How to Do a Brand Audit: An Executive’s Guide

If you’re reading this, you probably know how valuable the brand audit process can be. But knowing you need an audit is one thing—how to do it is another story.

Maybe you’ve been putting off your brand audit because it feels overwhelming. Don’t worry. This post will simplify the process.

We’ll show you how to do a brand audit, from assessing your messaging to analyzing competitors. By the end, you’ll know how to uncover insights that will strengthen your brand and position it for success.

Why is a brand audit important?

An audit is an assessment of a company’s brand strategy and competitive landscape. As a business grows, it can drift off course, losing sight of its original mission. An audit can help get the organization back on track, improve brand alignment, and optimize ROI.

Signs your brand needs an audit

Business leaders should consider conducting a brand audit when they notice certain signs.

Here are some examples:

• Sales are going down or staying flat.

• Customers aren’t as excited about the brand as they once were.

• An influx of new competitors enter the market.

• The company’s goals have changed.

Regular brand audits keep your company relevant, even if everything appears to be in order. They act as a health check and can help business leaders isolate minor problems before they become major issues.

How to do a brand audit: Process overview

For the process to be a success, it’s best to use a detailed brand audit framework. The primary components are:

• Structure: to ensure you don’t miss important aspects during analysis.

• Consistency: maintains audit integrity across different time periods and when comparing various products or services.

• Objectivity: reduces bias.

• Efficiency streamlines the process to conserve time and resources.

• Comparability: enables easier benchmarking against competitors.

Conduct a successful brand audit in nine steps

Here are the most common steps in a thorough brand audit process:

1. Develop a plan of action for the recommendations.

2. Define audit goals that align with strategic objectives.

3. List key aspects of your brand to review (e.g., brand identity, current position, and perception).

4. Develop evaluation criteria.

5. Choose research methods (i.e., surveys, interviews, and analytics).

6. Set a timeline.

7. Assign responsibilities.

8. Create reporting templates to standardize data collection and analysis.

9. Establish benchmarks.

Creating brand audit goals

Before you begin your audit, you must define goals. We recommend assigning a project leader to oversee the audit and spearhead communication. This person should have experience managing teams, timelines, and data.

The project leader should meet with teams to determine the most pressing issues. Team feedback will guide the project leaders in developing the audit framework.

Here are some questions you can use to hold these discussions:

• What is the company’s primary growth obstacle?

• What are the brand’s strengths and weaknesses?

• How do competitors outperform us?

• Do customers see how we are unique? If not, how can we differentiate?

• How does each department assess brand performance?

Questions like these help you set goals. Once you’ve set them, it’s easier to decide which areas to analyze. You can also use goals to set key performance indicators to measure the results.

Examples of brand audit KPIs

Here are some data sources you might use to set KPIs:

• Social media analytics include likes, shares, and comments on social media posts. These KPIs reveal engagement levels and can be used to increase brand awareness.

• Website analytics include traffic sources, page bounce rates, and user behavior. Web analytics can measure online visibility and customer experience quality.

• Brand value is the perceived worth of the brand itself in the minds of consumers. The additional premium customers will pay for your products is an indicator of a brand’s value.

• Customer satisfaction scores can be used to assess your brand reputation and customer service quality.

Internal vs. external auditing processes distinctions

There are two principal components in brand development: internal and external branding. The audit should include a review of both.

Internal branding

The internal brand refers to how a brand perceives itself and communicates with the public. The company culture, unique selling proposition, and core values are examples.

The internal brand also affects productivity and morale. Organizations with a strong internal brand are better at attracting in-demand talent. This gives them an advantage over competitors with higher turnover.

When assessing internal brand alignment, companies should consider whether the brand’s strategy and activations (i.e., marketing and interactive events, etc.) support its vision and purpose.

Employee insights in brand audits

To get a clear picture of internal brand alignment, companies can conduct employee surveys. Employees often share insights that may not be obvious to leadership.

Businesses that include employees in the audit process usually get more accurate results. Employee participation can also build a sense of ownership in the organization.

To find out how they feel about the brand, you can ask them questions like:

• How would you explain the company’s brand promise?

• What is the most significant value that the company offers its customers?

• Can you explain the company’s unique value proposition?

• How does your role impact the company’s future?

External branding

The external brand is the public-facing side of the company that reflects market perception. The broader market includes customers and competitors.

Here are some examples of external brand elements:

• The logo

• Website

• Social media presence

• Customer service

• Advertising campaigns

When businesses align the internal and external brands, it will be easier for them to build trust with the target audience and strengthen their market position.s align.

Evaluate brand sentiment

It’s simple: A positive reputation attracts customers, and a negative one pushes them away.

Customer sentiment analysis gauges brand reputation. Is it positive, neutral, or negative? To find out, you can check:

• Social data: Do you receive positive or negative comments on social media? Does your company respond promptly and professionally to complaints and praise alike?

• Search engines: Look online for news articles, blog posts, and other content related to your brand. Do these paint a positive or negative picture of the business?

• Review sites: Read reviews on Google, Yelp, or Trustpilot. Is the average rating on each platform higher than 4.5 stars?

Customer feedback is critical to a company’s reputation and influences brand equity.

Target market analysis

Companies must focus on the most profitable customers to get sustainable growth. Otherwise, customer acquisition costs will be too high, and conversions will be low.

Perform a customer segmentation analysis. Have you defined clear audience segments that go beyond basic demographics? In our experience, too many companies target a broad audience. As a result, their marketing messages and offers aren’t as effective as they could be.

Include a profitability analysis of each target customer segment. The goal is to determine whether you’re currently targeting the best audience. If not, it’s time to adjust your buyer personas.

Evaluate customer profitability

• How strong is the demand for your product?

• Consider the factors that influence consumers’ decisions to buy (i.e., cost-consciousness, desire for status).

• Evaluate each segment’s ability to pay (i.e., can they afford your product?).

A word of caution. Segments that generate high revenue are not always the most profitable if the cost to get them is also high. Revenue-based metrics, like the ones listed below, can help you determine profit potential:

• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

• Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)

• Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

Competitor analysis

The competition affects everything an organization does. So, it pays to know your brand’s strengths and weaknesses compared to rivals.

To perform a brand audit, you’ll need to identify your direct and indirect competitors.

Direct competitors have similar offers and target the same customers. They are the primary influencers of your product development, sales processes, and marketing strategy. Indirect competitors offer a replacement or alternative product to your own.

Choose three to five direct competitors for analysis. Fewer than three may not provide enough information. Over five can complicate this step.

Explore your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses

Some of the best insights we have uncovered during brand audits have come from studying clients’ competitors. In this step, assess your competitors’:

• Online reputations. Read reviews, customer ratings, and social media comments. You’ll learn how consumers feel about them, what they like, and what they don’t.

• Visual identities. This includes the logo, tagline, colors, value proposition, and brand messaging to gauge uniqueness and individuality.

• Offers. Note their product features, pricing, and benefit claims. This information helps you understand how they position themselves and who they target.

• Marketing strategies. Look at all avenues to understand how they connect with audiences. Study websites, advertising campaigns, content marketing, social media profiles, and other marketing channels.

The customer experience

The customer experience (CX) represents all the public’s interactions with a business. CX begins with awareness and never ends. It includes website visits, sales presentations, buying a product, and customer service.

For example, consider a customer who purchases a product from your online store. This person would have to use your website to learn about products and buy them using the checkout page.

Once they buy, they should receive the product on time and as promised. At some point, they may have to contact customer support to get help. All these interactions work together to build a relationship with them.

Many companies track customer satisfaction. Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a popular way to measure customer loyalty, usually based on a scale of one (worst) to ten (excellent). The higher the NPS score, the more likely people are to recommend the brand to others.

Review customer service policies to keep them in sync with your marketing and sales processes. This will prevent your company from making promises you can’t keep.

Consistency is the foundation of a positive customer experience. It’s tough to get a customer, and you can’t afford to lose them once you do. Approximately 73% of customers said they would switch to a competitor after one poor experience with a brand.

Analyze web analytics data

Web analytics tell a story. By reviewing them, you’ll find out what customers are looking for, the content they engage with most, and where they drop off.

To review web analytics, you’ll need access to your Google Analytics account and a tool like SEMRush or Ahrefs:

1. Focus on key metrics: Look at important numbers like website traffic, bounce rates, time on site, and conversion rates. These tell you how well your site is performing.

2. Identify traffic sources: Check where your visitors are coming from—search engines, social media, or direct visits—to find out which channels are most effective.

3. Study user behavior: Behavior tells you how visitors navigate your site. Look at popular pages, common exit points, and the paths users take to identify what content converts and where you’re losing potential customers.

4. Compare analytics to goals: Are you meeting your objectives for online engagement and conversions?

5. Look for trends: Look for patterns within the data. Are certain pages gaining or losing popularity? Is your traffic growing or shrinking?

6. Segment your audience: Break down data by user groups (e.g., new vs. returning visitors, mobile vs. desktop users) to learn about the different audience segments that visit your website.

7. Check technical performance: Review page load times and mobile responsiveness. Poor technical performance and slow load times can harm your brand image and user experience.

Review sales performance data

Analyzing sales data as part of your brand audit is an opportunity to increase sales qualified leads (SQL).

1. Analyze trends: Look at total sales volume and revenue to find patterns, seasonal fluctuations, and long-term growth or decline.

2. Break down by product/service: Identify top-performing offers and underperformers. This can reveal strengths and weaknesses in your product line.

3. Segment by customer groups: Analyze sales data across different customer segments (e.g., demographics, location, purchase frequency) to learn more about your target audience.

4. Evaluate sales channels: Compare performance across different sales channels (e.g., online, in-store, and partners) to learn which channels work best for your brand.

5. Assess pricing strategy: Different price points affect sales volume and overall revenue. Do you notice any buying patterns? This can inform future pricing decisions.

6. Compare to competitors: If possible, benchmark your sales performance against industry standards or key competitors.

7. Examine conversion rates: Look at the ratio of leads to actual sales. Low conversion rates might reveal issues with your sales process or brand messaging.

8. Review customer retention: Track repeat purchase rates and customer lifetime value. Strong retention is a sign of a healthy brand.

9. Check profitability: Don’t just focus on revenue. Study profit margins across products and services to ensure your sales are contributing to overall business health.

Assess social media metrics

Social media metrics show you how your audience interacts with your brand.

1. Check conversion rates: How does engagement turn into website visits, leads, or sales?

2. Track follower growth: Consistent growth over time is a sign of brand strength.

3. Engagement rates: Pay attention to likes, comments, shares, and clicks. High engagement means your audience likes your content.

4. Check reach and impressions: These metrics show your content’s reach and how often people see it.

5. Evaluate sentiment: Are people talking about your brand in a positive, neutral, or negative light? This gives you a snapshot of public perception.

6. Measure click-through rates: For posts with links, track how many people click to your website or landing page.

7. Review content performance: See which types of posts—videos, images, or text—perform the best on each platform. The findings can guide your content strategy.

8. Check response times: How quickly does your team reply to comments and messages? Quick responses help boost customer satisfaction and build trust.

9. Compare platform performance: Not all social channels are equal. Identify which ones deliver the most value for your brand.

10. Benchmark against competitors: Compare your metrics to competitors to understand what they’re doing well and how you can improve.

The marketing strategy audit

The marketing plan can consume a significant part of a company’s budget. For this reason, we recommend assessing how each marketing asset impacts ROI.

Review marketing materials

Your marketing collateral is a customer resource that teaches them about your product or service and encourages them to buy. Every asset needs consistency to be effective. Otherwise, you may confuse potential buyers.

Examples of marketing assets are:

• Brand style guide

• Email campaigns

• Brochures

• Blog posts

• Videos

• Websites

• Social media channels

• Paid advertising campaigns

• Business cards

Check your marketing materials for conflicting messages, design flaws, and professional quality. This includes online and offline marketing assets.

Here are some other factors to consider:

• Content quality: Is the copy engaging, informative, and persuasive? Is it full of industry jargon that may confuse people? Does it help establish your authority?

• Audience relevance: Does the content address customer needs and pain points?

• Calls to action (CTA): Are they compelling enough to encourage people to take action? Would the CTA get your attention?

• Conversion rate: Are marketing campaigns converting potential customers into actual buyers? Can you do anything to increase the conversion rate?

Measuring brand audit effectiveness

Congratulations. You’ve completed your brand audit. Now it’s time to create an action plan based on the audit data.

Data interpretation is an art and a science. The auditor must pay attention to detail and sift through the numbers to uncover the most valuable information.

To interpret the data:

Spot trends

Look for recurring themes or patterns in your data. For instance, customer reviews praise one of your product’s features but criticizes its UI.

Identify anomalies

Watch for data points that deviate from the norm. These could signal potential problems or opportunities. For example, if you see a sudden increase in website visitors after a marketing campaign, test it again to make sure it isn’t an anomaly.

Correlate data

Look for relationships between unique sets of data. Perhaps regions with higher advertising spend have greater brand awareness and sales. This correlation might justify increasing the marketing budget.

Benchmarking against competitors

Compare your data with industry standards or competitor performance. If your competitors have better social media engagement, it’s time to adjust your strategy.

The brand audit report (with an example)

The final report includes all the details from the audit and summarizes the findings. It also provides actionable recommendations to help leadership develop an improvement plan.

Like chapters in a book, each section of the final report should support and flow into the next.

Are you ready to transform your company with a successful brand audit?

Today’s marketplace is highly competitive. Businesses need all the help they can gain a competitive advantage. A brand audit can give you the insights you need to build strong market positioning and increase profit.

Don’t let your organization’s potential remain untapped. Take decisive action now:

1. Schedule an audit within the next 30 days.

2. Assign a project lead to oversee the process.

3. Set clear, measurable objectives for the audit.

4. Make changes based on audit findings within 60 days of completion.

5. Establish a regular audit schedule to maintain brand health.

Start your company’s transformation today. Your market position tomorrow depends on the actions you take now.