Where should a company start when carrying out an audit on their marketing strategy?
Lots of questions spring to mind such as what exactly should be audited, how should it be audited and over what timeframe…
Interestingly much of the research I have carried out has back with very similar suggestions on how to conduct an audit and what to audit.
The main pillars of marketing strategy have not drastically changed in years, perhaps some of the tools yes but not ‘ the pillars’. What has changed however are the metrics and the huge number of ways in which we can now measure online engagement. Hubspot produced a very useful workbook on auditing a client’s marketing strategy and it refers to website traffic volume, source traffic volume, click-through rates and the conversion rate funnel; all as ways in which engagement can be measured through tools such as Google Analytics.
Other areas that should be included in a marketing audit are:
1. Brand – is it consistent across all consumer touchpoints?
2. A review of past campaigns across a range of targets and objectives
3. Whether the company has a set of ideal buyer personas and to what degree have the personas been used to help structure the marketing strategy
4. A competitor analysis
5. A content and social media strategy
6. How sophisticated is the marketing technology? i.e Are they using any marketing automation software or tracking tools such as Mention or Google alerts?
A marketing strategy audit, by its very nature, is incredibly comprehensive but could potentially be streamlined depending on the size of the organisation.
Feel free to contact RHDC if you need help structuring your marketing efforts in 2019 and beyond.