In my Brand Building Entrepreneur Facebook community last week I did a live training on this very topic and I thought it would be helpful to follow up with a blog post so you could have the handy list to reference when considering all the consumer touch points when doing your own brand audit.

HOW TO AUDIT YOUR BRAND

First, make a list of every single touch point your audience sees or interacts with on the daily…it’s probably more things than you’re even thinking!  Here’s a checklist to get you started - add or subtract so it’s relevant to your business:

__ Email Signature (emails coming directly from you)

__ Email Marketing (from your CRM)

__ Contracts

__ Invoices

__ Proposals

__ Media Kit

__ Website (every page including Blog if you have one)

__ Instagram

__ Facebook (business page, personal page, group)

__ Pinterest

__ Twitter

__ TikTok

__ LinkedIn (personal profile, company page)

__ Clubhouse

__ YouTube

__ Podcast

__ Free Resources 

Now, consider every single consumer touch point and check to see if these 5 things are true for your brand:

01: One Voice 

Does your brand sound like, look like and feel like the SAME brand?  Are you using one voice (think tone, personality and messaging) across all your platforms?  Finally, ask yourself if that voice is being clear?  Is your brand message easy for your audience to understand?

02: Universal Positioning

Do you have multi-platform universal positioning?  In other words, are you clearly telling your audience what you do, what you offer and who you serve consistently and clearly so they immediately identify with your product/service and know it’s for them no matter how they come into your brand’s universe?

03: Purposeful & Aligned Content

Check out the original content you’re putting out across your channels on a regular basis.  Does your content have a purpose?  Are you staying aligned with your brand strategy - - - meaning, does your content help fulfill your mission?  Get you closer to realizing your brand vision?  Or stay in step with the core values you set in place for your business?  We don’t want to push content just to push content…we want to be purposeful and align our content with our brand strategy so that it resonates with our ideal audience.

04: Visual Consistency

Are you using your color palette and hex codes consistently?  Are you sticking with your fonts and not changing them up across different platforms to suit your mood or because you saw that someone else has a cool font and you want to try it?  Are you adhering to your own brand style guide parameters for how and where you use your logos?

The point of this is to take a look at and audit whether or not you’re creating a cohesive look and feel for your brand consistently so your audience is able to easily recognize when something is being released or shared by you.

When you look at your website vs your social media channels vs a free guide you may release…do they all look like they come from the same brand?

If not, this audit will make it clear where you have room to improve and elevate.

05: Branded Experience

One thing I always look for in a brand audit is the overall experience you say you want to deliver vs what the actual experience is for your audience.  Are you providing the experience aligned with your brand promise, or are there areas where you’re not doing this as well as you could?  Remember, whatever you’re providing, your audience is receiving and that forms a brand perception and set of expectations in their mind.

Your brand strategy defines the experience you want to provide, including the positive brand perception you want to shape.

An easy way to think about this is looking at your Key Brand Words.  If you’ve decided you want your brand to be known for being: Unexpected, Supportive and Fun…

…then the question to ask yourself is - are you showing up that way?

When’s the last time you did something unexpected for your audience?

Are you seen as being supportive?

Do you show up and bring the fun in everything you do?

And, if you don’t have Key Brand Words yet, now’s the time to define those, too.  They can help you stay on brand and aligned with what you want to be known for and can help you create content that resonates.

AFTER THE BRAND AUDIT

If you’ve taken yourself through this brand audit and it’s pointed out some areas of your business where you know you want to upgrade or refine your brand, that’s great!  The audit has done its job.  It’s there to help you stay on track and show up as the brand you want to be for the audience you’re serving.

This process may also have shown you that you actually need to go back and do the work to define your foundational brand strategy - things like your key brand words, overall positioning towards your ideal clients, mission, vision, values, inspiring taglines, hooks, messaging and more.  If that’s the case, you might like to check out my BRANDPOLISH ACADEMY.   It’s my group program to help you build a clear and cohesive brand to attract dream clients and grow a business you absolutely love.

You can get on the waitlist to be first in line for BRANDPOLISH ACADEMY when the doors open again soon!