Marketing Audit Assessment

Here is also a “10-Point” marketing audit you can use to audit your overall Marketing Capability & Strength :

The Basic 10-Point Assessment:

1. Marketing Cores
2. Marketing Strategy & Budget
3. Team Capability
4. Execution & Performance
5. Website
6. Demand / Lead Generation
7. Content Marketing
8. PR & Analyst Relations
9. Product Marketing
10. Marketing Systems & Technology

And below is a more comprehensive “18-Point” marketing audit/assessment – this may not be for every company (this is typically done for larger companies or for those who want a comprehensive deep-dive).

The Detailed 18-Point Assessment:

1. Business Foundation
2. Marketing Cores
3. Marketing Strategy & Budget
4. Team Capability
5. Execution & Performance
6. Brand & Positioning
7. Website
8. Demand / Lead Generation
9. Funnel Conversions
10. PPC & SEO
11. Content Marketing
12. Customer Experience & Marketing
13. PR, Media & Analyst Relations, Social Media
14. Events Marketing
15. Product Marketing
16. Partner / Channel Marketing
17. Sales & Marketing Alignment
18. Marketing Systems & Technology

Here are some more details to shed more light on the marketing  assessment audit points above:

• Market analysis, market size & company’s share of the market
• Segmentation
• Competitive advantages
• Financial strength
• Internal marketing
• Tolerance for risk
• Opportunities for growth
• Top Strategic Goals that marketing supports
• Competitive Analysis – Competitors & Competitive Strength
• Unit Economics relating to Marketing
  • Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
  • Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

• Brand
• Positioning & Value Proposition
• Target Buyer Persona profiles
• Leads database
• Lead Generation
• Lead Nurturing
• Sales/Marketing Alignment
• Website Management
• ABM – Account-Based Marketing
• Channel Marketing
• Content Strategy
• Customer Marketing
• Event Marketing
• Product Marketing
• PR & Communication
• Marketing Operations

Marketing Strategy

• Marketing Planning
• Marketing Processes
• Budget Management
• Marketing Goals
• Geographic markets
• Verticals
• Go-to-Market Strategy
• Segmentation
• Strategic Planning
• Talent Plan

• Brand Awareness
• Brand Recognition
• Mentions
• Messaging & Positioning
  • Messaging Architecture
  • Unique Value Proposition
  • Differentiation
  • Elevator Pitch
  • Consistency of Messaging
  • The “Story” Track
  • The #1 aspiration message
  • Tagline
• Brand Promise

• Performance vs. Benchmarks
  • Review Google Analytics
  • Review AdWords Performance
  • Review KPI Dashboards
  • Review Funnel Conversion Dashboards
• Content
• Marketing-Sourced Opps & Sales
• Customer retention rates
• Employee retention rates
• Inbound job candidates
• Inbound links
• Lead Generation
• Lead Nurturing, Drips and Sequences
• Lead Scoring / Quality
• Lead volume
• Lead conversion (Leads > MQLs > SQLs > Opportunities)
• Lead-to-sale conversion rates
• Paid Ads
• SEO Performance
  • By top keywords
  • Change and improvement to P1 ranking
• Referrals
• Social media engagement
• Social media reach
• Subscribers (blog, email, newsletter, etc)
• Website traffic & organic growth

• Lead Flow – Goals & KPIs
• Dashboards
  • Measurement, Analytics & Reporting
  • Marketing Metrics & KPIs
  • Leads Trajectory
  • Funnel KPIs & Conversions Dash
  • Insights Gathering & Effect on Marketing Strategy
  • Marketing-Generated Opps &  Revenue
  • Marketing Contribution Analysis
• Campaigns & Programs
• Lead Generation Process
• Campaign Management
• Campaign Calendar
  • Campaign Planning
  • Programs
  • Activities
  • Assets/Offers Calendar & Plan
  • Marketing & Sales Promotions
• Conversion Tracking
• Paid Banner Ads
• Direct marketing
• Email marketing
• Events/shows
• Inbound Marketing
• Inbound Phone Call
  • process & alignment with sales
• Influencers
• Insiders Content
• Capturing Leads
  • Landing Pages
  • Conversion Optimization
  • No-form capture methods
• Lead Database & Lead Management
  • Growth
  • Lead Lifecycle
  • Lead scoring / decay
  • Data quality
  • Lead Statuses
    • Assess Lead Status Values & identify improvements
    • Here is an example – this is crucial to get right for effective automation
• Lead Nurturing, Drips & Sequences
  • Methodology
  • Process
  • Framework
  • Effectiveness & Performance
• Lead Scoring
  • framework & methodology
  • what is working, what is not
  • sales feedback and score quality
• Organic search
• Outbound marketing
• Paid Search – using B2B methods
  • We will rate the performance over the last 4 quarters via these channels:
    • AdWords
    • LinkedIn Ads
    • Twitter Ads
    • Other search engines if it makes sense in your context
    • Quora Ads
    • Banner ads on influencer/VIP sites with lead capture
    • FB ads – the B2B approach
  • Retargeting
• Premium content (ebooks, podcasts, white papers, webinars, etc)
• Referrals
• Reporting of Marketing ROI to executive teams
• Retargeting – overall
• Social media
• Sponsorships
• Syndicated Content Campaigns
• Traditional advertising (print, radio, TV, billboard)
• Webinars
  • External – using Thought Leaders / Authors / Influencers / VIPs
  • Internal
  • Calendar of planned webinars
  • Banner Ads on the website
• Website optimization for Lead Generation
  • Website Master Tools / Admin
  • Audit for SEO and quality
• Analysis of Lead Sources
  • Which sources drive the Pipeline and deals
• Analysis of Active Paying Customers
  • What campaign influenced our customer purchases
    • Analyze by 1st touch and Last touch
    • which campaigns influenced 40%/50%/80% of our customers and lead to a decision
    • which assets touched 40%/50%/80% of our customers and lead to a decision
  • Analyze the number and frequency of touch-points that generated customers
• Analysis of Lost Leads – Middle of Funnel Leakage
  • Why are leads dropping off and not making it to MQLs or from MQLs to SQLs
• Analysis of Lost Opportunities – Middle of Funnel Leakage
  • Analysis of prospective customers – why they are lost in the middle of the funnel

• Asset Management
• Blog
  • quality
  • frequency
  • analysis of the funnel
• eBooks & Whitepapers
• Email Newslettters
• Infographics
• Landing Pages
• Original Research Reports
• Promoting Content
  • channels
  • Linkedin
  • Slideshare
  • Medium
  • Twitter
  • Quora
• Podcasts
• Videos
  • 30-second explainer video that answers the #1 pain point
  • Videos to explain the products
  • Customer interview videos
  • Other videos that help in drip campaigns
• Webinars

• External communication strategy
• Media coverage
  • Maintaining a database of media contacts
  • Monitoring placements and mentions
  • Pitching process for product reviews and stories
• Analyst Relations
  • Maintaining a database of analyst contacts
  • Process for engaging and updating Analysts
• Bloggers
  • Dynamic database of industry bloggers
  • Securing guest posts on industry blogs
  • Relationship management / engagement
• Community involvement
• Speaking engagements
• News Releases
  • published in the media
  • strategy & frequency for the website
• Social Media
  • Engaging with customers, leads, influencers, publications, bloggers and analysts
  • Thought leadership & brand development, sharing original content
  • Monitoring social media mentions

Events Marketing

• Which industry events and trade shows attended
• Process for managing events and sponsorships
• Process & calendar to submit for speaking engagements
• Process & calendar to submit for industry awards
• Leads and Conversions
• Post-Event Alignment with Sales
• Internal Events
  • Lunch & Learn
  • Meetups
  • Combined Partner Events

Product Marketing

• Product Collateral
• Battle Cards
• Datasheets
• Spec Sheets
• Solution Briefs
• Product – Alignment With Marketing
  • New Product Launches
  • Innovation
  • Product Quality
  • Product vs competition
• Website product pages with clear and simple information

Partner / Channel Marketing

• Partner Strategy
• Partner Program
• Partner Portal
• Partner Events
  • Combined
  • Participating
• Partner Newsletter
• Affiliate/partner programs
• Promotions
• Referrals
• Partner Training

Sales & Marketing Algnment

• SLA – Sales & Marketing
• Taxonomy & Definitions
  • Leads
  • MQLs
  • SQLs
• Marketing to Sales Hand-Off Process
• Conversions from SQL to Opps vs. Benchmarks

Marketing Operations

• Analyses & Marketing ROI /  ROMI
• Dashboards
• Data Management
• Attribution Tracking & Methodology
• Lead Management
• Marketing Enablement

• CRM
  • SFDC, Hubspot, other
• Marketing Automation
  • Hubspot, Marketo, etc.
• Chatbot app
  • Process & Method
  • Conversion Analysis
  • Apps – Drift / Intercom, etc.
• Marketing config/setup in the CRM
• Outbound Email Marketing Service
• Marketing Analytics
• Project Management
• Content Management System
• SEO Management Tools
• Social Media Management
• Others
  • Sendoso – to send eGifts, gifts, swag, etc.