Get Your Business in Shape with a Brand Audit

Get Your Business in Shape with a Brand Audit

A few years back I had my introductory meeting/assessment with my first-ever personal trainer. He took one look at me and let me know, in the gentlest way possible, that I had work to do. He was right. Between one thing and another I’d just kind of let things slide. My trainer let me know that’s pretty common, that those pounds tend to creep up over time. We get busy, we neglect to cut out the time to plan, and we fail to execute.

We hear that same story from clients all the time. They’re talking about their brands, not their bodies, but the symptoms are the same. Where my trainer saw a lack of focus and the need for a more comprehensive exercise routine, the business owner feels a growing disconnect between his or her company and the perceptions, expectations, and desires of customers and/or employees. The results are also very similar.

Any conversation with a trainer quickly comes around to the word “core.” Keeping the body’s central nucleus toned strengthens the muscles that supports the spine, providing the foundation for overall health and wellness. In business, it’s all about your company’s “core values.” Again, same symptoms, same results. Letting processes, policies or behaviors deviate from the central tenets that support your brand leads to an unhealthy culture that will, eventually, negatively affect your bottom line.

A brand audit is the business equivalent of that session with a physical trainer. It brings an objective, professional assessment to bear, providing the kind of unbiased, critical look in the mirror that can expose imbalances that may be too close for you to see in the short term, but can sabotage your business’s health over time.

One of the great benefits of any good training session – or brand audit – is the way it makes you feel. You might dread the idea of actually getting into it, but once you’re there, it’s fun. And the best part? After it’s over, you feel refreshed and refocused, ready to go back to work and do some heavy lifting.