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There are three separate sets of forces working on your brand and determining how it is perceived in the marketplace.

A Brand Audit Tells You Where Your Brand Stands

Brands exist in the marketplace and as such there are three separate sets of forces working on your brand and determining how it is perceived in the marketplace.

First is your company and the actions you are taking in the marketplace,
Next is your competitors and the actions they are taking for their brands and against yours, and
Finally, economic and social trends impact your brand.

You don’t want to build your brand for a month or a season or a year - you want it to prosper for many, many years. For that reason, you can’t build your brand for where the market is now, but where the market is going to be in the future.

Who Do You Want To Include In Your Brand Audit?

You want to get a good picture of where your brand stands today, so that you understand how to take it into the future. For that reason, you should consider collecting information for your brand audit from:

Internal audiences
Executives
Senior level managers
Front line employees
External audiences
Your customers – current and past
Competitors’ customers
Prospects or potential customers
Other key audiences (depends on your industry): media, analysts, regulators, etc.

Evaluate Gaps Between Internal And External Audiences

It is always interesting to evaluate the gaps between your brand’s external audiences and internal audiences. This kind of brand audit research can quickly put to rest those claims of “We already know what our customers are thinking” that can be the demise of a strong brand.

What information are you looking for in your brand audit? You are really seeking to understand the market space your brand currently operates in and you are trying to find the “white space” – those opportunities (current or future) that are available to your brand and not (yet) owned by any other brand. The information you should collect in your brand audit will fall broadly into these categories:

Definition of the market’s “ideal” brand
Perceptions of and attitudes about your brand and competitive brands
Key trends in the economy, society and the market and their potential impact on brand perceptions