review the findings together. This format allows us the opportunity to answer any questions you have on the data presented. After the meeting, we will provide you with a formal report that can be distributed to different stakeholders for review.
How did you become the best in your industry? It probably has something to do with listening to your customers and capitalizing on real-time opportunities. Without competitor analysis, your brand runs the risk of complacency and fading into the background with customers.
The research tools utilized in a brand audit can be divided into three groups: data analysis tools, feedback tools and competitor analysis. Data analysis tools include digital tracking software, such as Google Analytics and social media platform analytics. Feedback tools focus on gathering customer feedback through interviews, focus groups and surveys, while competitor analysis compares your brand’s performance against others in your industry.