A marketing audit is a full exploration and analysis of the entire marketing environment of a business, assessing everything from strategies and targets to specific marketing activities.
This process is intended to provide a full overview of the tools and competencies at an organization’s disposal, to help identify areas of weakness and to put in place ways of improving outcomes in the future.
The basic steps of a marketing audit are as follows:
Identify your marketing channels/strategies/activities
Identify your goals and objectives
Gather data
Make a comparison
Identify issues and gaps
Create an action plan
Repeat
The four characteristics of a marketing audit are: 1. They should be performed on a regular basis, rather than when a business finds itself in a marketing crisis. 2. The audit should apply to all of the company’s marketing activities; one which focuses on just a small number of activities is referred to as a ‘functional audit’, which can lead to oversights and, ultimately, fail to reach useful conclusions.
3. An effective marketing audit examines the business’s strategies, goals, internal marketing system(s), marketing activities, and marketing environment, in a consistent step-by-step process. 4. Audits should be performed by marketing experts from within the company, though they are considered more credible and honest if conducted by an independent consultant.