How to conduct a marketing audit

When you are starting a new role in marketing, is it critical to come up to speed as fast as possible on the state of the organisation’s marketing. Some businesses may have effective onboarding and structured marketing, but many business may not.

The aim of the marketing audit is to understand where your focus needs to go in the short term, and where to dedicate and allocate resources in the long term to achieve the business goals.

The whole audit can take anywhere from one week to one month. This where I would suggest to start:

1. Objectives

Clarify what the business aims to achieve in the next 3 months, and the next 12 months. Align the audit with revenue goals, customer acquisition targets, and brand positioning.

2. Current activities and channels

Document every marketing channel in use. For each channel, what does reporting look like? What does each channel need to do? These may include social media, email campaigns, advertising spend, content production, partnerships, and events. Take note of the budgets and time/ resources invested for each.

3. Your team

When assessing your team, you need to consider two different types of teams you will be working with:

• Technicians – these are people inside and outside of the business that help execute and deliver the marketing tasks
• Stakeholders – these are people inside of the business who you need to communicate with and report to.

4. Performance

Review any marketing reports you can find and understand where to gather data on key metrics. Track conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, engagement levels, and return on ad spend. Compare results against industry benchmarks if you can.

5. Your customer

Examine customer data and feedback. Review any segmentation, buyer personas and journeys, and net promoter or satisfaction scores. Identify the gaps in how well you understand your audience, and consider ways to fill these gaps.

6. Your competitors

Find or create a list of the top 3-5 competitors and research competitor marketing strategies. Take a note their messaging, channels, pricing, and customer perception. This can help identify differentiation opportunities.

7. Your brand

Audit all customer touchpoints. Ensure messaging, visual identity, and tone remain consistent across websites, social media, assets, and communications.

8. Quick wins

Prioritise low-cost improvements with high impact. These might include optimising underperforming ads, improving email subject lines, or reallocating budget from weak channels.

9. The plan

Document findings with specific recommendations, timelines, and owners. Modify or set measurable targets for the next financial quarter and year in line with the business objectives.

10. The handbook

To speed up execute of tasks and improve marketing communications and transparency in your organisation, it’s a good idea to document key marketing systems and processes in a handbook (wiki or document). If these already exist you should audit and update them.

More reading

For more detailed resources please see:

• Smart Bug Media – What a Marketing Audit Is (and How to Do One)
• Mailchimp – A Complete Marketing Audit Checklist for Your Business