BRAND AUDIT EXAMPLE TEMPLATE

Performing a brand audit will help you determine your brand’s current effectiveness in the marketplace.

Overwrite the sample answers to the brand-audit questions included in this template to determine whether you need a brand refresh. Refreshing your brand will make you more successful and help you meet your company’s goals.

BRAND CORE IDENTITY

What is your organization’s name?
Positive Charge

Why is it named that?

Our electrical vehicle (EV) customers get a "positive charge" out of using our charging stations.

What should your organization’s name evoke for existing or potential customers?

A socially and environmentally conscious company that’s trying to make a positive difference in the world.

As an organization, who are you?

We are an EV-charging provider whose primary goal is to roll out our product to more locations than any other EV-charging provider.

What is your organization’s purpose?

Our purpose is to be the world's largest EV-charging provider and to reduce the environmental impact of fossil-fuel cars through our services.

What do you do as a company?

We provide EV-charging stations at multiple locations across the U.S. and Canada.

What are your company’s values?

Customer Commitment. Integrity. Continuous Learning. Constant Improvement. Environmental Responsibility.

Who are your customers?

EV drivers

Where are your customers located?

Throughout the United States, but the vast majority are in the state of California.

Ideally, how do you want to be perceived in the marketplace?

As the main provider of EV-charging stations and as a socially and environmentally conscious company.

How would you describe your organization's personality?

We work hard and play hard, yet we’re easygoing. We're driven primarily by the principle of mutual respect, and we love to see our customers succeed.

What do you hope to achieve with your brand?

We want it to make us a household name, make a positive impact on the environment, and increase sales.

What's the primary image you want your brand to convey?

Trustworthiness.

How can your brand help you achieve your goals?

It will instill a sense of trust and environmental responsibility, and, in turn, increase the number of charging stations across the U.S.

Who is your "target audience"?

18-to-34-year-old existing and potential EV users/drivers.

How do you think your brand can help reinforce your organization's offerings?

Become a recognizable brand that people know they can trust and want to be a part of.

Who are your competitors?

The current top three EV-charging providers in the U.S.

What distinguishes you from your competitors?

Our EV-charging stations are more cost effective, easier to install, and more environmentally sound than our competitors' stations.

What is it that makes you better than your competitors?

Our EV-charging stations are readily available, easier to install, and more environmentally sound than the competition.

How can your brand help you best your competitors?

Become a recognizable, reliable brand that locations are readily willing to adopt for their EV charging.

Overall, on a scale of 1–10 (“1” being “not very effective” and “10” being “highly effective”), how would you rate the effectiveness of your brand’s core offerings?

7 or 8.

What do you believe needs to change (if anything) to make your brand’s core identity more effective?

We think the “look” of our brand (logo, etc.) should be updated.

VERBAL IDENTITY
Answer the following questions about the verbal qualities of your brand to help you assess
whether improvements need to be made to your brand messaging.

How would you describe your brand’s tone?
A sense of a positive future. Environmental friendliness. Reliability. A company that cares and is willing to go above and beyond to make a positive environmental impact and get our riders/customers where they need to go. . .through EV charging.

What is your brand’s tagline?

“Help us make a positive change in the world - one volt at a time.”

Does your tagline work? Is it effective? Why or why not?

We think it could be updated – we want something briefer (e.g., “Think Different”).

How would you sum up your brand’s “elevator pitch” (i.e., 30-second explanation)?

Positive Charge’s purpose is to be the world's largest EV-charging provider and to reduce the environmental impact of fossil-fuel cars through our services.

What other “key messaging” does your brand offer?

Various marketing collateral, including web copy, marketing “glossies,” trade show messaging, brochures, etc.

What is your brand’s value proposition?

We want to improve the state of the world by switching as many drivers as we can to EVs for positive environmental impact.

What are your brand’s main selling points?

Easy implementation. Cost effectiveness. Quick follow-up maintenance / service contracts. Reasonably priced upgrades.

What unique value do your customers receive from your products/services?

Cost savings, environmental consideration, and easily recognizable EV-charging stations that fully charge their EV cars.

Overall, on a scale of 1–10 (“1” being “not very effective” and “10” being “highly effective”), how would you rate the effectiveness of your brand’s verbal identity?

5 or 6.

What do you believe needs to change (if anything) to make your brand’s verbal identity more effective?

We need to work on the “why” of why we’re a company. (As they say, people don’t buy “what” you do or “how” you do it – they buy because of a company’s “why” / reason.) I think ours needs significant work.

VISUAL IDENTITY
Answer the following questions about your brand’s visual identity to help you assess whether improvements need to be made to your brand’s visual presence in the marketplace.

What is your organization’s logo?
[A volt with the words “Positive Charge” in fun typeface (Mazzard font).]

What imagery and verbiage is/isn’t working in your logo? Why?

It seems to remind people of a warning/shock type of logo. . .a danger sign/warning instead of a “positive” image for Positive Charge.

What is your company and logo’s “color palette”? Is it as contemporary as you would like it to be?

Yellow, red, and blue – primary colors. No, we think it needs a “spark” (pun intended).

What typography do you use in your brand? Why?

Mazzard for headlines/headers (because it’s bubbly, fun, and easy to read). We also use Calibri for our body text because it’s easy to read.

How well does your visual identity reflect your brand’s personality?

Fairly well.

How well is your brand reflected visually in the marketplace? How might it be improved?

Fairly well. I think we need new logo designs, a new color palette, and other new visuals.

How well does your brand differentiate you from the competition?

It’s unique compared to some of our competitors, but visually we want our brand to be the BEST – and most recognizable (and trustworthy) – of them all.

Ideally, what would you like your visual identity to communicate?

Ease of use. Fun. Trustworthiness. Pride in making a positive environmental impact.

BRAND EVALUATION
Answer the following questions about your brand’s visual identity to help you assess whether improvements need to be made to your brand’s visual presence in the marketplace.

Overall, from what you’ve reflected on in this brand-audit process, how effective do you consider your brand to be? Why?
Fairly effective. We think we need new logo designs, a new color palette, and other new visuals. We also need a new tagline and new “elevator pitch” verbiage.

What opportunities do you think would help you improve your brand?

EV trade shows and EV-related marketing verticals (magazines, etc.)

How will you track your brand’s effectiveness in the marketplace? (In other words, What are the key performance indicators [KPIs] that you’ll use to measure your brand’s effectiveness?)

We will use marketing KPIs and customer-satisfaction KPIs.

How will you measure brand awareness in the marketplace?

Through marketing KPIs (particularly the client-retention rate and customer satisfaction score).

How will you measure brand-related referral traffic?

Google Analytics

How will you track your brand-related earned media value?

Primarily with the formula EMV = impressions x CPT x ???

How will you compare that earned media value to your competitors’?

By performing competitor brand analyses / audits.

How will you measure your brand-related social media effectiveness?

Google Analytics, primarily.

What type(s) of customer research will you conduct to measure your brand’s effectiveness?

New, longer-term, and potential EV customers and charging-station users.

What are your key takeaways from this brand audit?

We need a new logo and need to improve our brand’s messaging.

What is your first action item to improve your brand?

Contact creative and discuss new brand directions (visual and verbal).

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