The Branding Audit – Can You Afford Not To Do It?
Why would your organisation invest in conducting a branding audit?
Because
in today’s marketplace, you probably can’t afford not to. Find out how
a communications audit can return surprisingly positive bottom-line
benefits to your business.
The branding audit – can you afford not to do it?
It
is commonplace for organisations to conduct audits. These are usually
in response to meeting compliance requirements of one sort or another,
as in the areas of finance and OH&S. They are givens and the cost
and time they take is considered a necessary part of carrying on
business. So why would your organisation invest in conducting a
branding audit, which is not demanded by any regulatory body? Because
in today’s marketplace, you probably can’t afford not to.
A
branding audit is designed to track how a company relates to the
environment in which it operates and is a mechanism to help identify
strengths and weaknesses as they relate to external opportunities and
threats. In a nutshell it takes the guesswork out of writing marketing
plans by enabling companies to select a position in an environment
based on known factors.
By conducting a systematic, critical and
unbiased review of the environment and the company’s operations you can
answer the three critical questions of: Where is our company now? Where
do we want to go? And, How do we get there?
Economic climates
change so rapidly these days and to ignore change you run the risk of
falling behind and missing a change in customer trends. By conducting
an annual audit of your branding communications you can keep pace with
change.
An effective branding audit quantifies the efficiency
of your branding and sets a benchmark from which to judge the value of
future efforts. So, even through organisational change or the loss of
key personnel, there is a point of reference to measure against.
The
notion of evaluating communication efforts is a process most organisations conduct intuitively as part of smaller to medium projects. A
systematic, documented and enterprise-wide approach is the intelligent
way to ensure validity and integrity of large-scale projects.
The
benefits are high – cohesion of disparate corporate materials,
coordination of efforts across multi-site or de-centralised
organisations and clearly defined objectives. It’s all about being
proactive and getting your marketing ducks in a row across the
organisation, rather than taking a piecemeal approach so often adopted
by companies in reaction to a crisis such as falling sales.
How
exactly does an audit work? The benefit is that you can set your own
“terms of reference” for a communications audit. It can be as simple or
as comprehensive as your needs (or budget) demand. It can be carried
out entirely by creative agency staff or jointly with your own
personnel.
The core element is an objective examination of all
your organisation’s communications, from brochures right through to
emails and the look of your premises. Materials are reviewed for
consistency and quality, according to a points value system. It’s all
about how your customers and external contacts see you.
An
identical process looks at your competitors’ communications, using the
same criteria. The competitor review can be as widespread as is
appropriate to your market.
Interviews with employees and clients add more depth and highlight areas worthy of attention.
An
independent analysis of the overall audit findings is prepared and
presented in report format. It pinpoints weaknesses and strengths, and
lists recommendations to address these.
The result will always
be more focused objectives, more clearly defined strategies and a basis
for prioritising activities. Whether you choose a one-off audit or lock
into a yearly review, your company will have a much clearer path.
Of
course, not everything an audit turns up is positive. In the same way a
financial audit might uncover an unfavourable tax anomaly or a sales
analysis could demonstrate that the CEO’s nephew is the only one in the
sales department not meeting targets, a branding audit might present
you with some nasty findings. But at least you’ll know what is
happening. The first step in problem-solving is identifying the issues.
While some organisations are comfortable running with the old
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy, when it comes to your
marketing systems you have to ask yourself: How do I know if it’s
broke? Without an audit, you probably won’t … not until it’s too late,
anyway.