Building Brand Equity: The Importance of Regular Brand Audits

As marketers, we understand that our environment and markets are constantly evolving. In order to stay up-to-date with current market trends and in tune with our customers’ changing needs, it is important we conduct regular brand audits.

What is a Brand Audit?

A brand audit is an in-depth look at our overall brand, sources of current brand equity, and opportunities to build brand equity in the future. The audit is made up of several pieces, which, when looked at as a whole, gives us an idea of where the brand stands within the market and can help marketers determine opportunities for future growth and areas of potential weaknesses.

Steps for a Successful Brand Audit

First, we need to closely examine what our clients seein terms of our brand. Our logo, website, social media profiles, sponsorships, and press releases should all be consistent and relay a clear message about who we are and what our brand represents. We should strategically select which conferences, events, and awards we sponsor and what level we participate. In the A/E/C industry,there are several key conferences in transportation, environmental services, and urban planning annually that are important we are highly visible at, and in sponsoring these events at a high level, we ensure our logo and name is prominent throughout the conference and increase our brand awareness. It is important to be aware of our competitors’ brands as well to ensure we are differentiating ourselves in the right way.

Next we need to look at our branding from an internal standpoint. It is important that all of our client deliverables have a clear, cohesive voice that effectively relays our key messaging and value proposition. Regardless of author or designer, all brand-related

materials should be consistent and within brand guidelines. This is where we should analyze our style guide and proposal processes, to position we, the marketers, as brand experts. In the A/E/C industry, brand values are of particular importance when conducting a brand audit. We want our values to be clearly demonstrated across deliverables and client interactions; it is not enough to merely know about the client and the project, we need to continually demonstrate that we “practice what we preach” and that we are personally invested in our projects and clients. This goes far beyond us as marketers – every employee is responsible for embodying these values with every project, every client, every time.

Analyzing the Brand Audit

After doing this deep dive into our branding strategies and assets, we then need to determine next steps. Things to consider include:

• Is the meaning of our logo clear or confusing to our clients? Is it distinct enough that it is recognizable without the presence of our firm name?

• Are there certain areas of our website or social media profiles that are performing better, and if so, what types of branding are used here that we may incorporate elsewhere?

• Opportunities to strengthen our brand

• Is our brand resonating with our clients in the way we want it to? Are there areas for improvement to more clearly relay our brand identity andvalue proposition?

Effects of Brand Audits on Brand Equity

In the A/E/C industry, where we are so limited from traditional sales or business development strategies in how we build our client relationships, brand equity isof paramount importance and should be front of mind for marketers and technical staff alike. It is key that we are continually evaluating our brand for strengths and weaknesses and adapting to our clients’ goals and needs with an eye on the future. By being mindful of our clients’ perception of us based on our brand, we can maintain our strong brand equity and continue to build upon our existing relationships, helping to secure future work and leave the door open to future opportunities for market expansion and new projects.