HOW TO CONDUCT A BRAND AUDIT. (That Will Help You Get Back On The Right Marketing Track )

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1 HOW TO CONDUCT A BRAND AUDIT Your Business MOT (That Will Help You Get Back On The Right Marketing Track ) By Claire Nield 1

2 Acknowledgements & Forward This is a no-nonsense, practical guide to help you analyse where you are at the moment with your business and your marketing plans. It is therefore probably not appropriate to thank my mum and dad, husband Marc and love of my life son Will for all their support as this is not likely to enter a book prize.however I would like to acknowledge all the many entrepreneurial heroes who have helped me test this methodology on their businesses. It s simple really. Find out where you are now and then get a plan together to go where you want to be. With magnificent branding and a step by step plan of how to communicate, you can t go far wrong. So this guide is dedicated to anyone who is on a brand building journey. It s a fun ride. These brand audit principles were developed while studying for my Masters in Marketing then applied when I managed the Lotus Thirst Pockets brand of kitchen roll for Georgia Pacific GB and also while managing their Disney range of paper products. I then tested them on the Vimto brand while managing their marketing for the UK. Since then I have used these audit principles to help small and medium sized businesses. Whether huge or small, every business can benefit from figuring out where they are now.and where they want to be next. I hope you find this a useful tool for your business too. Onwards! Claire x 2

3 CONTENT 1. How to use this book 2. Introduction 3. Market performance overview 4. Size and growth of market 5. Growth or decline? 6. New market opportunities 7. Competitor strategy 8. Brand SWOT 9. Sales performance 10. Percent of business by product or service 11. Share of trade/ key customer profile 12. Consumer diagnostics 13. Marketing and advertising 14. Brand identity 15. Product/ packaging quality 16. Promotions and discounts 17. Pricing 18. Product 19. Segmentation 20. Targeting 21. Positioning and perceptions 22. Key brand issues/ summary 3

4 HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE The biggest thing I learned once I had got my Masters in Marketing and Chartered Institute of Marketing Post Graduate Diploma was that actually.all the theory in the world counts for nothing in the face of common sense. I aim to simplify marketing for business owners but that does not mean you don t need to do a bit of leg work. By going through this brand audit stage by stage, it will uncover the obvious marketing opportunities and threats that are under your nose. Take some time out from doingthe-do and think about where your business currently is and where it is heading. I promise it will be time well spent. There may be sections that are more relevant than others but commit to finding the answers to these questions and as a reward, a smarter, more focused marketing plan will develop. Are you sitting comfortably? Then we shall begin! 4

5 HOW TO CONDUCT A BRAND AUDIT INTRODUCTION First of all, what is a Brand Audit? Well think of it like a car MOT. You should check that everything is still working correctly at least once a year & your marketing plan is exactly the same. If you ever need to check on the state of your business finances, you conduct a financial audit or review. If you need to check of the state of your business and marketing strategy, you need a brand audit. In simple terms, it is a list of poignant questions that you need to go away and research at regular intervals to check your business is on track. It opens up your thinking to the bigger picture and ensures you know where you are going. You started out in business (hopefully!) with a business plan & the brand audit is a way to continually review things as your business progresses. The benefits of putting aside a little time to conduct a brand audit are immense. It can be used to keep all your staff and stakeholders up to date. It can be used as the starting point to decide on how much to invest in marketing and which new products and services you should be looking to introduce. Big brands conduct a brand audit at least once a year. It takes a bit of time to complete but it really is the fundamental building stone of a marketing strategy that is meaningful & robust rather than based on a whim & moving with the tide. Without further to do what do you need to do? 5

6 MARKET PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW This is the section where you need to think about the big picture. What is going on in your market? What is driving the sector? Has the economy changed? The Market Performance section of a brand audit begins with the market overview below: SIZE & GROWTH OF MARKET Take a moment to look at the macro environment in which you operate. Successful brands are constantly evolving. This section allows long term brand planning towards lucrative markets so you are one step ahead. Review the markets in which your brand operates by answering the following questions: Identify only those changes which are likely to affect your brands, business, purchasers and consumers in the short, medium and long term. These should be divided into the following categories. It may require further research eg. What are the legislation changes expected in your market? By breaking down the macro environment in this way it allows you to form a to-do list of what information you need to go away and find out to answer the pertinent questions. 6

7 Now for your answers: Political (What political short, medium and long term issues may have an impact on your brand. Eg. Change to legislation on holding data etc) Economic (What economic short, medium and long term issues may have an impact on your brand. Eg. if the economy improves in 12 months, what do you need to have in place to take advantage etc ) Technological (What technological short, medium and long term issues may effect your brand. Eg. The trend towards paperless offices)

8 Social (What social short, medium and long term issues may have an impact on your brand. Eg. Consumer acceptance of online versus paper surveys) GROWTH OR DECLINE? Is the market in which you operate in growth or in decline? How do you know this or how can you find out if you don t already know? This is a critical question if you want to be paddling with the tide rather than against it. When markets are in decline, it offers short term opportunities for the businesses that remain but in general, a strong marketing plan relies on paddling with rather than against the tide so this question is pertinent. This also needs to be broken down into the sections of your business to highlight which areas may become more important in the future. Answer: NEW MARKET OPPORTUNITIES Which markets are emerging? Can you launch or extend your brand into new markets? Should you be developing new products within other markets? 8

9 Simply by taking the time to list and prioritise the opportunities that you are already aware of can have a dramatic effect at crystallising your marketing plan so take the time to answer this question. Answer: COMPETITOR STRATEGY This is your opportunity to review the activity of each of your competitor brands or manufacturers for the prior year. Summarise their share, distribution and spend if at all possible. It is important to focus more on your consumers than competitors but a regular check up on what they are doing will allow you to see what else your customers are being offered. Mystery shopping could be a new action for the to-do list! Questions to ask about each key competitor are: What new products/services have they launched? What marketing activity have they done? What promotions have they run with which accounts? What does this tell you about their strategy? Estimate the likely impact on your brand if they became more successful. Is there anything you can do/should be doing to counter this? 9

10 Competitor number 1 review: Competitor number 2 review: Competitor number 3 review: BRAND SWOT Here is your chance to summarise the key learning s from the above information. You may wish to break this down by category of products and services you offer too if you have the time. STRENGTHS Of your brand vs the competition OPPORTUNITIES That exist within the market for your brand WEAKNESSES Of your brand vs the competition THREATS That exist within the market for your brand 10

11 SALES PERFORMANCE A summary of your historical sales performance is a critical part of a brand audit to show what worked well and what did not previously. Breaking down this information in different ways will help highlight where the key gaps and key opportunities are. PERCENT OF BUSINESS BY PRODUCT OR SERVICE Year Ending X to Y Product or Service Volume Revenue GM 1 EG. 80% 87% 95% 2 20% 13% 5% SHARE OF TRADE/ KEY CUSTOMER PROFILE Year Ending X to Y Customer Volume Revenue GM 1 % % % 2 % % % 3 % % % 11

12 DISTRIBUTION/ ROUTE TO MARKET Year Ending X to Y Route to market Volume Revenue GM 1 (Eg online etc) % % % 2 % % % 3 % % % CONSUMER DIAGNOSTICS This is your chance to review what people think of the service or products you offer. Are they happy? How do you know this? How many complaints have you received over the last year? How many referrals? What is the percentage of new versus repeat customers you have? What is the average spend per customer? Can you rank your customers in order of importance both from a revenue and a profit perspective? If not, make plans to record this data in the future. 12

13 MARKETING & ADVERTISING What have you done in the last 12 months? What worked well and what did not? How do you know? BRAND IDENTITY Are you happy with the identity of your brand? Is it clear? Is it consistent? Do you need to invest in refreshing your corporate image? What bits of your branding are inconsistent or could do with some attention? PRODUCT/PACKAGING QUALITY If you have a product, could your packaging or product be improved? If you are in the service industry, are your products clear to understand? Answer: PROMOTIONS & DISCOUNTS What promotions and discounts have you run in the previous 12 months and what was the effect? If you have not recorded the results effectively this is an opportunity to decide what information you need to record in the future. Answer: 13

14 PRICING What do you charge for what product or service? Is it clear? Is it simple to calculate and how does it stack up against your competitors? Pricing alone is an intrinsic part of your marketing mix that you simply have to get right. Year Ending X to Y Product or RRP Cost Gross Margin Package 1 Product X 2 3 PRODUCT Here is your chance to review your product range. Are you doing too many things? Is there a chance for increasing your NPD (new product development) Are you busy chasing loss making products and services? When dealing with a complicated portfolio of products or services, a simple 80/20 rule can have an alarmingly clear effect to your future strategy! 14

15 Year Ending X to Y Product Volume Revenue GM SEGMENTATION Segmentation is how you decide to chop up your market. This is your opportunity to review how you chop up your market and to decide if it is still the most practical way of doing so. Would it be better to segment your market by geography? By industry sector? By size of business etc? How do you do it now? What alternatives could you consider? TARGETING This is your chance to review how you have been targeting your customers. Has it been scattergun? Based on referrals, based on cold calling? Who is your ideal customer? If you take the time to answer this, it will become easier to target them. Answer: POSITIONING AND PERCEPTIONS What does your target market think of you? Do they know you exist? Have you the guts to go forward and ask them! How your business is perceived is critical & not necessarily 15

16 how you think you are seen. Take a little time to objectively think how your image is perceived and which areas could do with some attention in the year ahead. Answer: KEY BRAND ISSUES - SUMMARY Traditionally, a brand audit concludes with an executive summary. This is for you to summarise the key findings so that you or anyone else who is involved gets the big picture quickly. For obvious reasons, these 5-10 bullet points will be completed last and focus just on the big issues. Is your market in decline? What are the biggest opportunities for you, what are the biggest threats etc. Fill in your executive summary here after re-reading the answers to your questions above & don t avoid the issues you know are looming in the future: Key point 1 that needs to be addressed: Key Point 2: Key Point 3: Key Point 4: Key Point 5: I hope you have found this guide of use and it helps you to analyse how your brand is doing and what steps you 16

17 need to focus on next. If you need help with figuring out where you are now, with your branding, marketing communication or strategy, feel free to give Coo Marketing a shout. Coo Marketing help businesses who want to get to grips with their marketing and present themselves in the best light. Until we meet, best of luck. Claire x 17