60-Minute Brand Strategist: The Essential Brand Book for Marketing Professionals

Chapter 09

Strategic Brand Audit

_______________________

Brand Name

_______________________

Brand Auditor

_______________________

Brand Owner

_______________________

Audit Date

_______________________

Audit Period

What Is a Brand Audit?

A brand audit provides a systematic way of understanding what brands are and what added values they offer, both to the consumer and the company. The following is a simple and highly effective approach that can be used to evaluate the business performance of your brand. The brand audit has three components. The first is the brand inventory, which is a brand-specific situation analysis and a description of all the marketing input. The second is brand exploration, which is a detailed description of the consumer perception of the brand. The third part is analysis. The analysis is a reaction to the first two parts, essentially what can be learned by comparing what management has planned, hoped, and done with what consumers feel, believe, and do. The specifics of a brand audit vary; here a general approach is provided, which can be used to guide you through a do-it-yourself brand audit.

Brand and Category Audit

Marketing managers started doing audits of marketing plans and market conditions soon after the modern-day disciplines were established in the 1950s and 1960s. As the approach to brand strategy and management has evolved, these audits have focused on more detailed measures of brand and category value, sustainability, and brand position risk. ...