What is a marketing audit?

The marketing audit is a tool used to review the actions of the company in those programs and marketing activities being undertaken and whether they are suited to the environment and possible changes of preferences.

Marketing audit

From this analysis, it can detect which areas there is room for improvement and from there make the necessary changes.

How should a marketing audit?

For this program to succeed and the established objectives are met, it must be:

    Sort: should be marked a temporal sequence of actions to take and follow a concrete manner and without deviating from the course set.

    Full: it is essential not to get any details to be analyzed. Therefore, it affects all components of the marketing team and all processes are performed.

    Independent: you must be performed by a person who is not part of the marketing team, if possible outside the company but with extensive knowledge of the sector where it operates. When self analyzes the results of their work, it is more difficult to be able to find substantial improvements. Instead, someone independent comes with a more open mind and is able to find areas of improvement more easily.

Periodic in time is not enough to perform the analysis only once and you're done. The market and consumer preferences change very quickly, so it is imperative that this analysis is done on a regular basis.

When is it worth doing?

It is recommended that this type of audit in particular in the following contexts:

In times of crisis in the context of crisis it is when, at the same time, there are greater challenges but also great opportunities when they arise. When there is a fall in consumption in general and companies suffer more to sell, it is the most suitable time to get some kind of differentiation that allows the company to capture a larger market segment. It may also be that the crisis brings out new needs that, if undetected, may affect the form of increased sales.

Before the entry of new competitors in the market: any entry of a competitor is a risk, and competing for the same market segment and can cause customer churn. Therefore, for this loss as small as possible, we must use the experience you have in the market to refocus marketing activity. It is a way to create a barrier to entry.

When there are changes in consumer preferences: the company will be forced to change some characteristic of the product or present it in a different way until then in such cases.
When the company has not achieved its objectives if the company has not reached its objectives in terms of brand recognition and positioning means that the potential audience perceives us in a different way than desirable. Therefore, it is essential to change the marketing campaign for bonding and desired positioning.
When a decline in sales is perceived: if sales go down, it usually means there has been a shift in consumer preferences has not been able to detect or there is an error in how to present the product.
When it is below the industry average: get the leading position in the market is very complicated, because only large companies can invest large sums in advertising and promotion. Now it is important to be in the industry average, as otherwise the risk of going down and eventually disappear positions you run.
To optimize and rationalize expenditure on marketing: the company must know where to focus their efforts on marketing and how to maximize your investment.
When the company has aimed to enhance their online presence and social networks: the active web presence and recognition in this field are key to the development of any company wishing to have a stable presence in a market. So there you have specialists in this field to develop appropriate measures to be recognized on the Internet SEO and SEM tools.

What steps has any audit?

The following steps auditors are:

Analysis of the initial situation: First of all, the auditor discusses what situation the company is about the market in general.

Analysis of each area of activity: whole marketing activity in different areas of activity are separated. Each, available resources are analyzed and if those responsible for carrying out their work have the required skills for the job and have the right materials.

Data collection for each area: each segment in which the activity is divided should have marked certain objectives to assess their performance in any way. Should not be, we must mark and track.

Meetings with each team in each area: the auditor or audit team meets with each team and ask about how perform their work, believe what aspects can be improved and how they would. It is important to the views of all team members, as they are the ones who know the specific task they perform.

Analyze the information: a coupling of all the information is made and studied.

Find how to apply new technologies in the process: you must be aware that, at present, appear constantly develop technological improvements that allow work more efficiently. If they are not applying, proposing them.

Writing the final report: Finally, all the work is presented both as to address all employees of the company. They will be showcased what the current situation and what measures are proposed to improve.