“Brains Over Bucks.”

By Jeff Slutsky and Marc Slutsky

Companies routinely have audits conducted to insure that their financial books are in order. Likewise, a marketing audit can help you determine if you are getting what you expect from your investment in time and money from your marketing budget. To conduct your marketing audit, follow the following steps:

1. Determine - You need to decide what elements of your marketing needs improving. These elements can include: media advertising, direct mail, sales, promotion, public relations/publicity, telemarketing, website, merchandising, contests, etc.
2. Evaluate - Once you determine the elements of your marketing program which need improvement, interview several outside experts to conduct your audit. For example, if you want to determine the effectiveness of your advertising agency or PR Firm, hire an outside advertising executive. This needs to be someone who has no vested interest in the recommendations he or she makes.
3. Budget - Create a budget for this project to keep spending in check. Look at this audit as an investment that reaps rewards in the near and distant future.
4. Interview - When deciding who you want to do your audit, interview several candidates. Your decision on who you hire should not be sorely decided by price. Remember, you usually get what you pay for.
5. Use An Outside Expert - When you do interview candidates, make sure they are experts in their field. You are looking for advice from someone who has been there and knows how to make your business better. You need to feel comfortable with the expert since they will be taking a close and revealing look at your business.
6. Follow Though - When the experts offers their suggestions realize they are doing this not to make friends, but to improve your business. Don=t take it personally, but consider their recommendations seriously and implement them if they make sense for you.
7. Recommendations - When suggestions are made for improvement, make sure that the potential improvement can be measured to prove success or failure. Without accountability you’ll never know for sure if you’re on the right track.

Recently we conducted such an audit for a client that felt they weren’t getting the return on their investment specifically in the area of Local Store Marketing. We were not part of their organization and have written several books on the exact subject, and were the likely choice to conduct such an audit. Our marketing investigation revealed that they were asking their managers to do extra community marketing activities without providing them the training or the incentive to do so. Once this was corrected they immediately saw an increase in their community marketing efforts.

Do you have a specific question about how to initiate your own marketing audit? E-mail it to marc@streetfightermarketing.com

Street Fighter Action Plan

1. Determine what areas of your marketing would benefit from a marketing audit.
2. Set up a budget by talking with several experts to determine a fair rate.
3. Interview a few experts to find the best possible one. Find an expert you feel comfortable with.
4. Evaluate all recommendations and follow through on those suggestions you like.
5. If you like what the audit brought to your business, consider a repeat a few years down the road, just to keep your business up to date.

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