How's your brand?

Every interaction you have with a customer is a chance to reinforce your brand. If you don't have any brand identity controls in place, your customers may experience something different every time they interact with your company. However, with accurate and consistent audits, you can prevent brand erosion. The best way to start with a brand audit is to spread all of your company collateral that everyone uses out in one place and check for consistency.

• Are the colors and typeface in your logo consistent across all pieces?
• Is your logo on every piece of printed and electronic material your customer sees?
• Is your tagline included with your logo consistently?
• Do you use standardized colors across all collateral?
• Is there a common look and feel?
• Can someone look at any marketing material and instantly know it is from your company?
• Are you consistently communicating the same messages about your brand across all channels?
• Do you use the same contact information across all campaigns? And is it current?
• Finally, ask customers to tell you what your brand stands for.

Once you've answered these preliminary questions, you'll have a good idea of the 'brand moments' your customers experience. Is this the message you want to convey? Take an inventory of what needs to be updated, make the necessary changes, and audit regularly to maintain your brand standards.