Habla Blog

By Deborah Brody

If you have a good grip on your marketing efforts and you know what works, then you can probably skip this article. If, on the other hand, it’s been a while since you thought about your marketing and branding, it is time to conduct a marketing audit. Ideally, companies and organizations should conduct a marketing audit on a yearly basis.

An audit will help establish which of your marketing efforts is the most successful and which you should change or even eliminate. Auditing your materials reveals if you are being consistent and helps clarify your strengths and weaknesses. An audit also helps establish the strength of your branding. And, depending on what your audit reveals, your company or organization can establish or change budgetary priorities.

Following are steps to conduct a simple marketing audit.

1) Designate a small committee of people (two or three staff members and/or consultants) to conduct your marketing audit. Devise a chart to keep track of every single way you communicate with your customers/clients/prospects.

2) Collect all your marketing materials, including electronic communications (brochures, ads, e-newsletters, blogs, direct mail pieces, posters, press releases, etc.) and anything else that contains your company logo (letterhead, business cards).

3) Review the appearance and usefulness of your materials:

• Check the appearance of your logo. Is it consistent? Is the right color and size being used whenever the logo appears?
• Check the use of taglines/mottoes/slogans. Are you using multiple taglines or slogans? If you are, is it to appeal to different audiences?
• Is there a consistent look and feel to your brochures and other printed materials? Are you using the same fonts and colors? Does your company image come through each and every time?
• How is your website performing? Check for the number of daily or weekly hits. (This information is almost always available from your hosting provider).
• Do you use email to communicate with clients? Are you using a signature on your emails? If so, do you and all staff use the same signature that clearly features contact and web information?

4) List any partnerships and sponsorships (for instance, donations to the local baseball team, etc,)

• Are you making the most of these opportunities? Are your partners featuring your (correct) logo? Is your sponsorship “visible” in the community?
• Are these partnerships fulfilling a set goal, such as increasing exposure in your community, boosting employee morale or being socially responsible?

5) Review your marketing performance

• Have you collected data from your prospects? Do you know how they found out about you?
• Which of your marketing materials has been the most effective?
• Have you received any media mentions in the past year? If so, do you have a record of this mention? What prompted the mention: a press release, a media query?
• Do you have a way of measuring your return on investment (ROI)? If you run an ad, are you tracking any increase in sales?

6), Collate your results.

Once you have finished auditing your marketing efforts, you should have a sense of how your marketing is performing, what works and what needs improvement. ©Deborah Brody 2008

Deborah Brody is a marketing communications consultant and writer. She has been working in various aspects of marketing for the past 15 years, and has run her own business, Deborah Brody Marketing Communications since 2002. Visit www.deborahbrody.com for more information.

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