We are all so busy implementing the latest programs according to the needs of Management, other department heads, employees and others. But, this scatter shot approach is not always beneficial, and it can turn the marketing department into a home for pet projects instead of an important revenue-generating centre. We all want to satisfy our stakeholders, but it is more important to give them what they need, which is ROI-generating initiatives, not just what they want, which ultimately may put your job at risk.

Ultimately, as Marketers we need to show that we are creating value. A Marketing Audit can help you do that. After the Audit is complete, I like to also create a framework for future-proposed initiatives, to see if they are in keeping with marketing goals or not. In this series on Marketing Audits, I am going to go through questions you should ask, along with creating specific tools for measurement. It is important not to make this a long drawn-out process, so you can focus on go-forward steps as soon as possible.

Go through a list of your current marketing initiatives, from the stuff you are doing, your employees, your partners/distributors, your franchisees and more.

1. What are your marketing goals? Make a list.
2. Are these goals realistic given the resources you have? Put a column next to each goal, and state whether it is realistic, or not realistic.
3. Make a list of your Marketing activities. Do these activities support your marketing goals? Score them from 1-5 where 1 is a lot of support, 0 is neutral and 5 is no support.
4. Are you getting a good ROI on your marketing initiatives? Score them from 1-5.
5. How are these programs doing in terms of getting new customers? Score them from 1-5.
6. How are these programs doing in terms of loyalty among existing customers? Score them from 1-5.
7. Look at the programs that are successful. Can you enhance these programs? If these programs are being done by franchisees, partners or locations, can you make sure others within the network are learning about them? Can you take the success of these programs and apply them somewhere else? For example, if you are having success in PPC, can you look at moving on to other Search Engines? Can you expand your geography on those programs? Can you use other tools such as improving landing page etc?
8. Look at the programs that are not successful. Can you improve these programs? Is it time to kill them? For example, in the environments I am in, I have found that Social Networks such as Twitter and Facebook are not direct lead generators. I am testing and testing, but I have still found it to be a great loyalty tool, but not such a great lead generating tool except in lifestyle products. Every industry is different, so talk to other marketers to compare notes. Do not trust online case studies, since these studies are often not reliable, and are done only to promote the marketer doing them.
9. Are you effectively managing your brand? Do an online search for websites, social media and PR activities. Have people out in the field pick up promotional flyers, take photos of billboards and other marketing tools. Take an honest look at the brand, and rate the strengths and weaknesses. I have done this before by printing out materials and hanging them on a wall. This can be an effective way to see if we are all speaking the same language.
10. Take a look at the strengths of your brand, and rank them against your top three competitors.
11. Look at the weaknesses of your brand, and rank them against your top three competitors.
12. How strong are internal communications and communications with partners and distributors? Rank this from 1-5.
13. Are you engaging your stakeholders in building effective marketing programs?
14. Look at your initiatives as a whole. If you are not attaining your goals, why? What needs to change?
15. What has changed in your business or the businesses of your partners and customers? What changes do you need to make to your marketing programs?
16. How is the competition marketing to their audience? You don’t want to be “me too”, but look at
17. What are current trends that you can apply to your business? How are thought leaders marketing to their audience? Is there anything that you can learn from them and apply to your business?
18. What marketing research can you conduct?
19. What marketing experiments have been successful, and what can you apply to your programs next year?
20. What marketing experiments can you conduct this year?
21.  How are you communicating your marketing strategy to your management, and to the field? Score this from 1-5.