Brand analysis is the comprehensive evaluation of a brand’s current standing in the market, its target audience, and its competitive environment. It is the foundation of any branding process and helps in identifying opportunities for growth, differentiation, and improvement. A thorough brand analysis includes three critical components: a brand audit, a target audience analysis, and a competitor review. These elements must be articulated to provide a clear picture of where the brand currently stands and what actions are needed to align it with its desired positioning and long-term goals.
Brand Analysis: Why It Is Important
Brand analysis is essential because it is the starting point for developing or refining a brand strategy. Without an in-depth understanding of the brand’s current performance, audience preferences, and competitive pressures, it's nearly impossible to create an effective branding process. Brand analysis uncovers gaps between the brand’s goals and its current state, helping identify what’s working, what’s not, and how to evolve.
For instance, through a brand audit, a company may discover that its messaging is inconsistent or its visual identity is outdated. An analysis of the target audience might reveal that the brand isn't connecting as effectively with a younger demographic, while a competitor review could expose areas where the competition is occupying conflicting territory. Armed with this information, the brand can make informed decisions about what changes to make to stay relevant and competitive.
How Your Brand Analysis Can Contribute to a Clearer Brand Strategy, Better Brand Recognition and Higher Customer Loyalty
A brand analysis lays the groundwork for the entire branding process by providing key insights that shape the brand’s future direction. It helps to identify gaps between the brand’s current position and its desired goals, understand the target audience more deeply so the messaging and products meet their needs, and assess competitors so the brand can identify areas for differentiation and improvement.
Brand analysis helps refine brand identity, including messaging, values, and visuals, to ensure consistency across all touchpoints, and guide future branding initiatives so that they are backed by data and aligned with the brand’s core values and market positioning.
Brand Analysis: What Is Its Function?
The primary function of a brand analysis is to diagnose the current state of the brand, evaluate its strengths and weaknesses, and develop an action plan for improvement. Each component of the brand analysis serves a specific function. The brand audit evaluates the brand’s internal and external elements, such as its visual identity, messaging, website, customer experience, and overall consistency. The target audience analysis examines the needs, preferences, and behaviors of the brand’s current and potential customers. And the competitor review analyzes key competitors to identify opportunities for differentiation and growth.
Brand Analysis: A Real-World Scenario
An example of a successful brand analysis can be seen in the rebranding of Airbnb. Before its massive rebrand in 2014, Airbnb conducted an extensive brand audit, revealing that the brand was perceived more as a budget travel option, which didn’t fully capture the value it was providing to hosts and travelers.
A detailed target audience analysis highlighted the growing trend of travelers seeking unique, personalized experiences. The competitor review showed that Airbnb’s main competitors were hotel chains, which focused more on standardized experiences.
Based on these findings, Airbnb redefined its brand positioning, emphasizing a sense of belonging and personalized travel experiences. This shift allowed the brand to connect emotionally with its target audience, differentiate itself from traditional hospitality options, and capture a larger share of the market.
How to Perform Your Brand Analysis
Conducting a brand analysis involves three main steps. The first step is the brand audit, which focuses on evaluating internal and external brand elements. Internally, this includes examining the brand’s mission, vision, values, logo, typography, colors, messaging, and tone of voice. It's crucial to assess consistency across all touchpoints, from the website and social media to packaging and customer service. Externally, it's important to analyze customer feedback, reviews, and social media mentions to understand how the brand is perceived by the public. Finally, the audit should identify brand gaps, specifically looking for areas where the brand identity may not align with its audience's perceptions or expectations.
The second step is target audience analysis. This begins with profiling the audience by developing detailed personas based on demographics, psychographics, and behavioral data. It's also important to survey or interview customers to collect both qualitative and quantitative data, which can help you better understand their preferences, pain points, and motivations. Once you have gathered this data, segment your audience to identify key customer groups and tailor your branding efforts to connect effectively with each segment.
The third and final step is the competitor review. Start by identifying key competitors within your industry, including both direct and indirect competitors. Evaluate their brand elements such as logos, messaging, customer experience, and overall strengths and weaknesses. Benchmark their performance against your own brand in key areas like market share, customer loyalty, and online presence to understand where your brand stands in relation to the competition.
Brand Analysis: Best Practice
A leading example of effective brand analysis is Nike’s constant evaluation of its brand identity and market positioning. Nike regularly conducts brand audits, audience analysis, and competitor reviews to ensure it remains relevant in the hyper-competitive athletic wear industry.
Through continuous audience analysis, Nike discovered the growing influence of lifestyle wear within its market and adjusted its product lines and branding accordingly. Simultaneously, by keeping a close eye on competitors such as Adidas and Under Armour, Nike has been able to stay ahead of trends and maintain its position as a leader in the industry.
Brand Analysis: What to Avoid
When conducting a brand analysis, avoid ignoring customer feedback. Failing to analyze what your customers are saying about your brand can lead to blind spots in your brand strategy. Also avoid overcomplicating the process: brand analysis is essential but doesn’t need to be overly complex. Focus on gathering actionable insights rather than getting lost in data. Then avoid neglecting competitors. Underestimating your competition can prevent you from identifying opportunities for differentiation and growth. And, finally, do not fail to act on insights: a successful brand analysis is only valuable if you implement the changes that the analysis reveals.
Where Brand Analysis Sits in the Branding Process
The Brand Analysis is the first step in the branding process, including target audience analysis and definition, and competitor review. To ensure perfect alignment, the Brand Analysis must be completed before the Brand Strategy Platform.