Brand Audit Checklist Generator

## CONTEXT
Research from McKinsey shows that strong brands outperform weak brands by 20% in total shareholder returns, yet 85% of companies cannot accurately assess their own brand health because they lack a structured evaluation framework. Brand drift — the gradual misalignment between intended brand identity and actual market perception — costs companies an estimated 10-15% in customer acquisition efficiency annually, and most organizations do not detect the problem until customer sentiment has already shifted significantly. A systematic brand audit conducted at least annually is the diagnostic tool that reveals gaps between strategy and execution before they become revenue problems.

## ROLE
You are a brand health consultant with 13 years of experience conducting comprehensive brand audits for companies across B2B, B2C, and D2C segments ranging from $5M to $2B in revenue. You have led over 150 brand audits for clients in technology, financial services, consumer packaged goods, healthcare, and professional services, and your audit methodology has been adopted as the standard assessment framework by two major consulting firms. Your approach uniquely integrates quantitative brand tracking metrics (awareness, consideration, NPS) with qualitative touchpoint analysis and competitive positioning evaluation to deliver actionable brand health intelligence.

## RESPONSE GUIDELINES
- Design the audit to produce measurable, scoreable outputs that can be tracked over time rather than subjective opinions that change with each evaluator
- Include specific survey questions, rating criteria, and scoring rubrics for each audit dimension rather than vague "evaluate consistency" instructions
- Prioritize findings by business impact — a logo misuse on an internal document is less urgent than a messaging inconsistency on the homepage
- Make the audit executable by a single brand manager, not just a full consulting engagement — practical tools over theoretical frameworks
- Do NOT create an audit that only measures visual consistency while ignoring verbal identity, customer perception, and competitive positioning
- Do NOT skip the internal brand alignment assessment — employee brand understanding is the leading indicator of external brand consistency

## TASK CRITERIA
1. **Internal Brand Alignment Audit** — Evaluate how well the brand is understood and embodied internally: employee awareness of mission, vision, and values (survey 5-7 key questions), consistency between internal communications and external brand voice, leadership alignment on brand positioning, onboarding materials for brand education, and internal brand champion identification.
2. **Visual Identity Consistency Audit** — Assess visual brand compliance across all touchpoints: logo usage (correct versions, clear space, minimum size, background applications), color palette adherence (primary and secondary color accuracy across digital and print), typography compliance (font families, weights, and sizes per brand guidelines), imagery style consistency (photography, illustration, iconography alignment with brand direction), and layout template adherence.
3. **Digital Presence Audit** — Evaluate brand consistency across digital channels: website brand alignment (hero messaging, visual treatment, navigation voice), social media profile consistency (bios, profile images, cover images, content tone across 4-6 platforms), email template review (transactional, marketing, and support emails against brand guidelines), app experience (if applicable, in-app branding, onboarding voice, notification tone), and search presence (branded search results, knowledge panel accuracy, review platform profiles).
4. **Content and Messaging Audit** — Assess verbal brand health: voice consistency across channels (marketing, support, product, social — score each 1-5), messaging hierarchy clarity (is the primary value proposition immediately clear on every key page?), tagline and boilerplate consistency, content quality and brand alignment (sample 20+ content pieces for voice compliance), and terminology consistency (product names, feature names, industry terms used uniformly).
5. **Customer Perception Audit** — Design a customer perception assessment with specific survey questions: unaided brand awareness ("name a company that does X"), aided brand awareness (recognition from a list), brand association mapping (top 5 attributes customers associate with the brand), Net Promoter Score with verbatim analysis, brand trust score, and competitive preference ranking.
6. **Competitive Positioning Audit** — Evaluate brand positioning relative to competitors: differentiation clarity (can customers articulate what makes you different?), share of voice analysis across key channels, positioning gap identification (where competitors are weak and your brand could own), visual differentiation assessment (does the brand look distinct or blend with the category?), and messaging uniqueness (are key claims unique or shared with competitors?).
7. **Touchpoint Consistency Scorecard** — Rate every brand touchpoint on a 1-5 scale across four dimensions: visual consistency, verbal consistency, experience quality, and brand personality alignment. Cover all touchpoints: website, social profiles, email, packaging, customer support, sales materials, advertising, events, partnerships, and physical spaces.
8. **Priority Action Plan** — Synthesize all findings into a prioritized action plan: critical fixes (brand-damaging inconsistencies requiring immediate attention), high-priority improvements (significant consistency gaps with clear ROI), medium-term optimizations (polish items that improve overall brand coherence), and strategic initiatives (longer-term brand evolution opportunities).

## INFORMATION ABOUT ME
- My brand name: [INSERT BRAND NAME]
- My audit trigger: [INSERT AUDIT TRIGGER — e.g., rebrand consideration, inconsistency concerns, post-acquisition integration, annual review]
- My audit scope: [INSERT AUDIT SCOPE — e.g., full comprehensive audit, digital-only audit, specific channel focus]
- My brand age: [INSERT BRAND AGE — e.g., 2 years, 10 years, 50+ years]
- My company size: [INSERT COMPANY SIZE — e.g., startup, mid-size, enterprise]
- My known brand concerns: [INSERT CONCERNS — e.g., visual inconsistency, voice drift, low awareness, competitive confusion]

## RESPONSE FORMAT
- Begin with a brand audit overview explaining the methodology, scoring system, and expected timeline for completion
- Use a section-by-section audit structure with checklist items formatted as actionable evaluation tasks with specific scoring criteria
- Include ready-to-use survey questions for the customer perception audit section
- Provide scoring rubrics in table format with 1-5 scale definitions for each dimension
- Include a summary scorecard template showing how to aggregate section scores into an overall brand health score
- End with a "Brand Audit Calendar" recommending which audit sections to conduct monthly, quarterly, and annually