A marcom audit – the comprehensive review of the existing marketing plan, business and communication objectives, the strategies and activities being executed, the results secured, and the competitive market landscape – is a fundamental step in developing or updating your marketing strategy.
This type of audit assesses the resources a company leverages, the messages reaching its target audiences, and insight into what is working and what isn’t. The marcom assessment can also help a company evaluate how it’s progressing its story arc, what its competitors are messaging about, and how the business or market has changed. These learnings can inform the marcom budget, resources, and strategies moving forward.
Below are the suggested steps to guide a marketing or marcom audit.
- Define the scope of the audit. Will the audit include branding and perception surveys? What programs are included in the company’s existing marcom activities (e.g., website, social media, events, direct marketing, public relations, analyst relations, etc.)? Who are the existing decision-makers and individuals overseeing strategies?
- Review existing plans and materials. By reviewing the overarching marketing plan, messaging, and supporting materials, you revisit the foundation and marketing approach that the company established. This insight is helpful to compare against results and how the company measures success to determine if the existing or previous plans were successful.
- Interview existing stakeholders. This should include internal stakeholders as well as vendors and partners that help execute marketing activities. Sample questions, as shared in a recent Forbes Communication Council article, include:
- What are the business objectives and challenges?
- What is the impression of the current comms program?
- What does success look like?
- Who do you compete against?
These interviews may illustrate changes in the business since the existing plan was established and can help inform future planning.
- Gather data. For example, for external communications, it can be helpful to develop a share of voice to understand quantitative and qualitative results vis a vis key competitors. The qualitative review will provide insight into message pull-through and what your competitors are messaging to the market. For each segment of your marketing plan, you will want to secure metrics to evaluate the impact of the activities being executed.
- Develop a SWOT. Based on the information secured through the prior steps in the audit, identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the organization. You will want to focus on mitigating the weaknesses and threats and making the most of the strengths and opportunities.
- Collate findings and outline recommendations in a report. This report will guide your marketing plan and activities moving forward. The company can use this analysis to advocate for additional resources or access to different resources.
We have found these audits are extremely helpful when we start working with a new client, so we are well positioned to recommend the most effective strategies to help achieve that organization’s business objectives. We also execute similar reviews or audits as we prepare to develop the next year’s communications plan.
For more information or help conducting an audit, please contact us at info@communiquepr.com.