Re-align your marketing: 5 tips to complete a marketing audit
Over the summer you may be taking some time out from your business to enjoy family time and get away on a well deserved holiday. Of course if you work in tourism and hospitality then you’re in the midst of your busiest season. If neither of these are you then you may just find business is quiet due to others doing the former! Whichever applies to you it may mean business is a little different for the next few weeks. That’s not a bad thing, it can offer time for relaxation and recharging, and can be an opportunity for reflection.A bit like Christmas and New Year. Summer gives us a break from the norm and an opportunity for a fresh start in September. It makes it a great time to take a step back, look at your marketing and find the gaps so you can take action.Take this opportunity to do a marketing audit. Take stock of where you currently are with your marketing activity, where you want to be, and where the gaps are.
Here are 5 tips to complete a marketing audit:
1. Marketing Goals and Objectives:
Write down exactly what your goals are and what you want to achieve from your marketing. This may seem obvious but you’ll be amazed at how easy it can be to lose sight of this, meaning your marketing messaging falls out of sync with your goals. Clearly define what your marketing goals and objectives are, and compare this with your marketing activity. Is it aligned? If the answer is no, you need to set your messaging straight.
2. Create Your Customer Avatar:
Do you really know who you’re talking to? Who you’re targeting with your marketing and how to find them? Blindly marketing to an unknown audience is a sure fire way to waste money on ineffective marketing. By creating your customer avatar you’re creating a map to them. Define who they are, what they like, where they buy from, where they shop, how you’ll connect with them. By doing this you’ll know how to create marketing messages that grab their attention.
3. Check On Your Competitors:
Let’s be honest, how often do you check what your competitors are doing? What offers are they making? What’s their offer? How are you unique from them? What do you offer your customers that they can’t? You need to know this to answer that important question “why should your customers buy from you and not your competitors?”. If you don’t already have the answer, it’s time to find out.
4. Review Your Products and Services:
Do you really know what you offer your customers? You may think that’s a ridiculous question, it’s your business, of course you do! However, often we are so focused on the features of what we offer our customers, we fail to answer “so what?”. With your marketing strategy you are no doubt attempting to drive traffic to your products and services, keen to make those sales, but are you really telling your customers how your products and services are going to benefit them? Are you really giving them what they need? Take a look at what you offer and ask yourself what it really means for the customer. What problem are you solving for them with your product or service? Once you know this, it will be key to your marketing messaging.
5. Review Your Marketing Platforms:
Consistency within your brand and marketing messaging is key. The social media platforms you created all those years ago, are they aligned with your key messaging? Do they still reflect the values of your brand and business? Are they sharing your message in a consistent way, in the right tone, with your ideal customer at the heart? Where are they driving your customers? Is this journey consistent? It can be so easy to lose your core messaging across your marketing platforms. Take a moment to review their look, feel, and performance. You may even find some platforms are not working for you, in which case, why waste time and money on them? It’s easy to spend so much time in your business you lose the bigger picture. Take the opportunity over the summer to perform your own marketing audit. Use this time to clear the mind, find clarity, and prepare for action.