Why Should You Invest in a Marketing Audit?

Why should you invest in a marketing audit?

A marketing audit is a crucial step for any growing business to assess how well marketing is supporting the business – no matter the size of business or the set-up of the marketing function (even businesses with no inhouse team can still benefit from a marketing audit).

Marketing covers an awful lot of responsibilities, from brand all the way through to sales enablement, customer advocacy and CX; and it also interacts with a lot of different stakeholders, all of whom will have their own perspective on the value it’s contributing. All of which can make it hard to evaluate. Unless you conduct an independent marketing audit.

So, what is a marketing audit?

According to Fabrik:

“a marketing audit is a system designed to help you evaluate your marketing assets and activities with an eye on your business goals.”

It’s about checking the impact that marketing strategies, tactics, teams and processes have on your customers, prospects and business goals; all of which help to develop a more informed marketing strategy and activity plan.

For me, it’s about giving businesses a fresh perspective on marketing – many of whom don’t have a formal strategy or plan.

What does it cover?

A marketing audit will give you a fresh perspective across brand, content, digital, lead generation and sales enablement – as well as tools, teams and processes – offering practical insights and recommendations.

An audit questionnaire will typically be used to dive into the nitty-gritty detail of your business and the marketing function. It’ll look at business goals, revenue targets and the competition, as well as the internal function.

Importantly,

• It should be comprehensive – not just covering problematical areas – it needs to uncover the opportunities and strengths you didn’t necessarily know about
• It should be independent – a marketing audit is best conducted by someone external to your business, to avoid any inherent biases.
• It should include recommendations – at the end of the process, you need a clear view on what actions you need to take, why, how and when.
• It should be periodical – it’s important to track progress, and revisit with a follow-up audit 12 months on.

Why is it so important?

If you’re not sure what return marketing is delivering for you, or what the opportunity is if you’re starting with a blank sheet (as many of my clients are) then you need a marketing audit to know where you stand and where you go next.

A marketing audit will pin-point what’s working well, what isn’t and where the opportunity is. You’ll be better able to align marketing with the business, improve marketing ROI and bring fresh ideas into the business.

“The work that Angela did in the early days was extremely worthwhile, dragging the ideas and information out of us and turn it into a clear and pragmatic framework. Without that first engagement around the audit and the messaging framework we would not be where we are today.”
Rick Kirkham, Founder of Customer Touch Point

When’s a good time to conduct an audit?

There are many factors driving the need for a marketing audit including when a business:

• Is at a pivotal moment of growth
• Is not getting the financial return from an existing marketing programme
• Wants to give an existing inhouse team new focus
• Knows what it needs to achieve but doesn’t know how to get there
• Is reaching a new financial year and needs an independent view to help form next year’s marketing strategy and budget

Interested in an independent B2B marketing audit?

If you’d like a fresh perspective on your marketing programme, or need help getting one off the ground, a marketing audit will be a good place to start.

Get in touch to see how I can help.