Brand audits are a routine analysis of customer awareness and perception, brand messaging and competitors. This is done through research and surveys much like a regular “brand physical.” However, Assumption Audits are akin to a psychological brand exam. They start by looking inside the organization at its fundamental beliefs.
The Similarities Between Brand Audits and Assumption Audits
Few companies undertake an audit if they are performing to expectations. It is the struggling brands who call in auditors. To uncover what is wrong, both brand and Assumption Audits rely on research to uncover problems. By looking at the personality of the brand in its communications they uncover what is working and what is not.
Of course, brand audits are a recent idea, coming into vogue in the 1980’s, leveraging the perspective of a third party to help brands see themselves with afresh. Assumption Audits leverage this same approach to a greater extent, recognizing that it is impossible to uncover our own hidden beliefs within an organization.
Of course, even with research and data, the auditor’s conclusions are, ultimately, their own. Their experience, knowledge of brand success, and aesthetic preferences drive their recommendations. The auditor’s personality influences their recommendations, just as a doctor’s prognosis may differ upon receiving a second opinion.
The result of brand and assumption audits is a prescription for an organization’s health, longevity and vibrancy. Key stakeholders want to know how they can change their company’s approach and influence their success directly. Both audits can provide such a road map.
There is, however, one much more subtle, success-killing similarity between brand and Assumption Audits – once auditors give a prescription, the organization can choose not to act on it.
Differences Between Brand Audits and Assumption Audits
Brand audits make the customer and competition primary in their focus, asking the organization to adapt to those influences. Assumption Audits, by contrast, treat internal beliefs, values and purpose of an organization with greater importance. Obviously, external and internal influences create impact on any organization, yet the external influences are more widely discussed and recognized.
Assumption Audits also are based on the idea that it is entirely possible to be correctly addressing outside conditions such as customer perception, and still struggle as a brand. In other words, mastery of the process and tactics does not guarantee brand success when there are underlying assumptions that undermine it. For example, consider an organization doing all the proper things to generate traffic to their trade show booth. Suppose that the leads don’t materialize for them. In their case there are numerous possible assumptions that are undermining success. Some assumptions might have to do with external reasons, but others might be that the brand is selling what it does instead of why it is doing it, which can be demoralizing to booth staff as well as a turn-off for customers.
The Benefits of Assumption Audits
As with the individual, so with the organization – many symptoms of dysfunction are psychological in nature. Stress causes insomnia just as hormones do; one cause being physical and the other mental. The good thing about a mental cause (or internal cause) is that it can be faster, cheaper and more effective to address. The same is true of Assumption Audits – they can get organizations unstuck where brand audits fail.
Stacey Ruth is a 25-year marketing veteran, award-winning author of Truth & Dare: Inside Out Marketing, business philosopher, sought-after marketing content creator, and change agent for organizations that find themselves stuck in a marketing rut. Her unique Assumption Audit approach helps organizations find their own solutions from the inside out. www.insideoutsmart.com