What is a Marketing Audit?

A marketing audit is essentially an assessment performed to analyse your current marketing strategy. The purpose is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your current marketing activities and to help you construct a plan to improve them.

A marketing audit may assess:

• How effective your current marketing strategy is
• Your online presence
• If you are using the right platforms and channels
• Factors limiting your reach

Audits are especially useful for small to medium businesses and for those which do not have a marketer in post.

Who Performs it?

It is best practise to hire an external third party audit. This ensures results are unbiased. Hiring a professional means that they can provide an in-depth analysis, offer constructive criticism and actionable advice.

Before You Get a Marketing Audit:

It is important to establish a few goals in mind of what you hope to achieve from the audit. That way, you can choose a company or audit which will be able to cover the areas you want to be covered. Try to be specific with your goals eg. ‘am I using the right social media platforms for my target audience?’ It is worthwhile to have your target audience and general business goals well-defined beforehand.

The best time to have your first marketing audit would be after the first 3-6 months of starting your business or new marketing strategy. That way, all of your business goals, target audience, USP and other factors are already established and you have already had time to try things out and get a feel for the marketing aspect of your business. Next, an audit service will come in to assess the strengths and weaknesses of what you have been doing. Ideally, they will offer more successful short-term and long-term suggestions.

How Often Should You Get a Marketing Audit?

It is recommended to get a marketing audit every 6 months or at least once a year. Having a follow up 6 months after an initial audit would allow you to determine the success of the suggestions given in the first one. However, a marketing audit can be carried out any time you feel the need to assess or significantly modify your marketing strategy.

Key moments get a marketing audit:

• After going through a business re-branding phase
• If you want faster growth on social media
• If you have modified your target audience, USP, services etc.
• If you have a competitor who you want to outrival

What Does it Include?

Every audit is different, depending on the company you go to. Some things a good marketing audit may include are:

• Outlined or detailed plan of marketing strategy and marketing audit goals
• S.W.O.T analysis
• Short-term and long-term solutions and suggestions
• Record of all the social media platforms used
• Accounting for followers, engagement rates, etc.
• Accounting for website data
• Conversion rates, bounce rates, keywords usage and other data
• Other potential marketing assets eg. branding materials like posters
• S.M.A.R.T actions/goals

Marketing audits can be made specific for your goals. Different focal areas you may want to cover are:

• The micro-environment eg. brand ambassadors, marketing channels
• The macro-environment eg. competitors, the market
• Marketing strategy eg. business goals
• Website and/or SEO marketing eg. page speed, website design, keywords
• Online marketing eg. social media, engagement
• Offline marketing eg. events, branding materials

You don’t need to cover everything in one marketing audit. Alternatively, you can pick a few of these focal areas to assess.

Why Should You Get a Marketing Audit?

If you aren’t already convinced how useful marketing audits are, here is a list of some of the different benefits of a marketing audit:

• It reminds you of your business and campaign goals
• Allows you to critically assess what is and isn’t working
• Uncovers problems and inefficiencies
• Helps revitalise or develop your marketing strategy
• Allows you to see your product, or service, with fresh eyes
• Builds a solid marketing foundation for future adjustments
• Get an un-biased and professional opinion
• You can see how certain campaigns and initiatives work together
• Shows you if you need to hire external services or a new team member
• Highlights ideas and solutions you may not have thought of
• You can find out if you are using the right channels or platforms
• You’ll know if you are targeting your target audience correctly
• Gives you actionable steps to improve immediately
• You can feel more confident with the direction of your marketing strategy.

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