Your brand or brand voice consultant is suggesting your business invests in paid brand audit - but why is that, and what’s the point? And what do you get for your money?

A brand voice audit is a paid review of how your business sounds across your website, sales emails, job ads, socials and more, and where that voice is helping or hurting you. If your brand voice consultant has suggested one before a full quote, you might wonder why, and what you get for your money.

Read on. (This is part 2 of a series on working with a brand voice consultant. Part 1 covers the brief.)

Why a brand voice audit is like an MOT

The simplest analogy is booking your car in for a full service, health check and MOT.

You know it needs doing. You want a health check, because you’re about to drive abroad. You ask your mechanic for a rough quote, but you know what they’ll say: until they get under the bonnet, they have no idea what’s working, what isn’t and which parts are needed.

When they phone you around lunchtime, they tell you what needs work today, which mid-term problems you should fix sooner rather than later, and which longer-term issues are coming, such as tyres with a year left on them.

Crucially, your mechanic is paid for their time spent assessing what you have, what works, what doesn’t and what they advise. They bring the best of their knowledge to your car so you can get where you need to go.

That’s why a consultant can’t responsibly quote for a full brand voice project before an audit. Until they’ve looked under the bonnet, they’re guessing.

What do you need to share with your brand voice consultant?

To get under the bonnet, your consultant might ask for any brand work you’ve already paid for, plus internal material such as training decks, sales emails and job ads. This is on top of the time they spend with your website, socials and press materials.

Sharing deeper material lets them see how you talk and write in different places. It gives them clues about which words matter to you, which voices people use when, and the context behind those choices.

It should also show where your brand is working hard and where it needs work. Even an undefined brand has strengths and gaps. The point is to let your consultant learn the words people use, and when.

What brand materials does a consultant need?

Some consultants will also ask for what I call stimulus: things that make your heart sing, such as documentaries, podcasts, TV shows or content creators. Some people tell me about their favourite Instagram creators, and others name reportage photographers or musicians.

I want to know whose content, writing or brand is so good it makes you feel sick with envy. Who’s catching you up, and you’re furious about it?

By learning about you and looking for your subtext, I can start finding the voice that communicates your message to your audience.

Why are stakeholder interviews part of a brand voice audit?

I’m asking you, dear reader, to give a chunk of time to your consultant, so here’s the case for it.

A brand voice project is measured against metrics you agree up front, such as “We want to reach VP purchasers” or “We want a voice that helps us connect with customers who value purpose.”

Senior leaders should be available to the consultant, because they hold the steering view of where the business is going. If the voice is part of a five-year plan to raise average deal size, your consultant needs to know you’re aiming at a new type of customer, so they can plan their audience research and voice-of-customer research properly.

(See how this worked in practice in the x+why case study.)

How does a brand voice audit show whether your voice is working?

Unlike an MOT, there’s no legal minimum for a brand voice. So consultants will ask about your business: where it’s going, what it’s doing and where you need to get to.

Say you’re an L&D company. You deliver exceptionally creative and successful learning strategies. You run courses, but you also deliver powerful (and lucrative) leadership training and coaching.

But the first H2 on your website says you help customers to “achieve your organisation’s ambitions through strategic leadership skills, driving measurable business and organisational growth, enabling you to achieve your company’s goals and unlock tangible business impact.”

That copy isn’t creative. It’s jargon-heavy, too long and could come from any corporate provider. It’s one quick, clear signal that your copy isn’t working.

How do you spot the gaps?

Take the same L&D company. You’re leaving a client catch-up. They’ve been customers for five years, they rate your service and your relationship is good.

You mention your highest-tier service, and they look shocked. They had no idea it existed, and they’re surprised you deliver that kind of work.

That’s a gap your voice can and should close. You didn’t pay someone to write “driving measurable business impact” on your home page because it was the best way to describe you. It probably felt safe because it sounds like the corporates and the start-ups.

Sharing scenarios like this helps your consultant see where your voice is letting you down. Your layer of jargon is hiding your ability to deliver exciting, creative, valuable work.

A consultant might say: “You say you’re creative, and it’s clear you care about your work. But the language you’re using isn’t creative, and when I spoke to your customers, half of them didn’t describe you as creative at all. There’s a gap between what you’re saying and what you’re doing.”

That’s what a good audit does. It shows your consultant is paying close attention to what your business needs to achieve, how, and why the problems are showing up.

How do I talk about my brand? (I feel stupid)

Talking about branding is hard for many people, especially if you don’t think you’re creative, didn’t study the arts, or were brought up to think talking about culture is showing off. You might even think you don’t have a brand, or that it doesn’t matter.

But if a customer, consultant or loved one says, “Well, your business is all about dogs,” when you actually help cats find the right hats, and you find yourself getting angry, then you care about your brand. You care how people see the business you’ve built and are growing.

What do you get from a brand voice audit?

A brand voice audit gives you:

• A written report of what’s working and what isn’t
• A gap analysis comparing how you sound with how you want to sound, and what your customers need to hear
• A playback call to talk through the findings
• Clear next steps, whether or not you work with me on a full voice project

Audits take two weeks and start from £2,500 + VAT.

Who is a brand voice audit for?

An audit suits organisations that already have product-market fit, have already invested in their brand, and want to get their voice right before an exciting change. It tells you whether your voice is fit for purpose.

It’s probably not right if you’re pre-launch, bootstrapping, or you want someone to simply write your copy. You'll find a more accessible service in my 90-minute session at £200 + VAT.