A qualified brand audit company will investigate the following areas of brand management: Brand Research

• Does this company have a deep understanding of its consumers' values, attitudes, needs, desires, hopes, aspirations, fears, and concerns?
• Has this company rigorously analyzed its competition?
• Which of the following types of brand research has the company conducted: brand positioning qualitative and quantitative, brand asset studies, brand equity measurement and monitoring, brand extension, logo recall, and recognition?
• How robust is each of these research studies?
• How are the company and each of its competitors positioned in the marketplace?

Brand Strategy

• Is there a marketing plan?
• Is there a brand plan?
• Are those plans aligned with and integrated into company business plans?
• Does the company have a future vision and a well-thought out plan to get there?
• Is it clear which marketing objectives, actions, and vehicles will provide the greatest leverage in achieving the long term vision?

Brand Positioning

• Is there a brand positioning statement? Does it include the following: target consumer, differentiating brand benefit, brand essence, brand personality?
• Do most employees know the brand's positioning (verbatim or para-phrased)?
• Was the brand's key differentiating benefit based on an analysis of consumer needs, organizational strengths (core competencies), and competitive weaknesses?
• Does the brand own a benefit that is highly differentiated, compelling, and believable?
• What are the brand's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?

Brand Identity Standards and Systems

• How robust is the company's brand identity system?
• How easy is it for the company's employees and business partners to use?
• What brand identity controls does the company have in place?
• Is the company's brand architecture simple and understandable?
• Which of the following brand identity components does the company use in its system: name, logo, icon, tag line, type style, colors, shapes, symbols, visual style, mnemonic (sound) device, brand voice, music, animation, etc?
• Does the company have cobranding standards?
• How accurately and consistently have these standards been applied across all internal and external communications?

Brand Advertising

• Do the ads break through the marketplace clutter?
• Do they powerfully communicate the brand's promise and personality?
• Do they include the "reason's why" (differentiating benefit proof points)?
• Do they connect with the target consumer on an emotional level?
• Do they tap into the consumer's beliefs, values, aspirations, hopes and fears?
• Do they include components that are "ownable"?

Organization Design and Internal Brand Building

• Does the company's culture support the brand's essence, promise, and personality?
• Is the company's marketing function centralized or distributed?
• What mechanisms has the company put in place to integrate its marketing?
• Are all of the required marketing functions present?
• Are brand objectives integrated into company and common objectives?
• Do the company's recruiting, training, performance management, compensation, succession planning, business planning, budgeting, resource allocation, and other systems support brand building? Are they designed to help the company deliver upon its brand's promise?
• Does the company screen job applicants for their alignment with the brand's essence, promise, and personality?
• Is the organization a "learning organization"?

Brand Extension

• What are the brand's assets?
• Is the brand over or under extended (or both)?
• What are the most promising areas of brand extension?
• What processes does the organization have in place for brand extension? How does it safeguard against inappropriate extension?

Marketing Employee Competency

• How competent are the company's marketers?
• Which skill sets do they possess and which ones are missing?
• Has the company augmented missing internal skill sets by augmenting them with external sources
• What are its external marketing vendors' strengths and weaknesses?
• Do the company's marketing employees (and also its senior managers and the rest of its employees) exhibit a marketing mindset? That is, do they profoundly understand its customers and sincerely and passionately strive to meet their wants and needs?

• Branding Glossary
• Brand Asset Management
• Brand Vision Interview Guide
• Understanding Brand Concept
• Three Components of Well-Constructed Positioning
• Brand Management Audit
• Brand Architecture Audit

Strategic Thunder
Branding Glossary:

For the purposes of this branding checklist, the following terms are defined as follows:

Brand

A Brand is the promise of an experience - something that the brand does for you, or how it makes you feel intellectually, emotionally or physically to your satisfaction - that you can count on to be the same or better every time. It is the sum of all of your experiences with the brand/product/service.

Brand Vision Statement

What the Brand needs to become in the future to achieve dynamic growth.

Brand Story

The story illustrates the organization's or service's history, along with how the history adds to the value and credibility of the brand.

Brand Promise

What exactly are we selling - what is the unique benefit of purchasing the brand?

Brand Support

What is it about the Brand that allows consumers/customers to believe that the Brand can keep its promise.

Brand Equity

What is it that customers will value so highly that they will choose the Brand instead of competitors, creating Brand Loyalty?

Brand Core

The most relevant Brand driver that needs to be at the center of every brand message.

Ideal Brand Perception

What the Brand's consumers/customers need to think and feel about the Brand in order to increase sales.

Brand Egg

The summary chart of the total Brand profile which serves as a blueprint for the Brand marketing and communication efforts.

Brand Ambassadors

Either credible, authoritative endorsers, or satisfied customers, as third parties who verify the Brand (experience) as being satisfying and trustworthy.