The essential brand audit checklist
In the fast-paced world of business, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day hustle of serving clients and delivering products. But when was the last time you took a step back to look at your brand as a whole?
Just as a car needs a regular service to stay on the road, your brand needs a regular check in to ensure it’s still aligned with your goals, your values and ultimately your target market. A brand audit is how you do just that.
WHAT IS A BRAND AUDIT?
It’s a comprehensive look at how your business currently presents itself to the world and ensuring you have all the marketing essentials in place.
To help you get started, we’ve put together the essential brand audit checklist. Tackle the checklist in two rounds:
Round 1:
Tick each item that you have currently in your brand arsenal. If anything’s missing, you know what to add to your to do list.Round 2:
For all the things that you currently have in place already, ask yourself if they’re relevant, up-to-date and still represent your brand fully. If it’s a no against any of the items on the checklist, you know what to add to your to do list.
If you’ve never done a brand audit before, you’re probably wondering if all of these items are completely necessary. And while some of them can be put lower on the priority list, all of them are pretty important at some level. So let’s tackle each area of the checklist.
THE VISUAL FOUNDATIONS: Logos + Icons
Your primary logo is the face of your business, but it can’t do all the heavy lifting. A cohesive brand also requires a secondary logo (a different orientation for different spaces) and a brand icon / favicon (the little icon in your browser tab). Are these all updated and being used consistently across every platform? Do they need tweaking or updating? We’d put these at the top of the priority list.
THE AESTHETIC LAYER: Colours, Font + Photography
Consistency is the secret sauce of brand recognition.
Brand Colours: Are you using the exact same HEX codes everywhere, or are your "pinks" starting to look a little different on Instagram vs. your website?
Fonts: Limit yourself to 1primary font and 1 - 2 secondary fonts. If your marketing materials look like a font catalogue, your message will get lost.
Brand Photography: Audiences are getting wise to stock and AI imagery - and they’re not so keen on it. High-quality, bespoke brand photography tells your unique story and builds immediate trust.
THE HEART OF YOUR BRAND: Values + Voice
A brand isn’t just what it looks like; it’s how it speaks and what it stands for.
Brand Values: Do your core values still reflect the business you are today?
Tone of Voice: Whether you’re cheeky and bold or calm and corporate, your brand voice should be unmistakable and consistent across all of your marketing channels.
THE DIGITAL TOUCHPOINTS: Website, Socials + Email
These are your digital storefronts as it were - where all of the other brand layers come together in one place for your audience.
Website: Is the user experience seamless? Does it reflect your current branding?
Social Media: Does your grid feel like an extension of your website?
Email Signature: This is often the most overlooked piece of branding. Every email you send is a brand touchpoint, make sure it looks professional and updated.
A brand that feels off leaves room for a disconnect to develop with your audience. It can make you feel hesitant to share your website or post on social media because you aren’t proud of the presentation. At Shout + Co., we specialise in helping businesses find their visual voice. Whether you need a full rebrand or high-end brand photography to round out your brand audit checklist, book your FREE 30 minute discovery call and let’s get that sorted for you. We offer services in photography, videography, graphic and website design.
