Post No. 51

Why You Need a Brand Audit

Have you ever bought a new piece of furniture, only to realize it made the rest of the room suddenly look outdated? Sometimes you’re better off waiting until you can update the whole room together than to do one piece at a time. The same concept applies to your brand. When you update one piece of your brand in isolation, it can make your entire brand look worse. You’re better off saving to refresh your entire brand at once, than making one-off updates on the fly.

Hardly anyone sets out to make incremental updates to their brand, but somehow it just happens. You throw together a flyer ahead of a last-minute meeting with a prospective client. Another day, you update your email signature on a whim because you saw someone else’s you liked. A little while later, you set up a LinkedIn page for your business because you read somehwere that was important – vowing to circle back around and clean it up later. Before you know it, your brand is all over the place.

An inconsistent brand confuses prospective clients and cheapens their perception of your services.

If you’re having trouble attracting quality clients, an inconsistent or outdated brand may be the problem. But before you jump to the quick conclusion of “I need a new logo” or “I need to overhaul my website,” it is important to understand all of the pieces of your brand and how they fit together. Remember, the furniture example? You don’t want to make the mistake of swapping out the couch and thinking it will make the whole room look better – because it won’t.

What is a Brand Audit?

That is where a brand audit comes in. Don’t worry, it is not as intimidating as it sounds. Before investing in a brand refresh, you’ll just want to create a detailed inventory of all the pieces of your brand. To get you started, here’s a list of the common brand pieces for a typical professional service provider, such as an accountant:

You may have others to add to the list, which is fine. You may even feel pretty good about how some of these things look today, which is also fine. Others may be eyesores you can’t wait to update. You don’t need to worry about any of that at this stage. The goal of a brand audit is simply to get your arms around all the moving pieces of your brand. That way you can update the right pieces in the right order when the time comes. It is key to have a solid plan when refreshing your brand so you don’t confuse your clients in the process.

So what about you? Is it becoming increasingly difficult to attract quality clients who are willing to pay for your services? If so, it may be time for a brand refresh – which starts with a brand audit. If that is you, we’d like to hear from you. We have helped hundreds of small businesses transition from an outdated or ineffective brand, to one they’re proud of that attracts quality clients.

To know for sure if you need a brand refresh, request a free brand audit from our team. Your brand audit will reveal any weaknesses in your brand along with our recommendations to strengthen your brand moving forward. Each brand audit comes with a free 15-minute consultation with Sarah, our Co-Founder & Brand Strategist, to review your report. Our goal is to equip you with actionable next steps so you can take your brand (and your business) to the next level!