Choosing the Right Tool: Audit vs Score vs Refresh

Three tools, three different questions

StretchBAS has three quality-and-maintenance tools that are easy to confuse because they all sound like "checking your brand." They answer very different questions, and using the right one saves credits and gets you a useful answer faster.

When to run a brand audit

Run an audit when your question is about content coverage and SEO — whether your owned, indexed sources actually cover a topic you care about. It's deterministic and evidence-linked, so it's the right tool for reporting and for finding content gaps.

Reach for it when:

• You want to know which of your services/topics have thin or missing content.
• You're planning what to publish next and want evidence, not a guess.
• You need a reproducible number to show a client or stakeholder.

Not the tool for: judging whether a piece of copy sounds like you.

When to run a consistency score

Run a consistency score when your question is about voice — whether a particular draft matches your brand fingerprint. It's the right tool for QA before publishing.

Reach for it when:

• A freelancer, teammate, or agency sends you a draft to check.
• You want to gate content on an objective bar (for example 85+) before it ships.
• You've generated something and want to confirm it's on-brand before posting.

Not the tool for: measuring whether your website covers a topic.

When to refresh the fingerprint (re-absorb)

Refresh (re-absorb) when your question is about the capture itself — whether the fingerprint still reflects your real brand.

Reach for it when:

• You've rebranded, repositioned, or changed your audience.
• Generations have started to feel off and editing the fields isn't enough.
• The original absorb read too few pages and missed your voice.

Note the cheaper alternative first: if the fingerprint is only slightly off, edit the voice/tone/themes/value-props fields for free instead of paying to re-absorb. Refresh when the content itself has changed, not just when a field needs a tweak.

A quick decision flow

1. Is this about a piece of content, or about my brand as a whole?
- A piece of content → go to step 2.
- My brand as a whole → go to step 3.
2. *Do I want to check how it sounds, or improve it?*
- Check how it sounds → Consistency score.
- Improve it → Refine (then re-score).
3. *Is my captured brand wrong, or is my coverage of a topic thin?*
- Captured brand wrong → Edit fingerprint (free) or Refresh/re-absorb if content changed.
- Coverage thin → Brand audit.

Example

Beau has three questions this week. "Does our site cover corporate wellness?" → audit (it scores 0, so he plans content). "Is this freelancer's landing page on-brand?" → consistency score (72, so he refines). "Our tagline changed last month — is the fingerprint stale?" → he first edits the value props for free, and since the whole About page was rewritten, he re-absorbs to capture the new voice.

Tips

• Edit before you refresh. Free field edits fix most small inaccuracies; save the re-absorb for real content changes.
• Audit for gaps, score for voice. Keeping these straight is the single biggest time-saver in StretchBAS.
• Chain score + refine rather than re-absorbing when a draft is off — the fingerprint is usually fine.

FAQ

Can an audit tell me if my copy is on-brand? No — that's the consistency score. Audits measure content coverage of a subject.

Does re-absorbing overwrite my old profile? No. Each absorb creates a new profile; archive the old one when you're happy with the new one.

Which is cheapest? All three metered actions are 1 credit. Editing a fingerprint is free — always try that first for small fixes.