HOW TO CONDUCT A BRAND AUDIT

Your Business MOT

(That Will Help You Get Back On The

Right Marketing Track…)

By Claire Nield
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Acknowledgements & Forward
This is a no-nonsense, practical guide to help you analyse where
you are at the moment with your business and your marketing
plans.

It is therefore probably not appropriate to thank my mum and

dad, husband Marc and “love of my life” son Will for all their
support as this is not likely to enter a book prize….however I would
like to acknowledge all the many entrepreneurial heroes who
have helped me test this methodology on their businesses.

It’s simple really. Find out where you are now and then get a plan
together to go where you want to be. With magnificent branding
and a step by step plan of how to communicate, you can’t go far
wrong.

So this guide is dedicated to anyone who is on a brand building

journey. It’s a fun ride.

These “brand audit” principles were developed while studying for

my Masters in Marketing then applied when I managed the Lotus
Thirst Pockets brand of kitchen roll for Georgia Pacific GB and also
while managing their Disney range of paper products.

I then tested them on the Vimto brand while managing their

marketing for the UK. Since then I have used these audit principles
to help small and medium sized businesses. Whether huge or small,
every business can benefit from figuring out where they are
now….and where they want to be next. I hope you find this a
useful tool for your business too.

Onwards!
Claire x

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CONTENT

1. How to use this book

2. Introduction
3. Market performance overview
4. Size and growth of market
5. Growth or decline?
6. New market opportunities
7. Competitor strategy
8. Brand SWOT
9. Sales performance
10. Percent of business by product or service
11. Share of trade/ key customer profile
12. Consumer diagnostics
13. Marketing and advertising
14. Brand identity
15. Product/ packaging quality
16. Promotions and discounts
17. Pricing
18. Product
19. Segmentation
20. Targeting
21. Positioning and perceptions
22. Key brand issues/ summary

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HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE
The biggest thing I learned once I had got my Masters in
Marketing and Chartered Institute of Marketing Post
Graduate Diploma was that actually….all the theory in
the world counts for nothing in the face of common
sense.

I aim to simplify marketing for business owners but that

does not mean you don’t need to do a bit of leg work. By
going through this brand audit stage by stage, it will
uncover the obvious marketing opportunities and threats
that are under your nose. Take some time out from doing-
the-do and think about where your business currently is
and where it is heading. I promise it will be time well spent.

There may be sections that are more relevant than others

but commit to finding the answers to these questions and
as a reward, a smarter, more focused marketing plan will
develop.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we shall begin!

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HOW TO CONDUCT A BRAND AUDIT
– INTRODUCTION
First of all, what is a “Brand Audit”? Well think of it like a
car MOT. You should check that everything is still working
correctly at least once a year & your marketing plan is
exactly the same. If you ever need to check on the state
of your business finances, you conduct a financial audit or
review. If you need to check of the state of your business
and marketing strategy, you need a brand audit.

In simple terms, it is a list of poignant questions that you

need to go away and research at regular intervals to
check your business is on track. It opens up your thinking
to the bigger picture and ensures you know where you
are going. You started out in business (hopefully!) with a
business plan & the brand audit is a way to continually
review things as your business progresses.

The benefits of putting aside a little time to conduct a

brand audit are immense. It can be used to keep all your
staff and stakeholders up to date. It can be used as the
starting point to decide on how much to invest in
marketing and which new products and services you
should be looking to introduce.

Big brands conduct a brand audit at least once a year. It

takes a bit of time to complete but it really is the
fundamental building stone of a marketing strategy that is
meaningful & robust rather than based on a whim &
moving with the tide. Without further to do – what do you
need to do?

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MARKET PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW
This is the section where you need to think about the big
picture. What is going on in your market? What is driving
the sector? Has the economy changed? The Market
Performance section of a brand audit begins with the
market overview below:

SIZE & GROWTH OF MARKET

Take a moment to look at the macro environment in
which you operate. Successful brands are constantly
evolving. This section allows long term brand planning
towards lucrative markets so you are one step ahead.
Review the markets in which your brand operates by
answering the following questions:

Identify only those changes which are likely to affect your

brands, business, purchasers and consumers in the short,
medium and long term. These should be divided into the
following categories. It may require further research eg.
What are the legislation changes expected in your
market? By breaking down the macro environment in this
way it allows you to form a to-do list of what information
you need to go away and find out to answer the
pertinent questions.

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Now for your answers:

Political (What political short, medium and long term

issues may have an impact on your brand. Eg. Change to
legislation on holding data etc)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Economic (What economic short, medium and long term

issues may have an impact on your brand. Eg. if the
economy improves in 12 months, what do you need to
have in place to take advantage etc )

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Technological (What technological short, medium and

long term issues may effect your brand. Eg. The trend
towards paperless offices)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

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Social (What social short, medium and long term issues
may have an impact on your brand. Eg. Consumer
acceptance of online versus paper surveys)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

GROWTH OR DECLINE?
Is the market in which you operate in growth or in
decline? How do you know this or how can you find out if
you don’t already know? This is a critical question if you
want to be paddling with the tide rather than against it.
When markets are in decline, it offers short term
opportunities for the businesses that remain but in general,
a strong marketing plan relies on paddling with rather
than against the tide so this question is pertinent. This also
needs to be broken down into the sections of your
business to highlight which areas may become more
important in the future.

Answer:

NEW MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Which markets are emerging?

Can you launch or extend your brand into new markets?

Should you be developing new products within other

markets?
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Simply by taking the time to list and prioritise the
opportunities that you are already aware of can have a
dramatic effect at crystallising your marketing plan so
take the time to answer this question.

Answer:

COMPETITOR STRATEGY
This is your opportunity to review the activity of each of
your competitor brands or manufacturers for the prior
year. Summarise their share, distribution and spend if at all
possible. It is important to focus more on your consumers
than competitors but a regular check up on what they
are doing will allow you to see what else your customers
are being offered. Mystery shopping could be a new
action for the to-do list!

Questions to ask about each key competitor are:

What new products/services have they launched?

What marketing activity have they done?

What promotions have they run with which accounts?

What does this tell you about their strategy?

Estimate the likely impact on your brand if they became

more successful. Is there anything you can do/should be
doing to counter this?

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Competitor number 1 review:

Competitor number 2 review:

Competitor number 3 review:

BRAND SWOT
Here is your chance to summarise the key learning’s from
the above information. You may wish to break this down
by category of products and services you offer too if you
have the time.

STRENGTHS OPPORTUNITIES
Of your brand vs the That exist within the market
competition for your brand

WEAKNESSES THREATS
Of your brand vs the That exist within the market
competition for your brand

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SALES PERFORMANCE
A summary of your historical sales performance is a critical
part of a brand audit to show what worked well and what
did not previously. Breaking down this information in
different ways will help highlight where the key gaps and
key opportunities are.

PERCENT OF BUSINESS BY PRODUCT

OR SERVICE
Year Ending X to Y

Product or Service Volume Revenue GM

1 EG. 80% 87% 95%

2 20% 13% 5%

SHARE OF TRADE/ KEY CUSTOMER

PROFILE
Year Ending X to Y

Customer Volume Revenue GM

1 % % %

2 % % %

3 % % %

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DISTRIBUTION/ ROUTE TO MARKET
Year Ending X to Y

Route to market Volume Revenue GM

1 (Eg online etc) % % %

2 % % %

3 % % %

CONSUMER DIAGNOSTICS
This is your chance to review what people think of the
service or products you offer.

Are they happy? How do you know this?

How many complaints have you received over the last

year?

How many referrals?

What is the percentage of new versus repeat customers

you have?

What is the average spend per customer?

Can you rank your customers in order of importance both

from a revenue and a profit perspective? If not, make
plans to record this data in the future.

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MARKETING & ADVERTISING
What have you done in the last 12 months? What worked
well and what did not? How do you know?

BRAND IDENTITY
Are you happy with the identity of your brand?

Is it clear?

Is it consistent?

Do you need to invest in refreshing your corporate

image?

What bits of your branding are inconsistent or could do

with some attention?

PRODUCT/PACKAGING QUALITY
If you have a product, could your packaging or product
be improved? If you are in the service industry, are your
“products” clear to understand?

Answer:

PROMOTIONS & DISCOUNTS

What promotions and discounts have you run in the
previous 12 months and what was the effect? If you have
not recorded the results effectively this is an opportunity
to decide what information you need to record in the
future.

Answer:
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PRICING
What do you charge for what product or service? Is it
clear? Is it simple to calculate and how does it stack up
against your competitors? Pricing alone is an intrinsic part
of your marketing mix that you simply have to get right.

Year Ending X to Y

Product or RRP Cost Gross Margin

Package
1 Product X £ £ £

2 £ £ £

3 £ £ £

PRODUCT
Here is your chance to review your product range. Are
you doing too many things? Is there a chance for
increasing your NPD (new product development) Are you
busy chasing loss making products and services? When
dealing with a complicated portfolio of products or
services, a simple 80/20 rule can have an alarmingly clear
effect to your future strategy!

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 Year Ending X to Y

Product Volume Revenue GM

SEGMENTATION
Segmentation is how you decide to chop up your market.
This is your opportunity to review how you chop up your
market and to decide if it is still the most practical way of
doing so. Would it be better to segment your market by
geography? By industry sector? By size of business etc?

How do you do it now?

What alternatives could you consider?

TARGETING
This is your chance to review how you have been
targeting your customers. Has it been scattergun? Based
on referrals, based on cold calling? Who is your ideal
customer? If you take the time to answer this, it will
become easier to target them.
Answer:

POSITIONING AND PERCEPTIONS

What does your target market think of you? Do they know
you exist? Have you the guts to go forward and ask them!
How your business is perceived is critical & not necessarily
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how you think you are seen. Take a little time to
objectively think how your image is perceived and which
areas could do with some attention in the year ahead.

Answer:

KEY BRAND ISSUES - SUMMARY

Traditionally, a brand audit concludes with an executive
summary. This is for you to summarise the key findings so
that you or anyone else who is involved gets the big
picture quickly. For obvious reasons, these 5 - 10 bullet
points will be completed last and focus just on the big
issues.

Is your market in decline? What are the biggest

opportunities for you, what are the biggest threats etc. Fill
in your executive summary here after re-reading the
answers to your questions above & don’t avoid the issues
you know are looming in the future:

Key point 1 that needs to be addressed:

Key Point 2:

Key Point 3:

Key Point 4:

Key Point 5:

I hope you have found this guide of use and it helps you
to analyse how your brand is doing and what steps you

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need to focus on next. If you need help with figuring out
where you are now, with your branding, marketing
communication or strategy, feel free to give Coo
Marketing a shout. www.coomarketing.co.uk

Coo Marketing help businesses who want to get to grips

with their marketing and present themselves in the best
light.

Until we meet, best of luck. Claire x

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