Invigorate Your Marketing Efforts with a Brand Audit
Work with Professional Brand Specialists in Edmonton
How well are your marketing efforts serving your business? Do you stand out from your competition? Does your ideal customer connect with your brand? If you don’t know the answer to these questions, it’s time for a brand audit! Our team of professional brand specialists will comb through your marketing efforts and assets to see where your current strategy is successful, needs improvement, and where you can seize new opportunities!
Gain Clarity on Your Marketing Efforts
A brand audit shows you which brand items need an update and which order will have the biggest impact. This insight makes for a more successful launch and often translates into money saved. There’s no pressure after a brand audit to have any work done. In some cases, we may even advise that you wait a few months or years to refresh your brand if the current branding is working for you. You can also choose to DIY, hire your own contractors, or connect with our contractor recommendations.
What to Expect from a Brand Audit
When we say we take a comprehensive review of your marketing efforts, we mean it! The full list of items we’ll look at is too long to copy here, but the overarching categories of branding tools we’ll examine include:
- Your logo and brand images
- Your business cards
- Your other print items
- Your social media accounts
- Your web presence
When your brand audit is complete, you’ll see the strengths and weaknesses of your brand strategy and have confidence in your next steps. Plus, our branding experts can offer DIY guidance, take care of all your graphic design needs, and connect you with a range of marketing specialists, from website designers to content writers to social media marketers.
The Essential Pieces of a Brand Audit Framework
Your logo is at the heart of your brand and visual identity, so we’ll be sure to spend time researching your market and determining whether your logo holds up. The strongest brands have logos that stand out from the competition and speak to the target client. We’ll also ask questions to find out whether you have the right file types and colours for easy and professional reproduction of your images.
Brand photography and stock photo albums are great ways to polish your brand image. Whether you have a professional headshot or a cell phone selfie beside your bio, it will speak volumes about your business (and what other people should think). If custom photography is not in the cards, we can also advise you on DIY strategies for photography, image editing, and compiling on-brand stock photography libraries.
Print isn’t dead! It’s all around us in our packaging, on our vehicles, on billboards and posters, and in our mail. In a virtualized world, print materials can help you stand out from the crowd. Print design leaves people with something tangible and memorable. Even more impactful are print items that are completely unique and surprising—and that’s what we specialize in!
YouTube might be the new encyclopedia, but content writing is here to stay in print and digital formats. Your brand messaging is just as important as the visuals in grabbing attention and speaking to the right people. We’ll look at the quality of your current content and the places you’re publishing to and give you direction on how to keep your messaging on-brand on all platforms.
Websites are a beast of their own and they’re pretty much essential in today’s business world. It’s important that we understand where a website fits into the typical marketing process in your industry, which is why we’ll research and compare your website to your competitors. A few factors to look for in a website audit are visual flow, visual consistency, functionality, and messaging. Then, we’ll let you know how you can improve your website and who can help.
For most businesses, keeping the brand message alive through social media is one of the biggest challenges of the twenty-first century. There are so many platforms with so many different photo and logo sizes! Even setting up a business page on social media can be a challenge. We’ll do a complete 360 around your social media presence to look for missed opportunities on other platforms, brand consistency in visuals and messaging, and audience analysis—in other words, are you on the sites that your ideal customer is on?
Frequently Asked Questions About Branding
What is branding?
Branding is the process of creating a unique business identity and imagery for a product, service, or organization that resonates in the minds of the target customers. It involves defining the brand’s values, personality, and positioning in the market.
Why is branding important?
Branding is a key piece of your marketing strategy that differentiates your company, builds trust and loyalty, generates emotional connections, and drives financial success for businesses. It’s not just about logos and slogans; it’s about shaping perceptions and building relationships with customers and stakeholders.
What are the components of a brand identity?
A brand identity typically includes elements such as a logo, colour palette, typography, imagery, brand voice and messaging, brand story, values, and brand guidelines that dictate how these elements should be used consistently across different channels and materials.
What is the difference between a brand and a logo?
A brand encompasses the entire identity and perception of a product, service, or company, including its values, personality, and positioning in the market. A logo is a design representation or symbol that serves as a visual identifier for the brand. The logo is just one component of the overall brand identity.
How often should I rebrand?
Branding is an investment, and depending on how you use your brand, it costs time and money to refresh it. A brand audit offers guidance to those who aren’t sure where to start or where they’ll get the best ROI for their budget.
How can branding help small businesses?
Branding can help small businesses establish credibility, differentiate themselves from competitors, attract customers, and build long-term relationships. It can also provide direction and consistency in marketing efforts, helping to maximize the impact of limited resources.
What is a brand audit?
A brand audit is the process of reviewing your existing branding elements and strategy to find out where you’re succeeding and where you have opportunities for improvement. As your Edmonton graphic design team, we’ll go through all of your branding materials, make notes, and suggest recommendations. We’ll consult with you directly to present solutions and determine the best path forward to help your brand stand out for your target market.