The ‘company brand’ is a valuable asset and yet many companies let their brand languish and become outdated. In current economic times your brand is the key force able to unite your core business activities and re-focus the organisation on the customer. If your brand has lost relevance and is dying a slow death then marketing efforts are not going to be effective regardless of the investment.

When brands become stale and fail to remain adaptable to an ever-changing marketplace, the results can be devastating to the bottom line. If it were any other asset, such as production equipment, the company would be constantly monitoring, upgrading, and maintaining the brand to ensure peak performance at all times. Yet a critical asset such as the company brand frequently gets ignored except as a symbol splashed on packaging or used in marketing materials.

Successful businesses invest and recognise the value of a strong brand. But what exactly is meant by “strong”? A strong brand is often considered to be one that is well recognized. But a brand can be well recognized simply because it has been in existence for many years, however there is no assurance it has remained relevant to customers during this time.

A brand can be thought of as a stage player, when entering the stage (marketplace), the brand is being auditioned by potential customers. If they find it to be outdated, unresponsive to their needs, or even simply boring, customers quickly eliminate the brand from the competition. The brand fails the audition and misses the cut.

A Strong Brand is a Grand Performer

A strong brand is one that performs at high levels consistently, no matter the environment, because they are continually reshaped over time in order to remain relevant. The original company branding concept may have been ideal to get the business up and running, and may have even led to a successful period of growth. At some point the brand may need to be revamped and repositioned to meet current customer needs. A brand stuck in a prior era will never be a grand performer in the current marketplace.

When a company ignores the need to reinvigorate its brand, the negative results can be measured in a number of ways. They include declining sales, high customer turnover, loss of repeat business, failure to attract new customers, a disengaged workforce, increased recruitment costs and eventually lower profits. Brand management requires constant auditioning of the brand to see if it is still performing at its peak, still meeting customer needs, still motivating the company’s staff…still being a grand performer.

A brand audit tests the environments in which the brand performs and checks for versatility and competence. Ensuring your brand delivers outright differentiation and market leadership requires a thorough understanding of current brand perceptions, capabilities and performance inside and outside the company.

Testing the High Notes of Your Brand

Measuring the current health of your company brand requires an internal and external review to evaluate what your brand currently stands for in the minds of your key stakeholders.

During the internal review the brand is assessed in terms of how well it positions the company for success. At this stage of the review the audit focuses on the following:

• Reviewing the linkages between business strategy and brand strategy
• Understanding organisational culture and the level of alignment with the brand strategy

Various tools are used to identify specific data and information, which gauges the health of the internal brand. They include stakeholder discussion groups, management interviews, and the use of an employee survey tools.

External reviews use extensive quantitative and qualitative research to measure the current strength of the brand as a starting point for achieving a stronger brand position within the marketplace. The primary research objective is to understand the current brand perception and positioning and the drivers of customer value. The external review provides the key information needed to develop a competitive brand strategy that will differentiate the company for future success.

A brand audit generates a brand scorecard. This provides an objective evaluation of the internal and external strength of the company brand – the ‘where are we now’ enabling the company to then move forward to develop their optimal brand positioning and strategy.

A Brand Encore

Reviewing the performance of a brand is not something that should be done once, with the brand then left to languish once again. Market conditions change as do customer preferences. Remember, the company brand is an asset and needs ongoing monitoring and management just like any other asset.

The following numerous benefits can result from conducting a brand audit and repositioning your brand.

• Greater understanding of changing market needs
• Ability to develop customer value package
• Increased customer loyalty to brand
• Improved existing customer retention
• Ability to acquire new customers by offering market driven value
• Greater understanding of market perceptions of brand
• Greater understanding of internal employee alignment with the brand.
• Access to relevant internal and external information needed to make logical and productive strategic decisions
• Improved sales and/or profits
• Improved employee morale

Brand audits lead to a greater performing brand. Brand audits are a quality initiative that increases brand awareness and effectiveness, while enhancing the company’s ability to achieve greater business success. A brand audit “auditions” your brand and will have your customers asking for an encore over and over again.