Marketing audit: objects, process, example. Site audit

Marketing audit is one of the most important moments in the organization of effective work of the enterprise. It can be carried out on its own or with the involvement of outside specialists.

Definition of concept

Marketing audit is a management auditactivities aimed at identifying shortcomings in the marketing system and the lost profits associated with them. Based on the results of the audit, an optimal strategy is formed, and consultations on this issue are also conducted.

Marketing audit is a systematic,periodic, objective, and most importantly - independent verification. It affects not only the internal, but also the external environment. The audit can be conducted both for the organization as a whole and for its individual units. This activity is aimed at identifying bottlenecks in the field of marketing, as well as drawing up a plan for their elimination.

Principles

Both internal and external marketing audit is carried out in accordance with the fundamental principles. These include the following items:

• Integrity. Audit should not be limited to the analysis of problematic moments. It implies a comprehensive verification of all marketing activities.
• Systematic. Audit actions should be orderly and consistent. At the same time, diagnostics should cover not only internal units, but also the external environment.
• Independence. Marketing audit should be carried out impartially. If objective independent research is impossible, third-party specialists should be involved.
• Periodicity. Often management initiates a marketing check only after the profit size begins to decline. To prevent crisis phenomena, the audit should be conducted regularly with a certain periodicity.

Objects of research

In the process of verification,two groups of indicators: those to which they can affect, and those that are beyond the control of management. So, the objects of marketing audit are the following:

• internal and external environment;
• marketing strategy of the organization;
• marketing system in the enterprise;
• form of organization of marketing management;
• the effectiveness of the existing system for the enterprise as a whole and for its individual units.

Main stages

The process of marketing audit includes a number of consecutive stages. These include the following:

• Preparatory stage. At this stage, the first contact between the client firm and the auditor takes place. There is a discussion of significant points and preliminary counseling. Also, the head instructs the departments to provide all necessary information to the inspectors.
• Diagnostics. The auditor identifies the most significant facts about marketing activities and carefully analyzes them. Establish relationships, as well as the degree of compliance with regulatory or planning indicators. It is worth noting that already at this stage the auditor can make some adjustments to the work of the organization through interviews with staff.
• Planning. At this stage, the specialist is searching for optimal solutions. They are aimed at compensating losses from lost profits, as well as preventing similar situations in the future.
• Implementation. Preparations and implementation of planned activities are carried out. At the same time, the auditor can take direct part in this process or act only as a consultant.
• The conclusion. The auditor provides the customer with a full report on the activities carried out, as well as the first results achieved. Negotiations on the prospects for further cooperation can also be held.

Directions of audit activity

Marketing audit of the company is carried out in several essential areas. They can be described as follows.

Direction	Learned business units	Section of marketing
primary and secondary research; monitoring and forecasting of sales; marketing information system	leadership; marketing department; sales department; purchase department	marketing firm
market segmentation; selection of the target segment; analysis of the competitive environment; competitiveness	leadership; marketing service; sales department	market segmentation
conformity of the product to the market situation; evaluation of product quality; packing design; trademark; the design decision of the goods; innovativeness	marketing service; financial department; R & D service	development of goods and services
the purpose of pricing; Tariff setting methodology; pricing strategy; tactical techniques; discrimination in price	leadership; financial department; marketing service	pricing
planning of product promotion; search for promotion channels; Identification of intermediaries and sales agents; dealer network	marketing service; sales department	goods movement
planning and development of an advertising campaign; efficiency mark		Advertising activity
sales representatives; establishing communication with potential customers; training of sales agents and continuous monitoring of their activities; producing a presentation		personal sales
planning of sales promotion activities; structural components		stimulating
planning of events; work with the media; development of the company's image	leadership; marketing service; Department of Public Relations	public relations
development and adoption of a strategy; implementation of approved activities; monitoring the implementation of the strategy	leadership; marketing service	marketing strategy

Components of the audit

Marketing audit as a basis of successful strategy of the enterprise includes a number of components. The main ones are the following:

• analysis of the external marketing environment (special attention is paid to the microenvironment, which includes the market, competitors, distribution system, etc.);
• analysis of marketing strategy (the developed program and the degree of its implementation);
• analysis of the organizational structure (study of the work of each unit separately, as well as determining the effectiveness of the interrelations between them);
• a qualitative analysis of the marketing system (information security, planning effectiveness, control organization, etc.);
• quantitative analysis of the marketing system (profit in relation to the costs of marketing activities);
• functional analysis (commodity and pricing policy, marketing channels, advertising and effectiveness of public relations).

Advantages and disadvantages of external audit

An external marketing audit is quite common, for which foreign specialized organizations are often attracted. It has the following advantages:

• presence of rich experience in this field;
• availability of necessary information for making effective management decisions;
• specialized knowledge that the auditor can convey to the company's management.

Nevertheless, there are a number of negative aspects that characterize such marketing audit. The service has such basic disadvantages:

• high cost of professional auditors;
• confidential information falls into the hands of third-party specialists, and therefore there is a risk of leakage.

Features of internal audit

Internal marketing audit involves self-checking by the company's own efforts. Advantages of this type of activity can be considered the following characteristics:

• significant cost savings;
• commercial secret will not go beyond the organization;
• employees of the enterprise are well acquainted with the specifics of his work, and therefore do not have to waste time gathering information.

Nevertheless, marketing audit of the enterprise is not always possible to conduct on its own. This is due to such shortcomings of this type of activity:

• employees of the company are not always objective in evaluating its work (this may be due to the specifics of the relationship with the authorities or the desire to hide their own mistakes);
• lack of experience and expertise in the field of audit.

Example of marketing audit

In order to understand how the procedure is going onaudit marketing, it is worth considering it in a generalized example. Suppose there is a network of fast food establishments "Pie". So, the auditor is faced with the goal of assessing the real state of affairs, as well as working out recommendations for further activities.

Thus, the specialist will have the following tasks:

• The compilation of the characteristics of the company's advertising activities, for which they collect such data:
  • total costs for self-presentation;
  • evaluation of the quality of promotional materials;
  • advertising distribution channels (how information is delivered to the consumer);
  • the establishment of a relationship between the volume of the advertising budget and the profit of the enterprise received in the reporting period.
• Analysis of data for each branch:
  • convenience of location;
  • Evaluation of the appearance of the establishment;
  • functionality of the dining room;
  • rationality of the organization of workers and industrial premises.
• The ratio of the loading of the enterprise with the total volume of profit:
  • study of accounting information;
  • breakdown of data for shorter reference periods for more detailed analysis;
  • making timekeeping, which will establish the capacity of the institution per unit of time (the number of people, the average amount of the check, the range of products sold);
  • evaluation of production capacities;
  • compilation of an analytical table to bring the obtained data into a visual form.
• Drawing up a report, which will contain the following information:
  • An objective picture that describes attendance at each branch;
  • analysis of the demand for each item in the assortment of the institution;
  • Determination of the most busy days and hours of work of branches;
  • proposals for improving the work are being developed for each of the food points;
  • Evaluation of the effectiveness of the current marketing system;
  • conclusions about the functionality of the production and public premises of the institution.

The audit will result in a full report and a number of practical recommendations. All these data are processed in the form of the following documents:

• a plan for marketing activities aimed at eliminating errors and further developing the network of fast food establishments;
• a plan of measures aimed at increasing the permeability for each of the branches separately;
• a full report on inconsistencies with norms with recommendations for their self-elimination.

Site audit

With the development of scientific and technological progress,own page on the Internet is an objective necessity for an organization aimed at success. Site audit is as important as the enterprise as a whole. Such activities are aimed at analyzing the resource for the purpose of identifying and correcting shortcomings, and also promoting it in search engines. For example, an audit of a web page implies the following:

• Structure analysis. It should be optimal in terms of information placement, as well as user perception. In addition, this moment is essential for the operation of search engines.
• Learning content. The information presented on the site must have practical significance for the user. In addition, it must be unique.
• Usability. The site should be built logically and understandably for the user. In addition, it should have a nice design.
• Analysis of semantics. The content of the site should contain keywords that match popular searches of users in search engines. Nevertheless, the resource should not be overloaded with them.
• Meta tag checking. It is determined not only their availability, but also the content of the site.
• Analysis of HTML-code. It is fully tested for errors, as well as the logic for tagging. This is one of the most important steps in the way of site optimization.
• Server operation. Correctness of response to user requests.
• Site verification for compliance with regulatory requirements.

It is worth noting that the audit of the Internet resource isan objective need for modern market conditions. Based on its results, the main mistakes are identified, and an optimization plan is drawn up. Nevertheless, it is worth considering that this procedure is quite expensive.

Example of site audit

A fairly complex procedure is the marketing audit of the site. An example of the study can be cited on the basis of the site of the construction company. This process includes the following stages:

• Analysis of entry points. These are the pages of the site that the user is accessing by clicking on a link from third-party resources. So, in most cases the main load falls on the main page. But on such important sections as the list of services or the price, users are seldom.
• Failure analysis. For construction topics, this indicator should not exceed 40%. The main cause of failure is untargeted traffic or technical problems on the site.
• Overall impression of the design. It is better for a construction company to choose a neutral design. Firstly, it does not distract from the perception of basic information, and secondly, it remains relevant for a long time. It is worth paying attention to the blocks of information. The site should be given only significant data, and any excess text is inadmissible.
• Analysis of content and usability should be carried outpaginally. A common mistake of the main page is the placement of data in order to fill the available space. Information should be of an exclusively practical nature. In the section "About the company" there should be not only the presentation of the company, but also the documentation. It is recommended that in each article you place noticeable links to the items in the service catalog.
• The essential point is the analysis of navigation.by resource. It should be logical and intelligently understandable. So, often the structure of the site confuses the user. It is unacceptable to create sections with similar names or with the same content. It is also unacceptable to place significant data in the second level of the menu, since users practically do not enter it.

Having analyzed the experience of Internet auditors, we can single out the following main recommendations that they develop for the sites of enterprises:

• rejection of a complex and multi-level menu that can confuse the consumer;
• the orientation of the main menu should be horizontal, which ensures the most efficient use of page space;
• It is recommended to place the most essential information on the main page (for example, some items of the product catalog, special offers);
• It is not necessary to include a link to the archive in the menu.

Regularly conducting an auditmarketing is a prerequisite for the successful operation of the enterprise. This activity helps to identify deficiencies in time and correct the strategy.