C2 Brand Audit
Unit 28: Branding
A brand audit is a formal assessment of a brand’s strengths and weaknesses and position in the market. It aims to identify areas for improvement, aspects that need modernising or refreshing and any gaps in the market that could be exploited. Brand audits may uncover problems that the company is unaware of yet. Elements of a brand audit may include;
Existing marketing strategies, materials and communications.
The customer perception of brand through primary and secondary data.
Comparison with competitors’ brands for similar products.
A SWOT analysis template could be used to organise and present a brand audit.
Existing Marketing Strategies
Internal branding refers to the promotion of brand values to employees of an organisation in an effort to promote a positive workplace environment where all all personnel are aware of and working towards the same brand message. Examples of internal branding include mission statements, internal communications, training, staff events, rewards, brand values and company culture.
External branding refers to all the elements of a brand that are visible to external stakeholders. External branding is aimed at encouraging recognition and gaining the preference of customers. Examples of external branding include the logo, colours schemes, advertising communications, public relations, website, social media accounts, email marketing and content marketing
Customer experience refers to the journey a customer makes in their shopping journey from exposure to the brand, the sales process and customer service policies.
Customer Perceptions (Primary Research)
Customer perceptions of a brand are essential in ensuring they choose one brand over another, remain loyal to a brand and recommend a brand to others. Customer perceptions of a brand are not static and can change due to a range of different factors such as unpopular brand actions, outdated visuals, changing expectations and competitor behaviour.
Primary research refers to first-hand data collected for a specific purpose. Brands can use primary research to ask customers, potential customers and other stakeholders about their brand perceptions directly. This allows them to uncover any issues or changes early so that they can be addressed.
Methods of primary research that can be used to gather information on customer perceptions include; surveys, focus groups, interviews, mystery shoppers and observations.
See here for an example of survey questions.
Customer Perceptions (Secondary Research)
Customer perceptions of brands ultimately influence their behaviours towards them. This includes not just purchases of different brand products but other forms of engagement such as website and social media engagement.
Secondary research is information that already exists as it was collected for different research purpose. It is often quicker and cheaper to collect and many sources can easily be compared. However data may be out of date depending on when the initial research project took place. Secondary research may also not be specific to the requirements of the research project.
Sales and revenue data can provide data on whether the brand and its products are becoming more or less popular through analysing sales trends. Brands can analyse times when consumers buy their products such as time of day or year. This can inform them of any gaps that could be exploited. Sales data can be compared to marketing activities such as changes in sales figures after an advertising campaign.
Website data can identify how people are reaching the webpage which can indicate which promotional methods are most effective. Gathering data on visitors can provide demographic data on the audience and establish whether the target audience is being attracted. The links that visitors click on can highlight which products they are most interested in. The bounce rate provides data on the attractiveness of website content by establishing whether visitors leave after one page or continue onto others. The conversion rate provides data on the overall effectiveness of the brand’s web presence.
Social Media Analytics is the collection and analysis of information provided on social media platforms to create meaning to support branding decisions. Most large brands will have a presence across a range of platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube. Marketers can gather qualitative data by reading comments about posts to determine popular and unpopular products and strategies. They can view ‘followers’, ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ for more quantitative data on which posts are more popular or whether popularity is rising and falling over time or in response to a brand action.
Trends refer to the general directions of tastes, preferences and behaviours in society. Trends can lead to customers becoming more or less in line with brand values without any changes to the brand itself. It is important that brands stay aware of current trends and prepare for future trends to ensure that appropriate changes are made in time to maintain popularity and attempt to achieve first-mover advantage.
Google trends is an easy-to-use platform to explore trending online searches. Brands can check interest in their own brand activity and compare to those of competitors. They can also check general trends to anticipate products and services that may be popular in the future or changes they can make to attract customers to their brand.
Online customer reviews are accounts of customer experiences with the products and services of different brands. There are various platforms online for customers to share their experiences such as Google Maps, Amazon and Trust Pilot. Reviews contain easy-to-analyse quantitative data in the form of stars and qualitative data in the form of written accounts. Reviews are a form of word-of-mouth and can have a powerful impact on brand image.
Read more about secondary research methods here.
Comparisons with Competitors
A competitive analysis is a study of any rival brand that offers the same or similar products to consumers by exploring their strengths and weaknesses in order to establish opportunities for brand development.
A competitor analysis may involve establishing the touchpoints of each brand and researching their strengths and weaknesses of them. This may involve including competitors in primary and secondary research. Aims of competitor analysis are to establish industry benchmarks. establish market leaders and unpick reasons why and find any gaps that can be exploited.
