Digital Brand Audit
Companies want to know how their brands are performing in China. We can help you find out.
Let us be your doctor. Let us take a close look and tell you how healthy your brand is in China. If things aren’t going well, let us diagnose the problem and help you to fix it.
We can do a full spectrum analysis of your digital marketing matrix and point out what’s effective, what’s hitting the mark, what’s missing and what needs urgent attention.
We’ll also assess your industry and major competitors to see how they’re doing and show you how you can match and outpace your top competition.
Our detailed research will give you an unprecedented view of your brand’s digital marketing status. During and after our analysis, we’ll walk you through our findings, taking into account internal and external stakeholders, and give you concrete, actionable recommendations about the steps you can take to dramatically improve your situation. For some, this means a strong pivot while for others, it’s about optimizing and tweaking.
This kind of audit is especially vital in digital marketing in China given the fast pace of the market and how difficult it can be for upper management outside of the market to understand and react to this pace. This, along with many cultural and digital differences, also make it difficult to duplicate a global campaign without localizing it. Strong support and broad approaches from the top, working with an empowered, skilled local team that can customize material and approaches for China, is a highly successful model to thrive in this cutthroat marketplace.
Who’s it for?
All brands operating in China should do a digital audit once a year. The market moves fast and changes rapidly and you need to make sure that you’re keeping up. Here are a few signs that you need a digital audit:
- You’re unsure how well you’re performing within your industry.
- You’re unsure which areas of your brand are strong and which need a further boost.
- You’re not sure if your visual identity is right for your brand in China.
- Your messaging doesn’t seem to resonate with your Chinese audience.
- You’ve never audited the competition.
- You don’t know how to improve your brand fast and tackle low hanging fruit.
- You’re in need of an action plan to grow your brand in China.
A digital brand audit will help you leave uncertainty behind, get clear on your current status and unlock your brand’s potential.
How will you benefit ?
Every client has their own particular brand audit needs so our process is flexible and takes into account a number of factors such as the size and maturity of the brand and available resources. It offers you the following benefits:
- Helps you understand where you are right now
- Helps you understand who’s best in class and how you can take over that position, starting with low hanging fruit
- Helps you determine what skills and resources your China team needs to further improve
- Helps you to determine the positioning of your business in China and plan corrective digital marketing and ecommerce strategies
- Empowers you to discover the strengths and weaknesses of your brand in China
- Enables you to understand the perceptions of your business in China
- Helps you align your offerings more accurately with the expectations of Chinese customers
- Helps you understand what support your China team needs from headquarters and how headquarters and your China team can align better
Digital Brand Audit - Detailed Explanation
Our team is made up of researchers, social media experts, campaign strategists, trainers, copywriters, designers, video professionals and more. We search thoroughly and present our findings honestly and clearly.
Process
We approach the delivery of China digital brand audits in three stages: discovery, development and deployment.
During the discovery stage we pinpoint where we are right now by looking at the brand’s presence, accounts and content. We speak to in-house teams and account owners. We survey customers to understand their perceptions. We research our competitors and those from other industries that represent the best in class. We establish benchmarks for each platform relevant to your business.
In the development stage we create a roadmap for how to get from where we are now to become the best in class. What are some of the quick fixes that we can tackle right away? What are some of the strategic questions we need to answer?
In the deployment stage we cover broader topics regarding the in-house skills, tools, providers, and training needed to make sure the implementation of improvements is sustained.
Delivering the Brand Audit Report
At each stage, we present key information through documents and presentations and walk your team through a summary of our findings and recommendations.
Some of the topics you may want to cover in your brand audit are:
- Market environment including regulatory changes, challenges and trends
- Brand social media performance
- Social media matrix and performance review
- Brand localization
- Consumer personas and customer demographics
- Brand’s category status
- Brand awareness
- Actual and perceived brand benefits
- Brand positioning and differentiation
- Perceived brand quality
- Brand reputation
- A review of brand advertising
- Market gaps and opportunities
- Direct and indirect competitors ranking, reputation and best practices
- Brand touchpoint
Your Brand Audit Options
The needs of every business are different and we tailor our audits in close cooperation with each client.
1) Express
An express brand audit can be done in one week and the findings will be presented during a 1-2 hour consulting session with Ashley or our senior team members. Through it you will get the following:
- An appraisal of your existing social media presence
- A strategy overview
- Platform-specific tactics and suggestions
- Suggestions for resources and tools
- Answers to your high level questions
Timeline: 1 week
2) Deep dive
A deep dive audit requires comprehensive research. It’s a review and strategy project focused on assessing your current state in China’s digital space, as well as understanding the brands that are the best in class and how to get there. Through it you will get the following:
- A thorough social media audit of all Chinese social media and ecommerce accounts
- Extended reports on your brand’s current performance
- Competitor analysis on social media and ecommerce platforms
- Suggestions for strategy, content, process and tool enhancements
- Integration with other marketing and ecommerce channels including Tmall and JD
Timeline: 10 weeks
3) Ongoing support
Long term cooperation that includes a deep dive and ongoing support, training and consulting with your China and HQ teams. Through it you will get the following
- A long-term partnership
- Ongoing monitoring and guidance
- Regular assessment and strategy meetings
- Dynamic shifts in focus as your business or marketing goals evolve
- Consultancy and training for team members as required
Timeline: yearly
WHY CHOOSE ALARICE?
WE CREATE IMPACT
Our team is reliable and results focused.
WE ARE YOUR TEAM
We provide the best quality possible for achieving results.
WE ARE OUTSTANDING
We provide the best quality possible for achieving results.
ADDITIONAL SERVICES
CONSUMER RESEARCH
Identify target consumers, understand their demands and get ahead of possible future trends, with Alarice’s research team. We’ll help you to convert insights about your consumer personas into actionable strategy.
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
We help you to localize messages, strengthen your brand image and reach out to target audiences through Chinese social media.
INFLUENCER MARKETING AND CAMPAIGNS
We help you to establish goal-specific social marketing campaigns and fruitful collaborations with Chinese KOLs and influencers.
DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY
Our China marketing research and strategy team gives you a detailed framework that will allow you to start and grow your business in mainland China.
PAID ADVERTISING
We provide an all-round advertising solution to help you reach your target audience as well as get more traffic and leads.
SOCIAL LISTENING AND DIGITAL MONITORING
We can help you understand and analyse what netizens are saying about your brand online.
MEET OUR FOUNDER
MEET OUR FOUNDER
Ashley Dudarenok is a China digital marketing expert, serial entrepreneur, masterclass facilitator, keynote speaker, bestselling author, vlogger and podcaster. She’s also a LinkedIn Top Voice in Marketing, Holmes Report Asia Pacific Top 25 Innovator and has been a member of JD’s Global China Experts Group. She’s the founder of digital marketing consultancy ChoZan digital marketing agency Alarice.
As a keynote speaker, Ashley has spoken at over 100 events across the globe for companies like BMW, Disney, Shangri-La, Deutsche Bundesbank, Richemont and TEDx. She’s also given lectures at HKU Space and done talks at the China Business Centre of Hong Kong PolyU and the National University of Singapore Business School.
A regular media contributor, Ashley has appeared in The SCMP, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, China Daily, Inside Retail, Jing Daily, Technode, CNBC, Wired, Huffington Post as well as interviews on The BBC, CGTN and more.
CLIENTS WE HAVE WORKED WITH
WHAT DO PEOPLE SAY
FAQ
Both. We use a variety of tools to collect information and then we analyze the data and strategize, develop case studies, pinpoint insights and make actionable suggestions. Contact us to get more information.
An express high level review can be done in 1 week. For a deep dive audit, it’s 8-12 weeks depending on the scope. Contact us to get more information.
We’ve worked with lots of global brands, their HQs and their China teams. We involve your local China team in the process early on, so they see us for what we are, people who are interested in their input and who can translate their issues and concerns to upper management and headquarters. We let supervisors know how they can better support their China team given the realities of the market. Most of our clients’ China teams see us as an additional internal alignment team and a partner rather than an external auditor. Schedule a call with us to speak in more detail.
Yes, we can. We will give you our recommendations and resources for tools and techniques to help you get the job done and put the reins in your hands as we guide you through the process. Once this is completed and you feel confident, we take a step back and away you go! Contact us to get more information.
READY TO ORDER YOU CHINA STRATEGY OR DIGITAL BRAND AUDIT? GET IN TOUCH NOW!
LOOKING TO TRAIN YOUR CHINA TEAM?
Check our Digital China Consultancy for a variety of learning programmes, consulting sessions, China trend watching and research focused on China’s best practices and successful business models. Click on the ChoZan logo for more info.
