# How to Run a Brand Audit: A Practical Checklist > A brand audit checks how a brand is seen, how much demand it has and how it compares with competitors. Gather the numbers (search demand, sentiment, social and paid activity), compare the brand's message with what people actually say about it, then turn the gaps into a short list of priorities. Canonical: https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/brand-audit/ Published by the Know the Room team (https://knowtheroom.ai/authors/know-the-room-team/). Updated 2026-10-24. ## Key takeaways - A brand audit checks how a brand is seen, how much demand it has and how it compares with competitors. - A brand audit gathers numbers on search demand, sentiment, social and paid activity. - Comparing a brand's own message with what people actually say about it shows where the positioning breaks down. - A brand audit should end in a short list of priorities, not a long report. - To audit a brand's visibility in AI answers, run the prompts buyers would use in several assistants and record whether the brand appears, how it's described and which sources are cited. - Running a quick brand audit on a company before an interview gives you specific, informed things to say. ## What is a brand audit? A brand audit is a structured review of a brand's health: how many people know it and look for it, what they think of it, what the brand says about itself, and how all of that compares with competitors. Marketing teams run one before a repositioning, a new campaign or a budget plan. It's also one of the best ways to prepare for a brand or marketing leadership interview: an outside-in audit of the company gives you a point of view to bring to the conversation. You don't need paid tools or inside data to start; public sources get you a long way. ## Step 1: Set the scope Decide what you're auditing and against whom before you collect anything. - **The brand.** The company, or one product line? Keep to one. - **The competitive set.** Four to six brands a buyer genuinely compares it with. - **The time frame.** Usually the last 12 months, compared with the year before. - **The market.** One country, or the main one if the brand is global. ## Step 2: Measure demand Demand tells you whether more or fewer people are looking for the brand. - [ ] Monthly branded search volume for the brand and each competitor - [ ] [Share of search](/guides/share-of-search/) across the set, and how it changed year on year - [ ] Direct and branded traffic trends, if you have access - [ ] Any seasonal pattern, so you don't mistake a peak for growth ## Step 3: Measure perception Perception is what people say about the brand when the brand isn't talking. - [ ] Sentiment in comments on the brand's own social posts - [ ] What people say in forums and communities such as Reddit - [ ] Review ratings and the themes in reviews - [ ] News coverage: volume and tone - [ ] How AI assistants describe the brand when asked about the category Count themes, don't just quote the loudest comment. Note sample sizes: twenty comments is a hint, not a finding. ## Step 4: Review positioning and messaging Compare what the brand says with what people say back. - [ ] The main message on the homepage and in recent campaigns - [ ] The promise each competitor leads with - [ ] Whether the brand's claims are distinct or interchangeable with competitors' - [ ] Gaps between the brand's message and the perception you found in Step 3 The gap between the message and the perception is often the most useful finding in the whole audit. If you only have time for one step before an interview, make it this one. ## Step 5: Review social, creators and paid media Look at where the brand shows up and how much it invests. - [ ] Followers and engagement per post on each main platform, against competitors - [ ] The content formats that perform best - [ ] Creator and influencer activity: how many, how big, how much is paid - [ ] Active ads in public ad libraries ([Meta Ad Library](https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/), [Google Ads Transparency Center](https://adstransparency.google.com/)), with their main messages - [ ] Whether paid messages match the brand's positioning ## Step 6: Turn findings into priorities An audit is only useful if it ends in a short list of decisions. 1. **Write the three to five most important findings**, each with the number behind it. 2. **Rank them** by impact on the business and how fast they could change. 3. **For each, suggest one action** and how you'd measure it. 4. **Say what you couldn't measure** and how you'd find out. ```text Finding: [what you found, with the number and its source] Why it matters: [the business effect] What I'd do: [one action] How we'd know it worked: [the metric and the time frame] ``` ## How do you audit a brand's visibility in AI answers? Ask the AI assistants your buyers use the questions they'd ask, and record whether the brand shows up, what's said about it and which sources are cited. Answers change from one run to the next, so treat this as a sample, not a ranking. 1. **Write 10 to 20 prompts** a buyer might use: category questions ("best running shoes for beginners"), comparisons ("Brand A vs Brand B") and questions about the brand itself. 2. **Run each prompt in the assistants that matter** for the category, such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews, ideally more than once. 3. **Record what you see** in a simple table, for the brand and each competitor. 4. **Compare the description with the brand's own positioning** from Step 4. A mismatch is a finding. | Prompt | Assistant | Brand mentioned? | How it's described | Competitors named | Sources cited | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | [prompt] | [assistant] | [yes / no, position] | [the words used] | [names] | [sites] | The sources column is the most useful one: it shows which reviews, articles and pages shape the answer, and so where the brand could earn better coverage. ## How to present a brand audit Lead with the conclusions, not the method. A one-page summary with the top findings, followed by the evidence, works for most audiences. If it's for an interview, keep it to a handful of slides and expect questions on your sources. Present your findings in your own words, as your read of the brand, rather than reading the slides; the opinion is what they're interested in. The [marketing case study presentation](/guides/marketing-case-study-presentation/) guide covers structure. For definitions of the measures used here, see the [marketing metrics glossary](/glossary/). ## FAQ ### How long does a brand audit take? An outside-in audit using public data can take a few days. A full internal audit with customer research and sales data usually takes several weeks. ### What's the difference between a brand audit and a marketing audit? A brand audit looks at the brand's health: awareness, demand, perception and positioning. A marketing audit is broader and also covers channels, budget, team and processes. ### Can I do a brand audit without paid tools? Yes. [Google Trends](https://trends.google.com/), public ad libraries, the brand's own social accounts and review sites give you enough for a useful first pass. Start with Step 2 this afternoon and build from there. ### How often should a brand run an audit? Once a year is common, plus before any major repositioning or campaign. ### What should a brand audit checklist include? At minimum: branded search demand and share of search, sentiment in comments, reviews and forums, the brand's main message against each competitor's, social and creator activity, active ads, and how AI assistants describe the brand. Steps 2 to 5 above are the full checklist. ### What is an employer brand audit? The same method pointed at the brand as an employer: what candidates and employees say on review sites and LinkedIn, how the careers page and job posts describe the company, and how that compares with competitors for the same talent. It's useful if you're interviewing for an employer brand, recruitment marketing or internal communications role. ### What's a digital brand audit? A brand audit limited to online channels: search demand, the website, social, creators, paid ads, reviews and AI answers. Most outside-in audits are effectively digital audits, because those are the sources anyone can see. ## More on Marketing templates - [Marketing plan template](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/marketing-plan-template.md) - [Creative brief template](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/creative-brief-template.md) - [Competitive analysis template](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/competitive-analysis-template.md) - [Brand positioning statement](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/brand-positioning-statement.md) - [Marketing budget template](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/marketing-budget-template.md) - [Marketing KPIs](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/marketing-kpis.md) - [30-60-90 day plan](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/30-60-90-day-plan.md) ## More on Brand strategy - [Brand strategist](https://knowtheroom.ai/career-guides/brand-strategist.md) - [Creative strategist](https://knowtheroom.ai/career-guides/creative-strategist.md) - [Brand positioning statement](https://knowtheroom.ai/guides/brand-positioning-statement.md) - [Brand manager](https://knowtheroom.ai/career-guides/how-to-become-a-brand-manager.md) - [Account planner](https://knowtheroom.ai/career-guides/account-planner.md)