Owning your own business is a bit like your relationship with the weather in many places: if you don’t like it, just stick around for five minutes. It’s sure to change.

As a small business owner, change is something you’re used to handling. Your customers’ preferences evolve, how they’re consuming information shifts, and their needs can change as they age or enter a new life stage. As this landscape shifts, your business has to keep up. This is why it's critical that you’re regularly evaluating and auditing your brand and your business. 

This evaluation provides an objective, holistic view of your business and all your current marketing components, helping you easily identify where your business stands and any changes you might need to make.

Why Regular Brand Evaluation is Critical

A brand audit offers an objective assessment and analysis of every marketing component your business has. It reviews, analyzes, and summarizes communication tools, outreach efforts, and touchpoints for all audience groups. By determining where you currently are, you can better plan for where you want to go.

• Do your messaging and storytelling truly reflect the needs and pain points of your target customer, right now? Are you actually speaking to their problem, or are you only focused on broadcasting what you do? Your brand needs to resonate with your audience and meet their evolving needs.

• Along those lines, are your products or services truly relevant to your customer’s needs today? While trying to be all things to all people can spread you and your business too thin, it is necessary to check that what you’re offering still has value. Regular brand evaluations can help businesses pivot and adapt to these changing market conditions.
• Your competition isn't sleeping. They're innovating, adapting, and evolving. To stay ahead—or even just to keep up—you need to be doing the same. While you don’t need to just copy what competitors are doing, you do need to be aware of them so that you can build messaging and strategy around what makes you unique. 
• Your customers have a lot of information and communication flying at them every day.
  Regular brand evaluations ensure that your message doesn't just reach them but also resonates with them.

Conducting Your Brand Audit or Evaluation

Don’t be afraid of how formal this sounds: evaluating or auditing your brand is a lot like a checkup. You’re going to take the time to look at different components of your business and marketing, and ask yourself if they’re working properly. Here are some of the things you can evaluate, and questions you can ask.

Brand messaging and voice:

Your message is the heart of your brand. It needs to reflect the values, goals, and identity of your business while speaking directly to the concerns and needs of your customers. So, ask yourself:

• Is the language you use still relatable to your target demographic?
• Does your messaging differentiate you from competitors or does it blend in?
• Have there been cultural or societal changes that necessitate a change in tone or terminology?

Visual identity (logo, colors, design):

Your visual identity is often the first thing people notice about your brand, and it sets the tone for all other interactions.

• Revisit your logo: Does it look crisp and clear across all platforms, from mobile to desktop to print?
• Evaluate your color scheme: Do the colors evoke the emotions and associations you intend?
• Design consistency: Whether it's your website, your advertisements, or your product packaging, do all elements tell a cohesive story?

Online presence (website, social media):

The digital realm is a living entity, always shifting and evolving. A fresh look ensures you're meeting your customers where they are.

• Website navigation: Is it intuitive and mobile-friendly?
• Content relevancy: Is your blog or news section up-to-date? Are you addressing current industry trends and customer queries?
• Social media engagement: Beyond likes and follows, are you fostering genuine connections with your audience? Are your posts prompting discussions and shares?

Customer feedback and sentiment:

They say the customer is always right. While that might not be universally true, they are always worth listening to.

• Feedback channels: Are you providing easy ways for customers to leave feedback, and are you actively encouraging them to do so?
• Sentiment analysis: Use tools to gauge the overall sentiment of your brand on social media. Is it positive, neutral, or negative?
• Evolution based on feedback: How quickly and effectively are you implementing changes based on customer feedback?

Alignment with company values and mission:

Your brand is a promise, a commitment. It's vital that what you project externally aligns with your internal ethos.

• Value reflection: Does your branding reflect what you stand for? Would a stranger understand your company's values based on your branding alone?
• Employee alignment: Are your team members on board with your brand values? Their interactions with customers should reflect your brand promise.
• Evolution with growth: As companies grow and evolve, sometimes their mission does too. Regular check-ins ensure your branding keeps pace with any internal shifts.
• Internal check: Your brand promise is only as good as its delivery. Assess whether your internal operations align with the brand image you project. A mismatch between brand promise and delivery can erode trust. Ensure your operations deliver on every brand promise.

The Benefits of Regular Brand Audits

Just like your regular health checkups can spot potential issues and ensure you’re on the right track, brand audits play a similar role for your business. They not only identify weaknesses but highlight strengths and opportunities you might have missed. Conducting these audits or evaluations on a regular basis isn’t just good for marketing your business. It’s just generally good for your business. Don’t believe us? Check out these benefits. 

Improved Customer Loyalty and Trust:

Every interaction a customer has with your brand either strengthens or weakens their trust in you. When you're consistently delivering on your promises and ensuring your brand image remains resonant, customers naturally develop a deeper loyalty towards your brand. Regular audits make sure you're always in tune with their evolving needs.

Enhanced Competitiveness in the Market:

The business environment is in constant flux. New competitors emerge, technologies advance, and consumer preferences change. By continually assessing your brand, you stay ahead of these shifts, ensuring that your brand not only survives but thrives.

Clearer Internal Alignment and Understanding of the Brand:

It's not just your customers who need to understand and believe in your brand—your team does too. Regular brand evaluations foster internal clarity, making sure everyone, from leadership to frontline staff, embodies your brand values in every action and decision.

Stronger internal relationships: 

These audits should involve input from all your team members. Doing this regularly actually opens the lines of communication, builds trust, and increases your team’s buy in to your company.

Beyond the Audit

Successful small businesses don’t just react—they anticipate. To truly stand out in a crowded marketplace, you need to be two steps ahead, predicting the shifts in the market, and sometimes even creating them. Regular brand and company evaluations go beyond just ticking boxes. They are strategic tools, shedding light on areas of opportunity and pointing out potential pitfalls.

While the brand audit is a crucial starting point, your strategy shouldn't stop there. Planning for the future requires a holistic view. Consider your business goals, both short-term and long-term. Are there any anticipated market changes or new audiences you want to target? Who will lead new initiatives, and how will your budget accommodate these changes?

A brand audit isn’t just a task—it’s an invaluable opportunity. By taking the time to thoroughly evaluate, refine, and reinvent, you're not only bolstering your brand's image but setting the stage for sustained growth and success. In today's fast-paced world, staying still isn't an option. Regular evaluations ensure your business is always moving forward, ready to meet whatever challenges come next. 

Want to make sure that your brand audit is performing so strategically? Consider partnering with an agency to effectively evaluate your business and identify how you can set yourself up for even greater success! If you don’t yet have an agency partner, we’d love to connect with you!