The Conference Table Test: A simple way to audit your brand consistency

Collecting ALL your verious external communications — and perhaps your internal ones — may be the most challenging part of this exercise.

I still remember the day we lost two big renewals to a competitor down the street. The feedback: Our pitch was more about us than it was about the partner.

Executives weren’t buying it. But others felt we were doing a lot of chest pounding about how much bigger and better we were than the competition.

So we came up with the idea of the “Conference Table Test, which turned out to be a practical, low-tech approach to evaluating our consistency and clarity. We gathered all our key client communications. around a conference table.

The goal: Review them as a cohesive unit and ask if the messaging is consistent and, “Would someone who’s never met us understand who we are, what we stand for, and why we’re different without confusion or contradiction?”

Below is an outline and actionable bullets to help you create content around this methodology, including steps for collecting materials, critical questions to ask, and ideas for a downloadable scorecard template.

1. Collecting Client Communications

• Gather a representative sample of all external-facing materials:

• Website homepage, about page, and key landing pages

• Sales presentations and pitch decks

• Email templates and signature lines

• Annual reports

• Social media profiles and recent posts

• Product/service brochures and one-pagers

• Customer support scripts or chat logs

• Press releases and media kits

• Computer-generated Customer letters

• Internal memos from senior leadership (because many of them are going to become external-facing if they’re bad enough

• Include both digital and print assets to ensure a holistic view.

• If possible, add recent customer feedback or testimonials to see if perceptions align with your intended messaging.

2. Questions to Guide Your Review

Use these targeted questions to assess each item and the overall collection for alignment and clarity:

First and foremost, starting with your homepage. How many times do you say “you” and how many times do you say “I” or “We?” The You’s should far outweigh the We’s. This was a big problem for us at the time. It’s also something to look at if you review all your computer-generated Customer letters.

• Clarity & Value Proposition

• Is our unique value proposition clear within the first few seconds of reading?

• Can someone unfamiliar with us quickly articulate what we do and why we matter?

• Consistency

• Do our messages, tone, and visuals align across all touchpoints (website, social, email, print)?

• Are our logo, colors, and fonts used consistently?

• Is our brand voice steady, or does it shift between formal and casual, technical and friendly?

• Relevance & Resonance

• Does our messaging address the real challenges and aspirations of our target audience?

• Are we speaking to their needs, or just talking about ourselves?

• Differentiation

• Is it obvious how we’re different from competitors?

• Do we avoid generic or jargon-heavy language that could apply to anyone?

• Alignment with Brand Compass

• Do all materials reflect our purpose, mission, vision, and values?

• Would an outsider get a sense of what we stand for and what we promise?

• Call to Action

• Is it clear what the next step is for the reader or viewer?

• Are our calls to action consistent and compelling?

• Internal Alignment

• Would our employees describe us the same way these materials do? Ask them.

• Are there any “legacy” messages that no longer fit who we are today? This is particularly important to do with your website.

3. The Scorecard Template

Offer readers a simple, actionable scorecard to use during their own Conference Table Test. The scorecard can be a checklist or rating system (e.g., 1–5 scale) for each dimension below:

• Value Proposition Clarity

• Visual Consistency

• Tone & Voice Consistency

• Audience Relevance

• Differentiation

• Alignment with Brand Compass

• Call to Action Clarity

• Internal Alignment

Encourage users to tally scores to identify strengths and gaps, and provide space for action items: “What needs to change to improve consistency and clarity?”

Consider repeating the Conference Table Test quarterly or after major brand updates.

Tips for Implementation

• Involve a cross-functional team (marketing, sales, leadership, customer support) for a broader perspective. You might also consider inviting a client/user to the table.

• Use both quantitative (scorecard ratings) and qualitative (discussion notes) feedback.

• Compare your findings with competitor messaging for additional context.

• Use insights to prioritize updates-start with high-visibility or high-impact materials.

• Bring in someone to facilitate the discussion who can bring an unemotional perspective to the discussion, and even help with fixing things quickly. (Yes, I have done that for multiple clients in the past so that’s a shameless pitch).

Key Takeaway

The Conference Table Test is a straightforward, repeatable process to reveal “brand garbage” and polish your messaging until it shines with clarity and consistency. By systematically reviewing all client communications as a unit — and then developing a plan to align them — you ensure that every touchpoint reinforces your authentic value so that nothing gets lost in translation.

We did it back then, despite having more than 250 account executives and marketers juggling different sales and marketing collateral. We created templates that included the core selling message, created an appendix with sector-specific messaging and data; and gave everyone some latitude to make what they presented their own.

I can help your company do the Conference Table Test and help with the review of your computer-generated Customer letters. My team and I revised 1,400 of them over a 10-day period after the CEO got a call from a good friend ripping him for a collections letter he got.

Just drop me a note, or hit the Contact Me button on the site.