Brand Audit Checklist

Thirty quick tests across positioning, messaging, identity, website and voice. Score your brand out of 60 and find out where to start.

Buy the checklist $25

If it doesn’t help, email us and we’ll refund you.

Three pages from the Brand Audit Checklist

This audit uses tests instead of your opinion.

You know what you meant, so you read it into your own brand. Each of the thirty checks comes with a test you can run in five minutes or less, using a timer, a phone, your last three sales emails or a friend outside your industry, and you score what you saw.

The wince test

Three questions before you start. Yes or no.

Do you ever tell a prospect to ignore the website?

Do you spend sales calls explaining what the brand should already say?

Have you lowered a price because the brand didn’t justify it?

A yes to any of these means the brand is costing you money. The checks show where.

What you get

  1. Thirty checks, each with a test.

    Every check comes with a test a skeptical stranger could run, so your score reflects what prospects actually see, not what you meant.

  2. Which section to fix first.

    Section totals and four score bands show where the brand is weakest, and the fix order keeps a new logo from covering up a positioning problem.

  3. A plan for your first three fixes.

    The three fixes to start with, taken from your weakest section, so you know exactly what to do next.

Try four of the checks.

Four of the thirty, from four of the five sections. Score what you could prove to a stranger: 2 for yes, 1 for partly, 0 for no or not sure.

01

You can say who it’s for in one sentence, and the sentence leaves people out.

Write it down. If nobody could read it and think “not me,” it’s too broad.

07

A stranger can tell what you sell within five seconds.

Show someone your homepage for five seconds, then take the phone back. Ask what you sell and who it’s for.

16

Your look matches your price.

Show your homepage to someone and ask them to guess what you charge. A low guess scores 0.

28

Your AI drafts sound like you.

Ask ChatGPT or Claude to write your next newsletter intro. If you rewrite more than half of it, score 0.

Your score – / 8

The full audit has thirty checks, scores each section out of 12 and tells you which one to fix first.

Buy the checklist $25

Look inside

A few pages as you’ll get them. Open any of them to read it full size.

What it covers

  1. 03 Send these today Two messages to send customers and a friend before you start.
  2. 04 Positioning Who it’s for, what it replaces and why you.
  3. 05 Messaging What you say, and whether a stranger gets it.
  4. 06 Identity Your name, logo, colors, fonts and files.
  5. 07 Website Speed, proof, and what prospects ask on calls.
  6. 08 Voice How you sound everywhere, AI drafts included.
  7. 09 Run it with AI One prompt plays the skeptical stranger, one turns your scores into fixes.
  8. 10 Your score Section totals, score bands and the fix order.
  9. 11 Your first three fixes The plan, and what to use next.

Is it for you?

Get it if
Your business has customers and revenue, but the brand hasn’t kept up. You wince a little when you send prospects to the site, and you want to know what to fix before you spend money fixing it.
Skip it if
You haven’t launched yet. Start with the Brand Strategy Workbook, and come back once people are buying.

Who made this

Jon Persson

Jon Persson Founder, Cultmethod

Jon has spent ten years building brands for founders, more than 100 of them start to finish, and co-owns Greco Gum.

More about Jon
“Artistry, business, and technology integrated into one. The work we did together 5 years ago continues to pay dividends even today.”
Ed Latimore Author, Penguin Books, on working with Jon
A tin of Greco Gum on a table with raw mastic resin Greco Gum Case study The mastic gum company Jon has co-owned since its 2021 launch, now with more than 70,000 customers. Read the case study

Questions

How long does it take?
About 45 minutes for the checks you can run on your own. Five need answers from customers or a friend outside your industry. Page 3 has the messages to send, so you can score the rest while you wait.
What if I score low?
Then you know where to start. Page 10 tells you which section to fix first, and page 11 turns it into the first three fixes to make.
Will it work for my kind of business?
If you have customers and a website, yes. The tests work the same way for a consultancy, an agency, a product brand or an author.
Can I use AI for it?
For some of it. Page 9 has two prompts. One plays a skeptical stranger for the checks that only need your own materials. The other turns your scores into a plan. The customer tests still need real people.
Do I need to know design?
No. The tests use things you already have, like your homepage, your phone, your sales emails and a few people you can ask.
Is it a pitch for your Brand Sprint?
The last page describes the Brand Sprint, for anyone who’d rather we did the work. Everything before it stands on its own.
What format is it?
A PDF. Print it and work on paper, or write on it in any PDF app.
How do I get it?
You check out on Kit, the email platform we use, and Kit emails you the download link as soon as you pay.
What if it doesn’t help?
Email us at jon@cultmethod.com and we’ll refund you.
Can I share it with my team?
Yes, with anyone in your business. Please don’t pass it on outside the business or resell it.
The cover of the Brand Audit Checklist

Get the Brand Audit Checklist

  • 30 checks, each with a five-minute test
  • Messages to send customers before you start
  • Section scores and a total out of 60
  • Score bands and the order to fix things in
  • A one-page plan for your first three fixes
  • Two prompts for ChatGPT or Claude

One-time payment

$25

Buy the checklist

If it doesn’t help, email us and we’ll refund you.

Or get all four for $75 as The DIY Brand Kit.

More resources

All resources
Brand Strategy Workbook $37 Seven exercises that get your strategy out of your head and onto one page. Persuasive Messaging $65 Build the message your marketing repeats, then six pieces of copy that come out of it. Pre-Hire Checklist Free Eight questions to ask before you hire a brand agency or freelancer, and how to read the answers.