• by Ivy Cohen , Yesterday

Many of us are so immersed in everyday planning and implementation that we may not take the time to assess if our organization’s brand is still relevant. Beyond transactional activity and campaign execution, it is your brandthat drives relationships with customers, employees, partners and shareholders.

Market Shifts that Impact Your Brand

There is so much uncertainty and economic fluctuation in consumer wants and needs. Will your brand hold up?

External factors and industry transformations affect how we market our brands and conduct nearly every aspect of our business. Some of the factors affecting brands today include:

• Technology: AI, all things digital, virtual functionality, enterprise vs DIY platforms, service delivery
• Data: research methodology, real-time and aggregation models via internet, software, cell
• Workplace: employee satisfaction and engagement, hiring and educational requirements, hybrid and virtual work environments, employer branding across business cards, LinkedIn, websites and social media
• Customers: generational preferences, attitudes and behaviors, interest in brand values and purpose, relevance between brand, product/service and customer audience

I caught up with Darcy Flanders at BaselineGroupNY to discuss why companies should audit their brands. Flanders recommends that you review your brand every three years, or more often if there is a big external market, cultural or economic shift that could impact your business. It’s important to ensure that your brand remains forward-looking and relevant.

Caution about AI

AI has both usefulness and drawbacks when it comes to auditing your brand. AI can only provide information based on what already exists in the world, and what competitors have made public -- from limited sources.

Flanders stresses that AI cannot design strategies, write a unique and personal brand story, develop copy and create visuals or ideas that are forward looking and unique. It cannot imagine how your target audience will perceive your brand based on its heritage, their preferences and needs in the present, or what can best position you for the future. AI can take your direction to serve as a thought and creative partner but cannot see what is not already out there.

What’s Involved with a Brand Audit?

Flanders recommends that a brand audit begin with research and discovery to understand your brand positioning, history and objectives. Then, conduct a competitive landscape analysis to understand what competitors are doing and saying that’s different from what your company does. “Is your brand’s unique selling position clear?”

She stresses that, at a minimum, one should learn what is driving key customers to consider you and what the drivers are for them to select your brand. Effective brand strategy will reflect what attracts the best customers, ensuring you are relevant to those with the best profit margins, most frequent return opportunity, and at the lowest cost to deliver for, etc.

The audit is designed to identify gaps and opportunities in both visual brand and messaging presentation, how cohesively the brand is represented across all touchpoints, and whether the messaging is likely to move the target audience to action.

It is crucial to review the full embodiment of your brand, across the visual, emotional and experiential factors. The brand identity and messaging need to bring it to life and become the preferred brand of your target stakeholders: customers, clients, vendors, investors, etc.

The strength of a brand is what makes it different -- and what you deliver to your customers that attracts them. An audit can help you get there.