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Audit your brand (and make it strong and resilient)
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InTouch Audit your brand
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“ Unless we live in mud-hut-selfsufficiency, we are all advocates of one brand or another, like it or not!� Andy Barker, Creative Director, InTouch
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What is a brand? “A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company. It’s not what you say it is. It’s what they say it is.” Marty Neumeier, The Brand Gap
InTouch Audit your brand
Think of a brand as a person. When you think of the people you know well, you instantly recall an emotional association which you have with that person. It could be love, fear, warmth, amusement, indifference, uncertainty, or even hate. It will most probably be a combination of feelings. Brands too evoke emotions. What do you feel when you think about: Coca-Cola? BMW? Tesco? Apple? John Lewis? Manchester United? Innocent? or Eddie Stobart?
Your emotions will have been driven by marketing communications on one hand and experience of the brand on the other, in terms of quality of the product and service etc. Most people will also be influenced by their peers. Sometimes the emotions are entirely rational, but often they are not. It is unlikely that any diehard Liverpool fan would ever become an advocate of the brand Manchester United. This is more out of a deep-seated historical prejudice than any rationale or even gut feeling. But in most cases, the decision to ‘like’ a certain brand is instinctive, because it: > ‘Speaks my language’ > ‘Fits my lifestyle’ or > ‘Makes me feel good about myself’
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The reason why Marty Neumeier’s quote about a brand being ‘what they say it is’ is so true is because it doesn’t matter what anyone else’s take out of the brand is: it only matters what it means to each individual. And even if you buy into a brand because lots of other people think it’s good, that’s still justifiable. The brand gives you kudos through its popularity and you become part of its tribe. It’s a feel-good thing. You can choose who you want as your friends. Popular people tend to be popular because they work the hardest to maintain their relationships. Could this be true of brands? Of course, there are always exceptions. Some brands are built on the ‘no frills’ model, so building a relationship with their audience is not their no. 1 priority: they tend to be focussed on keeping prices rock-bottom so they adopt a ‘take it or leave it’ policy, with little fear of alienating their audience because of poor service levels.
InTouch Audit your brand
But only one brand within any sector can be the cheapest. And only one can be the most popular. All other brands need to work hard to maintain the loyalty of their customers, and constantly reach out and appeal to new ones. This demands periods of brand re-evaluation. Like people, brands need to evolve. They need to learn new things and be innovative by exploring new ideas, but at the same time they need to hold on to the core values that made them appealing and successful in the first place. A brand audit is a health check. It checks a brand’s pulse, looks at its heart, scans its thinking, and can even delve into its soul. It looks at internal and external perceptions. A successful audit can reinvigorate a brand, giving it a new direction and a renewed sense of purpose. It will motivate staff and reignite its audience.
Brand elements
At InTouch we talk about ‘clothing’ a brand.
Brand elements include: > Logo
By this we mean all of the components that make up the brand. These are visual components such as a logo or an image or a typeface, or less tangible elements such as values, tone of voice, or emotions.
> Values > Colour > Typeface > Imagery
A brand audit will look at all of these elements in turn and evaluate their impact, value and effectiveness, from an internal as well as an external perspective.
> Tone of voice > Marketing communications > Stationery, signs, livery etc
Some of the basic InTouch brand elements Base
Passive
What values do we want the InTouch brand to stand for?
Logotype
Analytical Trusted Agile Partners Safe hands Creative Cerebral Problem solvers Experienced Skilled Friendly Reliable
Core values
Active
Colours
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO PQRSTUVWXYZ123 4567890!@£$%^&*() Typeface
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Where are you now? What can you hope your brand audit will achieve? Before setting out, it’s useful to have some reasonable expectations and goals. For a large organisation, a full audit is a considerable undertaking if it is to understand thoroughly all the issues the brand faces. Smaller businesses can conduct a much smaller scale ‘snapshot’ of the situation. In either case, you should expect your audit to: > Benchmark the current position > Reflect the perceptions of your internal audience > Reflect the perceptions of your external audiences > Expose strengths and weaknesses > Provide a platform for unifying and developing the brand
InTouch Audit your brand
B2B v B2C brands Do B2B brands follow the same rules as B2C ones? Yes… almost. But the emphasis on emotional v functional properties of a B2B brand tends to be different.
The results of your audit should give you a clear position from which to act. The next steps could be anything from relatively minor tweaks on the tiller to a radical overhaul of the brand’s positioning, visual identity and marketing communications! At the least it should give you greater clarity and enable you to connect all your audiences to the brand’s core values more astutely. It is powerful stuff so handle with care.
As a consumer, your choices are about spending your OWN money on products or services which not only help you to run your life most efficiently but which will bring you the most pleasure/ enjoyment/kudos. Decisions on functional objects such as a washing machine will usually be ruled by the head, whereas the decision to buy, say, perfume will generally come from the heart. In a business environment, the brands you choose are probably not selected for personal emotional reasons but for more practical, functional reasons: service, product quality, delivery, cost effectiveness etc. There can still be an emotional ‘aura’ around a B2B brand, because we are all consumers too and we carry some of the emotional connotations through into our professional world. For example, you might run a fleet of vehicles for your business. You will consider cost, residual value, tax rating, whole life costs etc all as extremely sensible things to base your purchasing decision on. But you will also consider emotional values borrowed from your experiences as a consumer.
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Internal audit
Branding begins at home. Brand values should be part of a company’s DNA in the form of a set of ideas which everybody understands to be fundamental to the brand’s personality. Everyone who works for it should believe in it and ‘live it’. Every communication should be made with the brand’s values at its heart. An internal audit is therefore essential to take the temperature of the mood within the company.
The starting point of an effective internal brand audit is to ask the right questions, usually through a carefully constructed questionnaire or through a series of interviews. At InTouch we have developed a score card system which provides a convenient tool for categorising and scaling opinions. The audit needs to gather opinions from all stakeholders and cover all the ‘touch points’ of the brand, including:
But adhering to an established set of standards does not mean stagnation of ideas.
> Historical context
Lots of people go on holiday to the same place each year, because it’s easier and they feel comfortable with the familiarity of their surroundings. But they could choose to be more adventurous!
> Who are our customers?
Likewise, a brand can be adventurous about where it takes its brand communications.
Responses need to be honest, warts and all. Of course, it’s important that responses are genuine and free from the fear of reprisals – for this reason all responses must remain completely confidential.
A confident brand can reach beyond its ‘comfort zone’.
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> Core values
> Communications > Culture > Vision
Hi there!
Historical context
Who are our customers?
It’s easier to get a sense of where you’re going when you have an idea of where you’ve come from.
Who do you think we’re selling to?
Some brands rely on heritage much more than others, but an idea of where the brand has come from and why it was created in the first place will not be known by all stakeholders and will inform their views. Don’t overlook the obvious!
Core values What does the brand stand for? Why does this matter? What one word do you think of when you think of the brand? How does it make you feel as a consumer and does working for it feel the same? It is vital to understand whether the published core values of the brand match up to the experiences of stakeholders.
The audience is at the heart of every brand and every brand’s communication. Forming a clear picture of who the audience is, or rather, who the audiences are, is another vital piece of information in helping to achieve the aims of the brand. Of course, the more complex the brand and its services, the more diverse its audience will be. It might be that the brand offers a wide range of products and services across a number of audience types. In this case, it could be more helpful to understand more about internal attitudes around service levels towards customers. What do we do well? What badly? Do we react quickly enough? Will we go the extra mile?
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Communications
Culture
Is your brand consistent?
A brand’s core values should be reflected in its culture.
I’m not sure that many marketing managers would argue that getting your key messages out to your external audience is a priority. However, internal communication, especially across a large corporation, runs a close second. Finding out whether internal and external brand messages are aligned could be key to understanding whether your brand is suffering from a bout of schizophrenia! More consistency in your communications will cultivate better understanding of the brand’s core values and encourage a more collaborative culture.
InTouch Audit your brand
Just as a top sports person’s attitude and habits will affect their performance, so a brand’s internal culture will ultimately have a bearing on its external communications and its ability to innovate and develop. Is your culture open or closed to change? Relaxed or uptight? Do staff feel at one with the brand’s culture and feel valued and motivated? By asking the right questions you can get to the bottom of the cultural connection between your brand’s innate personality and the people who make it live and breathe.
Vision Not everyone is visionary, but having an open mind to the possibilities creates an atmosphere of innovation, which is the lifeblood of a healthy brand. Are challenging ideas encouraged or scoffed at? Understanding branding and why it is important can be taught, added to and passed on.
“Expect innovation from people outside the company, or from people inside the company who think outside� Marty Neumeier, The Brand Gap
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External audit
Customers are always right. Even if they are wrong, they will think they are right! The external face of your brand and how it interacts with your customers is arguably more important than anything else. The explosion of opportunities for businesses to sell and market has become almost overwhelming. For example, no longer is it enough to simply have an online presence. When you consider the irrepressible rise of online social media activity and the increasingly sophisticated media tools and channels at our disposal, such as on-demand TV and interactive publishing, and its global reach, protecting and managing the activities of your brand has become essential. Like celebrities, the biggest brands are constantly in the spotlight and the brand’s equivalent of a drunken night on the tiles can quickly hit its bottom line.
InTouch Audit your brand
The external audience is wide: customers, obviously, but also suspects and prospects, distributors, suppliers and the media. Whether B2B or B2C you need to understand the relationships you have with all these audiences. You need to research views on: > Emotional connections > Products > Service levels > Communications By talking to your audience you will discover things about your brand which you cannot discover just from within the four walls of the business.
Emotional connections
Products
Remember… it’s what they say it is.
Keeping in character is critical to building a strong brand entity and engaging with your brand’s community.
Going back to our idea of the brand as a person, we need to really get under the skin of our external audience to understand why they buy the brand and the depth of their relationship with it. > What does the brand mean to them? > Why did they first buy? > What competitors do they buy and why? In essence, > How does it make them feel?
New product launches and promotions keep your audience informed and engaged and coming back for more. Sales figures are a good indication of a successful new product, but finding out what your audience really thinks and feels removes speculation. Could it have been better? Social media channels can be harnessed to gather feedback and gauge the mood of your brand advocates.
NEW! www.intouchmarketing.co.uk
Communications
Service levels
Seeing is believing!
Knowing what’s bad is just as valuable as the good stuff… more valuable.
Whether it’s a website, mailer, ad, blog or tweet, your communications define your brand. They should reflect your values and adopt the correct tone of voice. Are they pushing the right buttons? As communications often work across many media channels (we would recommend this!) keeping them aligned, entertaining and relevant is a constant challenge. Your customers can play a big part in the feedback here, but it requires sensitivity and expertise to sift through, and make the most of, the responses.
InTouch Audit your brand
A successful purchase experience can be subsequently destroyed by sloppy or bad after sales and can leave a sour taste. Bad news travels faster! No brand is perfect, but by understanding the potential flaws you can develop effective strategies to implement improvement.
Next steps
Where do I start? Good question. External research needs to be carried out professionally and responsibly. At InTouch we have developed a range of tools and techniques to run your external brand audit, ranging from traditional interview techniques and telemarketing to innovative analysis through social media channels – ideal for engaging customers within an environment where they feel happy to speak their mind and impart honest, open opinions.
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Measurement and actions
Working with InTouch
The end game is turning the results of your audit into actions and ultimately increased revenue. This requires a series of steps.
InTouch has extensive experience of managing brands, from tone of voice to physical application, as well as developing modern new brands, from concept, to blueprint to a living and breathing entity.
Once all responses to the audit have been assessed and collated the first step is to apply some measurement. InTouch have developed a range of tools for ‘reading’ your audit and a blueprint called Active Customer Development™ which is designed to help build and maintain strong and resilient brands, energise your sales potential and turn customers on. Results need to be exposed as widely as possible to your internal audience so that the right strategies can be developed and adapted throughout the business to take the brand forward in the necessary direction.
InTouch Audit your brand
We understand the DNA of brands and how they can infiltrate and influence a customer’s purchasing decision, and we can creatively develop and deliver its key messages through any media, including email, sms, and social media networks, advertising, direct mail and web. Creating and sustaining strong brands requires inspired thought, innovation and focus. It needs agility and often bravery too! In a world awash with choice, InTouch can help your brand shine brighter than the rest.
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Š InTouch Marketing 2010.
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Call +44 (0)1295 261161 Mail hello@intouchmarketing.co.uk Visit www.intouchmarketing.co.uk InTouch Audit your brand