“We enable business leaders, owners, decision-makers and entrepreneurs to make their brand The ONE

— the brand that’s most differentiated, credible, trusted and commanding a premium because your brand is your ideal customers’ favourite brand — so you’re highly profitable and leaving your competitors way behind.”

Leverage The Persona Lean Brand Audit so You Can Increase Revenue, Mitigate Risk, Build Business Resilience and Underpin Innovation to Grow Your Profitability in Adversity. ‘Be The One — Unstoppable in Uncertainty [even with limited resources]

Get The Persona Lean Brand Audit Here Working With #1 Multi Award-Winning Branding Maven, International Speaker & Masterclass Leader — Lorraine Carter & Her Team

Discover more about the Persona Lean Brand Audit with Lorraine Carter


Why is the Persona Lean Brand Audit perfect for you?

The Persona Lean Brand Audit has been built so that you can make more informed choices if you’re considering adapting, evolving or changing what you sell, but aren’t sure how to evaluate where you currently stand in order to inform how to effectively identify and meet your ideal customers’ unmet needs to successfully move forward. The outputs enable you to get more clarity around your options using a lean approach, so you can both mitigate risk and grow your business robustly.

Brand audits, whether they’re a full scale in-depth process or a lean execution, are a critical tool equipping leaders to manage the different life cycles of their business and brand effectively. They should be done regularly as a tool within your business’s processes.

In hostile trading conditions brand audits become an even more critical part of your tool kit because the outputs inform key decisions enabling you to better survive and potentially thrive. Your greater results are achieved from the action taken afterwards through the implementation of the brand audit report insights and recommendations. The brand audit in itself is part of the process; it serves to inform your decisions — it’s not the final outcome.

Brand audits enable you to identify vulnerabilities before a potential hemorrhage becomes life-threatening. They also help you to identify and leverage new opportunities so you can innovate and build on waves of impending change — gaining first mover advantage before the rest of the market to maximise your profits.

If your business is operating with modest resources and your product or service has been, or is at risk of, being disrupted by significant market change, then now is the time to re-evaluate your options working with us through the Expert-Led Persona Lean Brand Audit. This is the time to take action quickly before it becomes too late to adapt, turn things around, or move forward strongly.

MGI Learning“Lorraine Carter has been the catalyst and an inspiration for MGI Learning to clearly define our brand.

Working with Lorraine has been both enlightening and enjoyable. Her blueprint for defining a brand is extremely comprehensive and challenged us to think very deeply about what we offer to our customers and really understand what underpins our success.

Lorraine is extremely knowledgeable, very focused and supportive and leads you through the process and ensured we got maximum benefits from the investment we made.”

Shona Cooper
CEO
Shona CooperCEO | MGI Learning

Clients & Brands

The Objectives of The Persona Lean Brand Audit

The objective of the Persona Lean Brand Audit: 

  1. Re-evaluate your business and brand through the structure of the Persona Lean Brand Audit system using only modest resources to increase revenue
  2. Identify your blind spots and vulnerabilities to mitigate risk
  3. Recommend where to leverage new trends so you can thrive on market stress and hostile trading conditions — future proof your business
  4. Identify and leverage latent opportunities so you can accelerate innovation and build business resilience to grow your revenue consistently and faster
  5. Enable you to achieve stronger brand differentiation and higher profits in adversity — build business resilience

Because this is a lean brand audit it doesn’t include face-to-face customer interviews, focus groups, or extensive qualitative or quantitative research. We put your business and brand through the Persona Lean Brand Audit process using the Persona toolkits, systems and desk research underpinned by 20 plus years of international award-winning experience and expertise.

“An exceptionally talented individual. Lorraine Carter, Persona Branding and Design has a wonderful ability to ‘horizon scan’ for any business and then bring them on a journey that delivers value to their Balance Sheet.”
Dave FeenanChief Executive | Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet

The Persona Lean Brand Audit Process

The Persona Lean Brand Audit process entails:

  1. Meeting initially online face-to-face with you so we can discuss your:
    • Business
    • Brand challenges
    • Sector dynamics
    • Top three competitors
    • Resources
    • Strengths, weaknesses 
    • Potential opportunities 
    • Timelines and key milestones
    • [Scope your] Specific requirements within the Lean Brand Audit framework
  2. We then engage the Persona Lean Brand Audit process, evaluating your business and brand through desk research [online] coupled with a face-to-face online working session with you
  3. Your brand audit report is then compiled from our findings before meeting with you again
  4. Finally, you’re given a comprehensive debrief face-to-face online, taking you through the findings and recommendations so you can move forward with confidence

Brand Identity“Lorraine Carter is my branding mentor, she’s the person that showed me how to improve my personal and business brands — they were a mess when she initially looked at what we had — and she blew my mind! I’ve paid high fees to other ‘supposed’ brand consultants who only had 30% of her in-depth expertise and they couldn’t deliver on what we needed.
She gives you the key foundations and lays things out in an easy to use system which gives you all the essentials needed to make your brand stand out, to make your brand highly visible. If you use her branding strategy system you’ll soon have everyone talking about your product or service to become No.1 in your market.
Lorraine takes no name companies and transforms them into household brand names. Most importantly, she’s great fun, absolutely passionate about branding and she’ll entertain you whilst demystifying branding and making the unknown clearer — because designing a logo is only a tiny part of your entire branding process.
I would highly recommend Lorraine Carter and the Persona Design team to every entrepreneur who wants to be more successful and have a clear message driven by their brand.
Thank you so much Lorraine for all your help. We wouldn’t be so well known in the USA, UK or Romania if it wasn’t for your direction and input to develop and build our brand.”
Ozana Giusca
Founder/CEO
Ozana GiuscaFounder/CEO | Tooliers & Ozana

Who is The Persona Lean Brand Audit for?

If you’re in the middle of a storm with multiple demands, the ability to stand back, get some perspective and evaluate the status of your business and brand can be challenging. 

You likely have a lot on your plate, with 101 demands requiring your attention and a lot depending on you. It’s also very difficult to be truly objective — and get mental clarity — when you’re immersed in the day-to-day of your business. In truth, this is the typical scenario of many modestly resourced businesses, even without the avalanche of challenges in a hostile market.

If this describes your business, then you are the person for whom the Persona Lean Brand Audit has been specifically built. It’s been leveraged by many SME/SMB businesses over the years, and has become an even more critical tool when you’re operating in extreme adversity.

Brand audits vary in size and scale because they’re driven by time and resources, so this Persona Lean Brand Audit has been specifically developed for those without the advantages of large budgets, substantial teams or the expertise of big enterprises and experienced senior C-Level marketers.

So if you’re a:

  • Business Leader
  • Decision Maker
  • Entrepreneur
  • Business Owner
  • Manager

with modest resources then the Persona Lean Brand Audit is for you.

The Outcomes of The Persona Lean Brand Audit

The Persona Lean Brand Audit typically enables you to achieve:

  1. Re-evaluation of your business model and productization so you can adapt to the changing market and your customers’ unmet needs
  2. Clarity in relation to your strengths, weaknesses and inconsistencies
  3. An appraisal on how you show up in the market in terms of who you are, what you stand for, and what makes you really different from a customer point of view so you can make what you offer more compelling to your ideal customers
  4. Better identification your competitor space and sector drivers so you can leverage more lucrative and/or new channels of profitability
  5. External evaluation of your image and perceived reputation 
  6. Refocus on your resources, management and congruence
  7. Identification of deficiencies in your brand strategy on and offline  
  8. Evaluation of your brand positioning
  9. Correction of your misalignments internally versus externally
  10. Appraisal of your brand collateral across all touchpoints on- and offline for consistency and congruence
  11. Identification of potential opportunities for new products and/or services development so you can grow sales
  12. Direction enabling you to potentially future-proof your business and brand strategy so you can mitigate risk

Branding Expert Lorraine Carter

About Lorraine

Lorraine Carter is an expert in brand building to drive commercial growth and high performance. Founder of Persona Branding & Design, she’s won multiple awards over the last twenty years working with brands on international markets, many of which are household names. Brands like Nestlé, Kerry Foods, Eurofound, Law Society of Ireland, Radisson Blu, Tesco, Castle Brands, Aldi, Wavin, Abberley Luxury Yachts, Dunnes Stores, Waitrose, MGI Learning, GAA, Saba and Thunders Bakery to name a few.
She enables you to Become The One, The Brand that’s most credible, trusted and commanding a premium becase you’re the preferred choice of your ideal target customers — highly profitable and leaving your competitors behind.
Lorraine’s methodologies and systems, such as the Persona Brand Building Blueprint™ System, The Lean Brand Audit and How to Build a Brand Programme are used globally and also feature on The Economist Group platform. Her skill lies in empowering you and your team to make your brand highly visible, different, credible, trusted, memorable and much loved amongst your primary audiences — so that your standout brand commands lead position and grows your profits faster.
Lorraine takes underperforming or under-leveraged entities (product or service) and, working with business leaders, owners, decision makers, managers and entrepreneurs, transforms them into highly recognised, profitable brand names much loved amongst their primary audience.
An international branding expert, professional speaker (represented by MFL London Speaker Bureau), masterclass leader, advisor, writer, M.Sc guest lecturer, designer and mentor, she’s also the winner of Best Blog Ireland of an SME, Business Woman of the Year, Dublin and listed as one of the top 1,000 Women of Influence in Ireland in the Irish Tatler Business Annual. Lorraine’s featured in The Sunday Business Post Newspaper, The Irish Times Newspaper, The Law Society Gazette, Creativ Verpacken, ICOGRADA, Irish Packaging Year Book, Irish Tatler Magazine, Food Ireland along with various TV, radio and podcast interviews to name a few.

As Featured In

“We participated in the Persona 7-Figure Business Building & Brand Strategy Mastermind 12 week online course. The 12 week program suited us as the weekly accountability spurred us on to get work done between sessions.

We found the flow of the course appropriate for the development of the brand through the various areas of the business.
Already, we have developed our Customers Persona’s and our Brand Persona adding value to the business.
The course has helped us make more astute decisions in the business such as restructuring our product offerings so we grow more profitable lines and remove those with lower margins.
Lorraine is very helpful and accessible as a tutor with follow up after each working session and the half day masterclass. Most of all the clarity achieved has been most invaluable.

In the first two weeks of March 2020, before Covid-19 required us to close, we were 300% up in our online sales compared to the whole of March 2019 and after reopening April 2020 we were back to 108% by the end of May 2020 — results achieved from applying our brand strategy.

Sinead Heffernan
Managing Director
Sinead HeffernanManaging Director, Thunders Bakery

Want to discover more about how we could potentially help you?

We’re thrilled!
Contact us, we do our best to read every message within 48 business hours. We’re kind of obsessive about customer care so if you don’t hear back, that means we didn’t get your message so please do send it again.

    “Having worked with Lorraine on a number of events and projects, I knew that taking part in the Persona 7-Figure Business Building & Brand Strategy Mastermind programme was going to open my eyes to how my brand could be mapped out and developed to help the business grow.
    I had no idea just how much of an impact the programme would have in helping me to shape my whole business strategy and lay the foundations for my future plans. By evaluating my brand, defining and putting structure on what we do and why, it enabled me to map out the direction for where the brand is headed.
    All the worksheets, tools and resources you receive are very thorough and Lorraine gets a great sense of what your business is and what you are trying to achieve, so her guidance is tailored to you. It is also extremely beneficial that she is there throughout the programme to give advice and feedback.
    I would highly recommend the Mastermind programme to any entrepreneur/SME that is striving for success.”
    Fiona Kelly
    Conference & Events Director
    Fiona KellyConference & Events Director | Zoom In & The Executive PA Forum

    “I really appreciate Lorraine’s energy and passion. Although good branding includes so many facets, Lorraine is able to simplify the process and make it so much more tangible for any company to put into practice.”

    Lisa Kettman-KervinenMarketing Communication Specialist | The Switch

    “For anyone who has a well established business or even a start-up I would totally recommend to join this Mastermind because it will provide them with a new perspective on how to think of their brand. You see in different markets and industries that are overly competitive what makes the difference is knowing what exactly your business is all about and why people would choose you instead of any other competitor.

    What makes you different from all the other service or product providers in the market because that’s whats going to make your business be the No.1 choice in the range of those specific products or services that you’re providing. Also thats what’s going to make your brand standout and have a long lasting life and thrive in the context of where you’re operating and delivering value. So totally go for it!

    The Mastermind provides you with a lot of insight and more than that, with a systematic process that’s easy for you to understand, easy for you to grasp, easy for you to work with so you finally nail what makes you different in your business, and what you are about and what those key points are that resonate with your audience.”

    Camelia PaduraruOwner | Crafting Minds

    “An excellent Masterclass that provides an informative guide on how to structure your brand’s development whether you are a launching a new brand, refreshing a existing one and/or conducting a review of your brand to ascertain possible weaknesses.”

    Ciaran BarryDirector | Broadview Ventures Ltd

    “Win their hearts to move their minds, this are the eight words that would best sum up Lorraine Carter’s Branding Mastermind. A very, very, very, warm and fun professional to work with. Someone that has taught me how to further engage my clients in the results they want. And also someone that has delivered a very hands on instrument to work with no matter where I intend to use it, either in my PR business or with my clients to assist them in achieving their results.

    If you are an entrepreneur and you know what you want to sell, either a product or a service, and it’s really good quality but you just can’t grasp the how to communicate your message to your core audience, Lorraine Carter is the person you want to work with in order to figure that out and also take you to the next level.”

    Adina IacobPR, Communications & Media Relations Consultant

    “Lorraine’s depth of knowledge in branding is immense. I have attended some of her courses and also see first hand the benefits Persona Branding & Design can bring to a business. I am always happy to recommend Lorraine.”

    Ruaidhri PrendergastTechnology Sales Engine | Tech Marketing | Sofware | SaaS | FinTech | Hardware | 10x Return on Investment | Co-Founder | Ingenuity

    SHS-500px

    “The Maguire & Paterson brand was established in 1882 and therefore the rebranding and new packaging had to be managed in a very sensitive and caring manner.

    Persona Branding & Design worked very effectively with the M&P management team ensuring that the findings of consumer research were correctly interpreted and factored into the brand revitalization and new range designs. We found their ability to steer us of significant benefit.

    Persona Branding & Design also ensured that we kept our focus on core objectives and diplomatically challenged us at various stages on our thought process, ensuring that any brand preferences did not stray from the core objectives.

    We would have no hesitation in recommending Persona Branding & Design and we would be very pleased to speak with any potential client(s).”

    Neil ScaifeHead of Commercial Control | SHS Sales & Marketing Ltd

    “I have had the benefit of working alongside Lorraine Carter with mutual clients and will happily do so again.

    Lorraine understands the power of brands for businesses in a way that makes practical sense to businesses. Her dedication to her craft is a great credit to her along with her attention to her clients and the details that matter.

    Lorraine understands how to work with people who don’t work with brands on a daily basis and above all Lorraine has a bottom line value orientation. I look forward to continuing working with Lorraine and her team at Persona Branding & Design.”

    Dave Gribben Enable Better Business

    Rubicoin-500px

    “Lorraine Carter creates meaningful and immaculately designed brands based on a deep subject matter expertise.  She, through Persona Branding & Design, provides a world class professional services for all sized enterprises.

    Her understanding of target markets results in memorable and distinctive work that empathises with end customers. Lorraine brings a uniquely positive energy to every meeting that leaves her clients engaged and delighted.

    Emmet SavageFounder and CEO | Rubicoin

    “Lorraine Carter is a true marketing professional. She is highly creative and has delivered impactful, innovative brand solutions for my business for almost a decade.”

    Rita AhernManaging Director | Food Matters

    “I recently organized a large Business Forum for business owners and stakeholders entitled ‘After the Storm – New Business Opportunities’ to highlight the challenges and changing face of doing business in today’s economy. I was delighted to engage Lorraine Carter to speak at the Forum as I have seen first hand her expertise in Branding and Design.

    More importantly I know Lorraine as a Professional Speaker who delivers not only excellent content but is passionate about the positive financial impact of great branding and design.

    Lorraine’s talk entitled ‘Brand Your Way Out of Recession’ was extremely well received. Her clarity, eloquence and use of storytelling evoked clear examples of how both big, medium and even small businesses have reached the top with successful use of effective branding and design.

    I’d recommend Lorraine as a Speaker at your next event or conference. She is an expert in what she does but more importantly she is an expert who knows how to speak about it!”

    Sharon Cahir | Author Solicitor, Lawyers and Leaders Coach and Trainer

    Caterhire-500px“I have worked with Persona Branding & Design for more than 8 years. They have become an invaluable extension of our team, working with us in a flexible, intelligent and pragmatic way.

    Once commissioned, they became part of the business extending their expert opinion and brilliant creative solutions in total harmony with our requirements which has achieved great results. This is important since it is often the detail that can make or break a business relationship.  Their work philosophy is the best contract a client can hope to receive.”

    Gavin DivillyManaging Director | Cater Hire Ireland Ltd

    Wavin-500px“Persona Design successfully applied their extensive branding experience from consumer goods directly to an important industrial B2B product range within our organisation. This was pivotal in the formulation of our brand communications strategy which also included design, packaging, point of sale material and brand promotional plan, all of which contributed to a very successful commercial outcome.”

    Michael O’DonohueCountry Director | Wavin Ireland Ltd

    “Lorraine is an excellent start to finish project manager with tremendous creativity and ability to work budgets and timelines effectively.”

    Kelley SpillaneSenior Vice President | Castle Brands

    Country-Crest-500px“I can’t say enough about the excellent work that Persona Branding & Design has done for us. They didn’t just look at our design requirements but challenged us to really look at the fundamentals of our brand and our target market.

    They fully engaged with our team and questioned our thinking, providing strong guidance when needed to keep us all on track. Not only is their work exceptional but it’s an absolute pleasure to work with them too.

    The end product has evoked huge comment from customers and buyers alike as to its thought provoking branding, design and uniqueness, thus putting Country Crest into a whole different zone of marketing.”

    Tony Doyle Commercial Director | Country Crest

    “Lorraine Carter from Persona Design recently presented at our Dell Social Media Event on the importance of Brand for Corporate and Self. Lorraine provided great tips, many of them thought-provokingfrom her vast experience in developing brands, as an individual, for customers and the importance of building relationships.

    I would highly recommend Lorraine as a trusted advisor on Brand Development and Management.”

    Joan ByrneSaaS Portfolio Manager EMEA | Dell Inc

    Zed-Candy-500px“Persona Design has always exceeded the objectives of our briefs. Their level of interaction and creative rigour offering a range of fresh concepts is brilliant.

    Apart from being great people to work with, Persona Branding & Design offers an unbeatable combination in their level of service, lateral thinking, attention to detail, strategic focus and commitment to all projects undertaken. They are a key asset within my company and I would be delighted to personally recommend their services.”

    Donal KavanaghSales & Marketing Director | Zed Candy Ltd

    “Persona Design are very talented brand consultants and packaging design experts. They are knowledgeable, creative and highly dependable. My company has hired them for a number of projects and we have always been very pleased with the results.

    In fact, several of their projects for us have won prestigious awards. I highly recommend Persona Branding & Design.”

    Mark Andrews IIIChairman of the Board | Castle Brands Inc

    Robert-Roberts-500px“Persona Branding & Design has adroitly managed several of our most important brand design briefs over the past couple of years and in doing so brought a high degree of creativity plus in depth knowledge in dealing with packaging and print suppliers that was vital for the completion of the successful end product.

    Their attention to detail and open book costing consistently ensures no surprises on design or origination quotations.”

    Gerry MurphyMarketing Director | Robert Roberts Ltd

    Wavin-500px“Persona Design has worked with Wavin on the creation and development of the new branding and marketing collateral for the launch of a new range of premium products.

    They worked closely with our commercial team during this period to deliver a fantastic launch, on time and within budget. I would highly recommend Persona Branding & Design to anyone who is looking for a company that adds value through innovative ideas.”

    Brendan MurphyCommercial Director Wavin UK & Ireland | Wavin UK Ltd

    “Lorraine is a highly experienced and expert marketing professional. That’s just one way of putting it. She is an expert public speaker and her passion for subject matter shines though when she presents on a subject that is obviously close to her heart. Highly professional and credible, she is always looking for the best way to apply her talent for her clients best interest.

    Her firm is highly successful in delivering strategic marketing projects for their prestigious client base. I have no hesitation in offering my highest recommendation for Lorraine and her team at Persona Branding & Design”

    Paul C DwyerGlobal Cyber Security Expert

    “I have known of Lorraine’s high quality work for a number of years and in late 2008 I finally had the opportunity to work with her in developing a brand and marketing strategy for an upcoming awards ceremony.

    Lorraine patiently guided the team through the process and was excellent in identifying the nuances, do’s and don’ts of our target market. We started out thinking a brand was just a logo but now know better!

    Before this however, Lorraine had sat down for coffee on an number of occasions with my colleague and I on a different venture and was very generous with her time and sharing her knowledge. I aim to call on Lorraine many times in the future and look forward to it.”

    Ian Lawlor New Business | Lotus Investment Group

    “I’d be happy to recommend Lorraine Carter and her company, Persona Branding & Design, to any client who wants an enthusiastic and passionate business partner to produce compelling brands built on a sound strategy.”

    Tim HealyMercator Marketing Research

    “Lorraine is both highly creative and strategic. Her professional and flexible approach combined with her attention to detail resulted in exceptional work which perfectly met the clients needs. A pleasure to work with. I’d happily recommend her for any brand project!”

    Alayne RooneyMarketing Consultant
    Want to increase your profits?
    This is default text for notification bar