This is Why Every Company Needs a Valuable Marketing Audit
Lots of marketers are scared off by marketing audits. It frightens them because audits are trying to uncover the weaknesses of a marketing department and the marketing approach.
However, scrutinizing your marketing efforts every once in a while is a good thing, as it benefits the company in a number of ways. Read on to find out more.
In a marketing audit, the impact of marketing activity is assessed, in objective terms, by looking at how the budget has been spent in relation to the company and marketing objectives.
The audit looks at the way the marketing team is structured, the processes employed and the terms on which suppliers are used – in other words, the infrastructure of the marketing function.
The activity can be reviewed, taking account of the needs to follow a strategy, with consistent branding, messages, and positioning.
Marketing audits
There is not a single reason to be reluctant to perform a profound marketing audit. Contrarily, marketing audits are essential to get better in what you do and how you do it. Marketing audits do:
- improve marketing effectiveness
- improve marketing efficiency
- improve marketing quality
- pursue continuous improvement
When audits are performed on a regular basis, improvements can be monitored and overall effectiveness and efficiency will improve. We distinguish two major types audit approaches:
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Compliance audits
The goal is to audit against pre-defined standards or best practices, such as ISO 9001 quality management. You pass or you don’t pass. Those are the kind of audits that marketers do not like.
2. Consultative audits.
The goal is to create conditions that result in organizational improvement without compromising audit principles.
The audit is performed in an open, respectful and empathic way. The recommendations are possible action plans, with clear objectives, KPI’s and action owners.
How to accomplish a valuable audit?
There is apparently nothing as easy as doing a “Marketing Audit”. Everybody can come up with some improvements, but in order to obtain a valuable and effective audit the whole marketing value chain should be thoroughly went through.
A marketing audit is a standardized process. We distinguish four major phases in a marketing audit.
1. Scoping
The first phase is “scoping”. The goal of the scoping phase is obviously to determine the scope of the audit. A marketing audit can go very deep into the organization.
To give an example: the 4P square checklist for just a competitive intelligence audit has almost a hundred questions; an online marketing audit has more than hundred questions.
And there are a lot of things that need to be checked. A complete and detailed audit has thousands of things to be checked.
So, it is important that before the start of a marketing audit, a realistic scope is determined, in order to keep the audit feasible and actionable.
A good marketing auditor can easily assess the scope and determine what is relevant for a company to be audited.
2. Buy-in
The next phase is “buy-in”. Don’t skip this step! It is essential to have support from the organization.
You will need support from the whole marketing organization, but also from sales, customer service, delivery … and also from suppliers such as the marketing communication agency or the external call center.
Explain was the purpose of the audit is. The purpose is to make them better in what they do and how they do it, to increase quality, efficiency and effectiveness.
Promise not to penalize them for past bad performance if revealed. Promise them to award them for improvement in the future.
3. Data-gathering and assessment
The third phase is the “data-gathering and assessment” phase. This is the actual audit. One or more auditors have assessment meetings with representatives of all involved internal and external parties.
They ask questions, lots of questions. And they go deep, very deep. They try to reveal how strategy is developed, how objectives are set, how the marketing department is functioning, which processes are installed and which ones are not, how the digital revolution has been integrated in the marketing and sales process, …
They also assemble and assess lots of documentation. Cooperation of all involved people is essential. People need to want to improve.
They need to be open for correction and improvement. During the data-gathering and assessment phase auditors also immediately try to determine – together with the people involved – corrective actions and new potential KPI’s.
By doing this during the audit interviews, we get immediate involvement. The “not invented here syndrome” is avoided.
The “data-gathering and assessment” phase is build up in six major domains, each consisting of several audit building blocks:
| Audit domains | Audit building blocks |
| Marketing environment audit | macro-economic environment micro-economic environment |
| Marketing strategy audit | strategy objectives |
| Marketing organization audit | marketing structure sales & marketing effectiveness digital adoption interaction with other departments interaction with external vendors |
| Marketing systems audit | information gathering planning implementation controlling & feedback |
| Marketing profitability & budget audit | profitability cost-effectiveness & budget |
| Marketing functions audit | product & pricing distribution marketing communication & campaigning sales |
4. Reporting
The last phase is the reporting phase. The output of a marketing audit is a pragmatic action plan, with clear recommendations on target groups, objectives, responsibilities, budgets, deadlines and priorities. Priorities are determined based upon a vulnerability analysis.
As a marketing expert with 20 years of experience, in a lot of industries and companies, I can assure you: “there is a lot of improvement possible”.
Also in large companies. It’s worthwhile to consider a marketing audit. I assure you: it will improve the effectiveness, efficiency and quality of your marketing and sales process.
Your budget will be allocated in a better way and you will increase your contribution to the company objectives. If you want to know more, just contact 4P square.
