Building a home to last for generations starts with building a foundation that can handle the test of time. For a tree to stand tall and reach for the sky, the base in which it is rooted must be secure enough for it to stretch to the heavens. For your company and brand, this is no exception.
Securing your bases from the start of your journey allow for you to reach the breadth and depth of your target population earlier. How effective you are in communicating with your audience comes down to having the clarity in who you are, who your audience is, and knowing how to provide the most value. Once this is established, this will inform what your brand says and how it says it. We realize that most startups don't get to a good place to confidently and consistently deliver cohesive value in their marketing channels — this is where we introduce brand audits.
A brand audit is exactly how it sounds. It is putting one's brand under the microscope and seeing how each of its organelles, or brand elements, work in harmony to create an optimally-functioning cell, or brand. If our mitochondria is lacking, the rest of the cell can't do its job properly and the same goes for one's philosophy and company. Though the brand audit doesn't go so far as to restructuring and re-aligning your entire identity, it exists to enhance the hygiene in how you present yourself verbally and non-verbally throughout your channels.
By examining how the typography flows with the logos and colors, for example, we're able to study each of the brand's elements independently, along with how they contribute to the overall coherence of everything your company creates. It isn't only the banners in retargeting ads, social media posts or externally-shared documents but also the products, blog posts and all the other vehicles you use to deliver your ideas and value to the rest of the world.
The brand audit also exists to present to you the potential opportunities in elevating your brand. Startups don't always have the capacity to create new brands every time they pivot but we have acknowledged that these companies shift according to the market and that some things need to change. The recommendations provided in the brand audit are small, easy steps you can take to achieving a new level of consistency that ultimately leads to being more confident in your brand.
There is no question that great things take time and hard work. But without the proper groundwork, the patience and intensity is squandered. By recognizing a startup's limited capacity of work, our brand audit allows for a second set of eyes to identify the affordable opportunities that will enhance your brand and company significantly. We get it — building a brand can be challenging but by securing the foundation, you can be confident that your brand is able to grow tall and mighty in the dense forest of today's landscape.
