Andrea Aker is CEO of Aker Ink PR & Marketing, a full-service agency that helps companies increase awareness, thought leadership and leads.
It’s easy to get stuck in a rut or become confined to what’s familiar. People are naturally accustomed to repeating processes and taking the most trodden path, even if it’s not in their best interest.
But this comfort zone can foil business development goals as customer habits or behaviors shift. To capture and maintain a competitive edge, businesses need to continually evaluate their practices to ensure alignment with the greater vision and tap into new opportunities; this is especially true in an age with rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and other technologies. This is where I see structured marketing audits coming in.
When Should Companies Audit Their Marketing Campaigns?
Companies can benefit from audits at an expected cadence or amid key turning points. Annual or bi-annual audits should cover all strategies and tactics, ensuring alignment with business goals and market conditions.
Other pertinent times to audit your marketing processes and communications include:
• Before new product or service launches: Each campaign should be viewed through a fresh lens, especially if it involves different target audiences or resolves a new pain point.
• After performance declines: Once booming campaigns can decline for numerous reasons, including poor optimizations, evolving consumer sentiment or changes to algorithms.
• After customer satisfaction declines: Any changes to operations, customer service or product/service design need to be reflected across all marketing campaigns.
• Following business restructuring or rebranding: If the business has made significant changes to operations, services or public image, the old way of executing may no longer live up to expectations.
• When responding to industry or societal shifts: The world is constantly in flux. Businesses must respond to the pressures their target audiences experience with the economy, regulations and tech innovation.
• When entering new markets: Sometimes high-performing campaigns can be templated across new markets, and sometimes they can’t. Companies should assess which adjustments need to be refined to meet new customer needs.
What Should Companies Include In A Marketing Audit?
An audit should be directly tailored to the company’s goals and vision, both in the short and long term. This means marketing audits will vary from company to company, and initiative to initiative; however, common elements include:
Goal Alignment
Marketing leaders need to ask themselves if the strategies and tactics are still attuned to the organization’s greater goals. Have any new audience segments been introduced? Are they experiencing any new challenges that need to be resolved? Are they seeking out information in the same manner?
Brand Messaging
As multiple cooks enter the kitchen, it’s easy to create gaps or misalignment with brand messaging. All communication channels should have the same tone, positioning and targeting.
Performance And Channel Evaluation
Each initiative should have distinct metrics assessing performance. For instance, websites can be reviewed for user experience, search engine optimization, content quality and conversion paths. Email campaigns need a review of open rates, clicks and segmentation. Social media can be audited for engagement, reach and audience sentiment.
An audit needs to look at performance metrics from two standpoints. First, are the right metrics being evaluated? Next, are those metrics performing at the level needed to support a return on investment (ROI)?
ROI Analysis
Determine whether paid campaigns are trending in the right direction. Identify underperforming channels and reallocate the budget accordingly.
Competitive Analysis
Assess the marketing and communication tactics of competitors. The goal isn’t to create copycat campaigns; it’s to identify hidden opportunities and inspire new approaches that differentiate a business from peers.
Customer Feedback Analysis
An in-depth review of customer feedback, satisfaction surveys and retention rates can illuminate changes to messaging and approach.
Crisis Planning
As new challenges come afoot, is the company’s crisis communication plan updated to deliver a swift response? Assess what this looks like across channels. For instance, if a product is recalled or a safety issue occurs, what is your process for responding to social media comments, and how should customers be notified?
Marketing Team Makeup
As campaigns evolve, so do the professionals who execute them. Take a fresh look at both internal and external resources, determining whether it would be beneficial to reorganize the department or seek out the support of agencies and consultants to maximize the budget.
Why Is It Important To Get An Outside Perspective?
When company leaders and internal marketing teams are in the trenches of the business, day in and day out, it can become difficult to see the forest through the trees.
Tapping marketing agencies and consultants to conduct audits can help bring a fresh perspective and objectivity to the campaigns, helping to eliminate internal biases. Every company has blind spots, and they can become much bigger if the input and expertise of external experts are overlooked.
Further, agencies have diverse industry knowledge, access to advanced tools and specialized professionals who can clarify and translate audit findings.
Consistent audits are essential for high-performing marketing programs, as people, offerings and technologies are constantly changing. I believe companies that take a structured approach with a defined cadence are more likely to meet their goals in the long term and maximize ROI.
Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Read the full article here
