The Importance of a Brand Audit

Think of your brand as a living, breathing thing. It has a personality and characteristics which are completely unique to itself. Over time, you can watch your brand grow and guide it to achieve its full potential. However, if your brand begins to deviate from that path, then your business could start to suffer. 

Your branding is fundamental to the success of your business. It defines your business’ identity and dictates your message to your customers. If your brand fails to respond to new factors, such as new products or an increase in customers, then it can cost you loyal clients or potentially prevent you finding new ones. 

A brand audit can prevent this deterioration by analysing your current position and content and providing new insights for you to work with in the future. 

WHAT IS A BRAND AUDIT?

Simply, a brand audit is giving your brand a makeover by working out what has worked effectively, what needs some tweaking and what your overall style is.

WHY SHOULD YOU DO A BRAND AUDIT NOW?

There are two reasons you should conduct a brand audit now. Firstly, January tends to be a quieter month for the majority of us which means we have time to get those niggling admin jobs off our to-do lists. Secondly, the new year instils a feeling of new beginnings and starting things afresh. What better time to give your business a makeover?

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Over the next few weeks we will be covering every aspect of your business and explaining how to do a brand audit. Here’s a quick outline of the topics that will be covered. 

• GOALS

In the day-to-day running of a business, it’s easy to lose track of the bigger picture. We will be talking about how to set meaningful goals and how to break them down into achievable, manageable chunks. We will also cover how to set a realistic time-frame as well as help you visualise your ideal day-to-day. 

• SERVICES

Many of us fall into a pattern of following the same structure and system as everyone else, because that must work right? Wrong. The best way to achieve big is to find systems that are effective and work for you. In this section we will be covering how to streamline your process so that it is time and cost effective. Secondly we will look at setting up client schedules, which are just as important for you as they are for your client.  And finally we’ll talk about knowing your prices and all the important documentation you should have on hand, such as terms and conditions, privacy policies and refund policies. It may be boring, but it is important. 

• CONTENT

Every client interaction you have shapes and (hopefully) improves your work with future customers. Your website content should be a reflection of this and be there to provide a purpose to your visitors. During this topic we will be covering the main objectives for each of your website pages, how to streamline your messaging so that every web page is well crafted as well as why you should remove duplicate messages. Finally we will also talk about the importance of call to actions and curated visuals (don’t worry if you don’t know about these yet). 

• FUNCTIONALITY

Your site needs to be functional for your clients and yourself. No one wants to trudge through a stodgy website. So we’re going to cover page functionality, how to mobile test as well as fix broken links and set up redirects. 

• PRODUCTS

For many photographers products are the main source of passive income, so it’s important that you take a good hard look at the products you are offering. In this section we will be covering complimenting products and why you need them, plus the importance of having products within different price brackets. 

• SEO

Search engine optimisation is a large part of having a successful online business. After all, no one will do business with you if they don’t know you’re there. For this section we will be covering three separate topics. The first will be your website where we will look at browser titles, meta tags and keywords. Secondly, we will cover good SEO for blog users such as high quality content, the must-haves for good blog SEO as well as categories and tags. Finally, we will also take you through Google Analytics – a must-have app for every online business.

• VISUAL IDENTITY

Don’t panic! This section isn’t to do with giving your brand a full-on visual overhaul. Instead we’re going to be talking about areas where you can make small tweaks which cause a big impact. These topics include brainstorming and your business values, having a consistent style and producing a unified portfolio. Three big factors for creative businesses like photography.

• EMAIL MARKETING

Email marketing is a really popular strategy for most online businesses nowadays. In this section we will be covering the programs available to help with email marketing, the emails you could be sending to your clients as well as setting up an emailing schedule that works for you and your business’ needs. 

• SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media is a huge business asset in this day and age. The majority of the general public are on some sort of social network. This topic will take you through all the major social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest – and cover how you could unify your look, streamline your content and possibly improve your marketing tactics in the future. 

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Make sure you follow along on our brand audit and give your business a freshen up for the new year!