Brand audits are a very useful tool for brand strategists or business leaders who want to assess the effectiveness and perception of their brand.

A brand audit is essentially a checkup on the state of a brand. It assesses a brand’s strengths and weaknesses and where it sits in relation to competitors.

As a professional brand builder, knowing the brand audit process can help you uncover opportunities for your own brand or your clients.

This guide explains what a brand audit is, why they’re so important and a step-by-step process of conducting them.

What Is A Brand Audit [+ How It Gets You Clients]

One-click subscribe for video updates

What Is A Brand Audit? 

In reality, you could just as easily replace the word “audit” with “assessment,” “analysis,” or any other word from this semantic field. 

The point is that a brand audit is a concerted effort to step back and get a holistic view of a brand’s performance. 

Its purpose is to find areas for improvement in the brand strategy through a classic SWOT-type analysis. 

Generally speaking, it assesses three categories: 

1. Internal branding — the mission statements, brand values, and company culture 

2. External branding — the logo, advertising and marketing materials, public relations, website, social media accounts, email marketing, and content marketing 

3. Customer experience — the customer journey, sales process, support, and customer service policies 

If asked to do a brand audit, you’ll need to measure performance in these areas in relation to competitor brands.

The critical point of this analysis is to identify areas to possibly steal a march on other brands within the competitive marketplace. 

After a successful brand audit, brand strategists or brand managers will benefit from a comprehensive understanding of all brand elements. They’ll then present these findings in a brand audit report that will recommend new marketing strategies to improve brand performance. 

When To Do A Brand Audit

A brand audit can be a rather large undertaking, but the rewards are there.

A brand audit provides valuable insights for several situations.

In fact, you shouldn’t make any significant brand strategy moves without the audit of any existing brand.

So, when is a brand audit needed?

When considering rebranding or a brand refresh 

If you need proof for a rebrand 

During a rebrand to determine direction 

When expanding into a new market 

When you need to find an angle to differentiate a brand 

When shifting the target audience 

If undergoing a merger or acquisition 

It’s not rocket science. 

And when we break it down to the bare bones, it’s simply about understanding the situation and environment before planning the next moves.

No military strategist would go into a new battle without a comprehensive assessment of the situation from available strengths to competitors’ weaknesses and how to use both to optimal effect.

The analogy works for business brand decisions, too. 

As gatekeepers of the brand, you wouldn’t want to make brand decisions without evidence to help you make well-informed choices. 

That evidence could be used to convince decision-makers to make the adjustments needed whether it’s a simple redesign of the identity or an entire rebrand,

Brand audit insights help you better understand your target audience or new market, or help you see a market gap.