Is Your Business Image Making You Money or Costing You Jobs?
I’ve sat down with hundreds of business owners across Brisbane—from electricians in Coorparoo to lawyers in the CBD—and I see the same problem over and over again.
They’re working 60 hours a week, their team is flat out, but the bank account doesn’t reflect the effort. They feel like they’re constantly fighting over price, and the customers they do get are often a headache.
If that sounds like you, your problem isn't your work ethic. It’s your "brand."
Now, before you roll your eyes, I’m not talking about fancy logos or expensive colour palettes that some agency in Sydney wants to charge you $20k for. When I say brand, I mean what people think of when they hear your business name.
A "brand audit" is just a fancy way of saying: "Let’s take a hard look at how the world sees us and fix the stuff that’s costing us money."
In this guide, I’m going to show you how to look at your business through your customers' eyes. We’ll figure out why you might be losing out to the guy down the road and how to position yourself so you can stop being the cheapest and start winning the profitable work you deserve.
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Why Most Brisbane Businesses Get This Wrong
Most owners think their brand is just their logo on the side of the ute. It’s not.
Your brand is the way your staff answer the phone. It’s how clean your uniforms are. It’s the tone of your emails. It’s whether your website makes you look like a professional outfit or a backyard operation.
I recently spoke to a landscaper in Ascot. He was frustrated because he kept losing quotes to a bigger company. He knew his work was better, but he looked "small time." His quotes were sent as plain text emails, his Facebook page hadn't been updated since 2019, and his logo looked like it was designed in Microsoft Paint.
He was losing $50,000 jobs because he looked like a $5,000 contractor.
A brand audit helps you spot these gaps. It’s about making sure the quality of your image matches the quality of your work.
Step 1: The "Google Yourself" Reality Check
This is the first thing I do with any new client at Local Marketing Group. Put yourself in a customer's shoes. If you needed a plumber/accountant/roofer tomorrow, what would you do? You’d Google them.
Go to Google and type in your business name. What do you see?
The Google Business Profile
Is your phone number correct? Are your opening hours right? More importantly, what do the reviews say? If you have a 3.2-star rating, it doesn't matter how good your marketing is—people will skip right past you.High-paying customers do their homework. They want to see that other people have had a great experience. If you’ve got a string of bad feedback, you need to fix your reputation before you spend another cent on advertising.
The Search Results
Does your website show up? Or is it buried on page three? Does the description under your website link actually tell people what you do, or is it a bunch of technical gibberish?If your online presence looks messy, customers assume your work is messy too. It might be unfair, but it’s the truth.
Step 2: Audit Your "First Impressions"
Think about the first time a customer interacts with you. Usually, it’s one of three things: they see your ute, they visit your website, or they call you.
Your Website (The Virtual Showroom)
Does your website work on phones? Most of your customers are looking for you while they're on the go. If they have to pinch and zoom to read your phone number, they’re gone.Does it load fast? People in 2024 have zero patience. If your site takes more than three seconds to load, you’ve lost the lead.
Most importantly: Does it look like a professional business? I’ve seen million-dollar companies with websites that look like they were built by their nephew in 2005. If you want to charge premium prices, you have to look premium.
Your Physical Presence
If you’re a tradie, look at your van. Is it clean? Is the signage peeling? If you’re a shopfront, is the paint fading?I worked with a mechanic in Moorooka who couldn't understand why he wasn't getting more high-end European car work. We looked at his shop—it was dark, greasy, and had old tyres piled up out the front. We spent a weekend painting the walls, cleaning the floor, and putting up clear signage. Within a month, he was seeing more BMWs and Audis than ever before. He didn't change his skills; he changed his image.
The Phone Test
Have a friend call your business. How do they get treated? Is the greeting professional? Do they get put on hold for ten minutes?If your front-of-house experience is rubbish, it doesn't matter how good your service is. You’re leaking money at the very first hurdle.
Step 3: Who Are You Actually Talking To?
One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is trying to be everything to everyone.
If you say "We do everything!" you usually end up with the bottom-of-the-barrel customers who only care about the lowest price. These are the people who will call you at 9 PM on a Sunday to complain about a $20 invoice.
Part of your brand audit is deciding who your "dream customer" is. - Is it the property developer who wants reliability over price? - Is it the busy mum who needs someone she can trust in her home? - Is it the corporate office manager who needs a fast turnaround?
When you know who you’re talking to, your marketing becomes much easier. You can stop chasing bad leads and focus your energy on the people who actually value what you do.
Step 4: Check Your Competitors (Without Obsessing)
I’m not saying you should copy what the guy down the road is doing. In fact, you should do the opposite.
Look at the top three businesses in your industry in Brisbane. - What does their website look like? - What are they saying in their ads? - What do their customers rave about in reviews?
If they all look the same—same blue logo, same "we’ve been around for 20 years" slogan—then you have a massive opportunity to stand out.
People don't choose the "best" business; they choose the one that feels the most trustworthy and easiest to deal with. If everyone else looks like a faceless corporation, show some personality. If everyone else looks like a backyarder, show some professionalism.
Step 5: The Consistency Check
This is where most businesses fall down. They have a great logo on their website, but their invoices look different, their Facebook page uses a different font, and their staff wear shirts with an old version of the logo.
This creates "friction." Subconsciously, it makes customers feel like you’re not quite organised.
Check every touchpoint: - Business cards - Email signatures - Invoices and quotes - Social media profiles - Uniforms and vehicle wraps - Signage
Everything should look like it belongs to the same family. It builds trust. It shows you pay attention to detail.
The Cost of Doing Nothing
I get it—you’re busy. Doing a full audit of your business image feels like a lot of work. You might think, "I’ve got enough work on my plate, why bother?"
Here’s why: The cost of a bad brand is invisible.
You don't see the customers who visit your website and leave immediately because it looks dodgy. You don't see the high-paying clients who choose your competitor because their Google reviews are better.
You’re already paying for your brand—you’re paying for it in lost opportunities, wasted ad spend, and the time you spend dealing with "tyre-kickers" who want everything for nothing.
How Long Does This Take?
You can do a basic brand audit in an afternoon. 1. Spend 30 minutes Googling yourself and your competitors. 2. Spend 30 minutes looking at your website on your phone. 3. Spend an hour looking through your last 10 quotes and invoices.
Fixing the issues might take longer, but identifying them is the first step. Usually, our clients at Local Marketing Group see a massive difference in the quality of enquiries within 30 to 60 days of cleaning up their image.
What Should You Do First?
Don't try to fix everything at once. Start with the thing that’s costing you the most money.
If your Google reviews are bad, start there. If your website is broken on phones, fix that. If you're getting plenty of calls but they're all from people looking for the cheapest price, look at your messaging.
Most Brisbane business owners are sitting on a goldmine, but they’re scaring away the gold because they look like they’re still working out of their garage.
Need a Hand?
At Local Marketing Group, we don't do fluff. We don't care about "brand awareness" if it doesn't lead to more phone calls and more profit for your business. We help Brisbane locals fix their image so they can win better jobs and grow their companies.
If you want someone to take a professional look at your business and tell you exactly what’s working and what’s costing you money, get in touch. We’ll give you a straight-up assessment—no jargon, no BS.
Ready to get more from your marketing? Contact us today.