The end of the year is approaching us at the speed of lightning. Whether you agree with Christmas trees and carols in our shopping centers or not, the end of 2024 is upon us. Wherever you go, people are tired, gatvol and sommer net not in the mood for too much thinking. But guess what. Live goes on. Your budget is not waiting for you to finish your sliced turkey. As an entrepreneur the thought of a marketing audit might not have crossed your mind, but it might be the difference between having brandy in your Christmas cake or not.
Why should entrepreneurs do a marketing audit?
The overarching reason to do a marketing audit is to find out where you have achieved exceptional results, where your marketing actions did not deliver the results you have expected, and why not. If I plan on reducing my Eskom bill in my home, I need to work through all the items in my house that use electricity. Each items uses power differently which I need to bring into account. I need to check if my fridge that is 15 years old, is not maybe one of the big culprits in my power usage network. And so the checks continue. It might sound like I am wasting time on a big scale, but the effect on my electricity bill can be humongous. Or it could give more accurate calculations for when I do decide to finally move over to PV Solar Power.
The same goes for a marketing audit. Working through all the elements of your marketing actions will help you to evaluate whether you have achieved what you have planned on achieving, why not and what you are going to do about it in the new year that lies ahead. And most importantly in my opinion is how will you be celebrating your wins. Yes, nothing is ever all doom and gloom. There is always highlights and the more you celebrate your wins, the stronger your believe in yourself and team becomes. Happiness is never an accident.
Are you a Spaghetti Marketer?
The point of a marketing audit is to help you make better decisions about your marketing planning for the year ahead. That assumes that you have ever done marketing planning or are planning to do any in the near future. The reality is that most entrepreneurs are Spaghetti Marketers. We tend to throw our spaghetti against the wall and see if it sticks. There is no strategic planning or even a thought process steering us in a coherent direction.
Imagine jumping in your car en route to your holiday destination. The snag is that you have not planned where you are going on holiday. So, in which direction should you drive? You could be hovering around Joburg, maybe turning in the North West or the Free State. These are not bad options considering that you are at least away from the office. After two weeks, you reach Cape Town and discover 13 Peaks. The best challenge for a good hike. The problem is that your leave is finished, and you have to return to work.
This is pretty much the equivalent of Spaghetti Marketing. Nothing stops you from experimenting. You won’t be wasting precious time with marketing planning. But you could have reached your ideal destination so much quicker. With less resources and less stress.
How should you be doing your marketing audit?
Marketing is never an exact science and your marketing audit works on the same principles. Every company’s situation is different, but there are a few common factors to take into consideration.
- What were your goals for the past 12 months?
- Did you achieve your goals? If not, what stopped you?
- What did you enjoy doing most during the past year?
- How many prospecting calls did you make per week?
- How many conversions did you get on your prospecting?
- How much time did you spend on social media exposure
- What is the number of hits received?
- How many website page visits did you receive?
- How many conversions on your website?
- How much publicity did you receive during the year?
- Etc.
The Marketing Puzzle Test
One of my favorite exercises to do with my marketing coaching clients is making a copy of all the adverts, social media content, outdoor signage, proposals, quotes, or any other marketing communication material and laying it out in front of them like a puzzle. Do the pieces fit together, or are they all separate islands in a sea of confusing messages?
Have you used the same style of fonts, pictures, colors, and themes throughout the year? What is the overarching story that is being told through all your messages? Do you have a corporate identity manual? No, relax. You don’t need a 100-page manual as they do in corporate setups, but at least have one universal set of fonts, color codes, and logo variations. It might also help to set out some basic rules around how the logo should be used and how not.
It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it?
I have been in strategic marketing planning and execution for more than thirty years. I know very well how people frown upon the subject, especially entrepreneurs who are really busy and sort of happy with their results. No, marketing planning should not be seen as a tough job to do. It could be fairly simple. There is nothing as magical if all the ideas in your head find their way onto a piece of paper. Goodness, I forgot. The one thing that tops it all off is when you realize at the end of the following year that you have not only made your target, but you have exceeded it. That is goosebumps stuff and definitely worth a try. Take my word for it!
Want to find out more?
Join us for our ‘Your Company in the Rear View Mirror’ Marketing Audit Workshop, which is coming up. Included in your signup fee is a workbook where you can go and do your own marketing audit and a whole bunch of special extras. This will definitely be one hour of your time well spent!!
