BRAND AUDITS: KEY FOR CONSISTENCY AND INTEGRATON

By Nick Wreden

How effective are your branding activities? Internal, external and communications brand audits can both help determine how effective your branding activities have been and, more importantly, what they need to accomplish in the future.

Brand audits have multiple advantages. They provide a benchmark to evaluate the current brand position. Brand audits should be held every 1-2 years to evaluate progress toward branding goals. They also unify an organization. Too often, everyone has a different definition of branding. A brand audit can provide a consistent, universally accepted definition that ensures that everyone is marching to the beat of the same branding drum. Finally, a brand audit can help eliminate the all-too-common disconnect between what companies believe their brand to be and what customers perceive it to be.

An internal brand audit takes the brand temperature from corporate executives and other personnel. One-on-one confidential interviews probe to determine each individual's perceptions of the brand, branding goals, evaluation of past branding activities, knowledge of key corporate or brand messages and other key points. What are the current branding and customer processes, and how can they be improved? One great question to ask is: "Imagine it is five years from now, and the company is celebrating historic financial and market success. How did the company arrive at this point? What are some of the activities that brought us to such success?"

The interview also seeks to uncover what contributions the executive or department are contributing to the brand. Is relevant data being added to corporate databases? Is customer information shared with other areas of the company? What initiatives are on the horizon that will affect the brand?

A minimum of 20 minutes is required for each interview, but they can take up to an hour. Questions can be prepared beforehand, but the most valuable insights often result from free-ranging discussions on relevant topics.

Related to an internal brand audit is a communications audit, which is especially useful for larger firms with multiple divisions or departments that get involved in branding activities. A communications audit looks at all the material that represents a brand - press releases, ads, brochures, Web site, logos, etc. Analysis then determines the amount of consistency and integration in appearance/design, messages and adherence to corporate standards. Ideally, a brand manual is in place to provide a benchmark.

Internal brand and communications audits often reveal a stunning amount of discrepancy that results in mixed messages, incompatible branding efforts or even disagreement about branding goals.

An external brand audit looks at how various stakeholders (or, more accurately, constituencies) view the brand. Such constituencies include customers, prospects, media, distributors/retailers, regulatory bodies and suppliers. Sometimes, an external brand audit is combined with a loss analysis to determine why a contract or other business went to a competitor. These constituencies are asked their perceptions and experiences with the brand. Sample questions can include: "Why did you buy the first time?" "Why will you buy again?" "How useful and relevant are corporate communications?" "How responsive is our support?" "How do our competitors compare to us?" One revealing question is: "If you were running our company, what would you do to better meet your requirements?"

The number involved in brand audits can vary greatly according to time, cost or other constraints. Even as few as 5-10 interviews can produce insights. The people involved in brand audits must have an excellent knowledge of branding imperatives, be familiar with the relevant products and company and have superb questioning, listening and analytical skills. The output is generally a report and/or presentation.

Results of brand audits must not only be shared as widely as possible but also incorporated into internal and external branding efforts, including employee communications, advertising and PR. It is especially important to use the results to drive changes in sales, service, support and other customer-facing activities. Finally, remember to use brand audits as guidelines for improvement, not as a stick for punishment.

Contact Nick at nick@fusionbrand.com