Marketing audit is a resource that allows a company to examine its degree of efficiency in its marketing actions.
We live in a changing world, especially in the economic aspect and in that of information and technology. Today we see how competition has been multiplied in this dynamic and demanding environment.
Therefore, the challenge of companies, whether for products or services, has become increasingly greater. There is a constant need to stay afloat within the competition and achieve the most efficient and positive results in its management.
All of the aforementioned makes marketing a real obligation for companies to stay within this highly competitive market.
On the other hand, the strategies implemented do not always give the results that these companies expect in terms of sales, profitability and market share. This makes it necessary to identify the factors that determine this situation.
In this sense, tools or resources for evaluating the effectiveness of marketing are as important as the marketing itself.
The idea is that corrective actions can be applied to rethink the company’s philosophy, as well as the tactics that have been implemented.
One of these great resources that we are talking about is the marketing audit: a working tool that allows a company to evaluate and analyze marketing actions and their adaptation to the situation and the moment.
For this reason, we want to tell you about the importance and everything you need to know about a marketing audit. Stay with us!
What is a Marketing Audit of a Company?
Table of Contents
Marketing audit is a line of investigation that is directly related to an operational audit.
Through this audit it is possible to examine what is affecting Marketing tactics in order to identify opportunities for improvement.
However, not all company executives give due importance to this audit; This is partly due to ignorance, or not having obtained sufficient information in the past.
An audit will never solve all the problems of the company; However, it does allow you to have a diagnosis of the situation in order to be forewarned about the future and move the company forward despite high competition.
On the other hand, despite the fact that audits are preventive, it should not only be carried out when the company has a problem. It must be done frequently, in order to optimally face the changing market.
There may be many reasons for conducting an audit. For example: reduction of sales, arrival of new competitors, changes in the habits of competitors, new technologies, among many others.
A marketing audit is aimed at evaluating the adequacy and effectiveness of the information the company has to improve its performance in the market, as well as the methods, policies and philosophy of this organization.
An audit can examine all areas that affect marketing effectiveness. Thus, the opportunities for improvement of a company are identified, both in the present and in the future.
After carrying out these evaluations, the company will know whether or not to carry out an action plan that optimizes the organization’s profitability.
Marketing Audit Features
- Complete: each factor that affects marketing variables and their effectiveness must be evaluated.
- Independent: the results are quite objective because no one’s personal interests come into play.
- Systematic: the sequences of the phases to be able to give a diagnosis must take place in an organized way.
- Periodic: This has to do with how big the company is, but regularly an audit should be as frequent as possible.
Therefore, Marketing Audit is the systematic, complete and independent assessment that is made of the objectives or goals, actions and strategies of a company in order to guarantee the success of a marketing plan.
Marketing Audit Benefits
New information technologies and levels of market competitiveness have made marketing auditing like a school for companies.
School, because it is the tool that really helps to learn what are the deficits in the strategies of an organizational management. It also allows knowing what needs to be done after the evaluation.
And it is that the audit guarantees the fulfillment of the commitment that an organization has with the market. Remember that companies today should base their efforts on complete customer satisfaction.
For example, doing a content quality checklist allows you to share the information that works with your audience and generate similar topics. This will help keep her happy with what you offer on your social platforms and more.
An audit will not help you to solve all the problems of your company, but it will give you valuable information to improve and will invite you to act.
Other advantages of Marketing Audit that cannot go unnoticed:
- Optimize what each seller geographically covers.
- Improve the SEO positioning of the company.
- Remove from the portfolio those products that are not profitable.
- Develop a plan for product prices.
- Establish a closer relationship with customers.
- Improve online and market presence in general.
- Better segmentation of consumers.
- Improve the work of distributors in certain areas.
- Put a commercial-minded person in charge of the customer service department.
- Get to know consumers in depth.
- Reduce collection management time.
- Have a greater use of novel technologies.
- Reframe the remuneration of sellers; for example, adding incentives and commissions.
- Evaluate costs per order.
- Ensure that customer service is better.
- Direct Marketing improvement.
- Optimize the corporate image.
- Carry out an expansion of the range of products offered.
- Rethink the KPI’s of Content Marketing improving the online presence.
It should be clear that a marketing audit is not a marketing plan: one is not a substitute for the other.
Functions and Qualities
An audit can be carried out both by company personnel and by people outside the company.
In the first case, even if there is an economic saving, the result may be little objective. This is because there are many things on the market that are beyond the control of executives. Sometimes someone else’s perspective is necessary.
Maintaining a broad and detailed knowledge of changes in the market and in the environment in general is an essential function of audits. This way you can determine opportunities and threats for a company.
For management to be carried out successfully after a marketing audit, the latter must have the following qualities:
- Huge knowledge of new technologies.
- Experience in different market sectors.
- Ability to make accurate diagnoses.
- Achieve objectivity with your analyzes.
- Great power of observation.
- Ability to assess where problems exist.
- Ability to analyze and synthesize.
- Be fundamental with communication and receiving new ideas.
- Ability to evaluate results correctly.
- Strong decision-making power.
Marketing Audit Phases
For a marketing audit to really serve as an instrument to detect growth opportunities of a company, it requires some phases or stages. They are as follows:
Phase 1: Research
At this stage, an analysis of the environment is carried out, both internal and external. This way you can know what position the company is in and what tools it has to take advantage of its opportunities; at the same time, it comes out ahead of its weaknesses.
Phase 2: Evaluation of the Main Marketing Actions
Evaluating each of the variables in order to know their level of efficiency is essential to examine the company’s client portfolio. This wallet is what keeps it going.
Phase 3: Data Comparison
When you have the data collected and studied, you can proceed to contrast them with the information that the company manages about its marketing. There is always an exchange of opinions before making a diagnosis.
Phase 4: Final Report
This report should be based on the various areas of work that were specified when the auditor began the work.
Phase 5: Presentation
A presentation of the audit is made to the executives of the company for the implementation of everything proposed in the report. This constitutes the action plan.
Phase 6: Follow-up
The positive results of an audit will never be achieved if you do not follow up on everything that has been proposed; this is so even when the proposed actions begin to take place.
It should be noted that the Marketing Digital is one of the most developed areas today. It is essential to carry out an audit of the different online strategies of companies to optimize resources and achieve the desired ROI .
Types of Audit
There are three different ways of conducting an audit; therefore, there are three main types:
- By level of complexity: the partial audit is characterized by being reduced to a specific object but it undertakes to be exhaustive with that object of the company. And the complete audit results in a comprehensive examination, both internal and external.
- Horizontal and vertical audits: the first type is in charge of evaluating the elements of the entire Marketing world. The second, rather separates these functional elements to examine them.
- By activity level: they can be carried out in various layers of the company, such as system or corporate audit; and low-level ones, such as the distribution sector.
conclusion
There are multiple changes that can occur in our environment: in consumer habits, the adoption of new technologies, economic situations, laws, among others.
We must consider that there are things that escape from the hands of anyone. So keeping an eye on these changes can make the difference between successful marketing and one that never will.
Auditing represents prevention , but beyond that it allows monitoring to detect opportunities and not let them pass. It also makes it possible to avoid threats or at least understand how to deal with them the right way to get away unscathed.
For this reason, it is recommended that a marketing audit be carried out by experts outside the company who have a clearer vision. They will detect what the inmates have not perceived.
