What is Inbound Marketing Audit?
An inbound marketing audit is simply a comprehensive review of your existing marketing efforts, identifying the strengths, opportunities, and areas for improvement. It is an analysis of your marketing efforts that reveals what’s working now. It is the first step in a process that will complete an overhaul of your present marketing efforts. This process should be carried out by someone who is objective and has no ax to grind. The purpose of this audit is to identify everything you are doing now which may or may not be working for you. After that, you will create a completely new marketing campaign based on what you have discovered. Still, others have been angered to find out they were less profitable than they thought they were.
It is done to find out if your current marketing efforts are working or not! If they are not, it’s easy to make changes that will make them work. If they are working, you should probably stop making changes and start focusing on other things. An inbound marketing audit is the easiest way to know if your current marketing efforts are working or not. It’s a great way to cut through the clutter and get to the heart of your marketing problems fast. It will give you an instant “reality check” in your business strategies.
Here’s why an inbound marketing audit is such a powerful tool: All of your marketing efforts (print, TV, direct mail, space ads, etc.) have been working all this time, haven’t they? So, therefore, if they’re still working… then… you must be doing something right! You see, all of these “successful” marketing efforts have been giving you an “illusion of control.” They’ve made you feel like you are making progress even though, on the inside, you know full well that you are not. An inbound marketing audit is the easiest way to get to the heart of the matter quickly. It cuts through all the clutter and gives you an instant “reality check.” If your current marketing efforts are working, then… you should probably stop making changes and start focusing on other things. However, if your current efforts are not working… then… it’s time for changes! Changes which will make them work! What kind of changes? That’s up to you.
Why is it important?
An inbound marketing audit is important because it gives you details about how well your inbound marketing campaign is working! It reveals holes in your marketing armor. It points out marketing problems that you might otherwise overlook or prove fatal to your campaign’s success. An inbound marketing audit will highlight marketing problems before they cause major damage to your bottom-line profits! it will show you where you are vulnerable so you can plug the holes immediately and stop the leak before it becomes a flood! Well, if you are really serious about making a success of your website, and if you want to know exactly what changes (if any) need to be made to improve it’s profitability, then an inbound marketing audit is an important step in the process.
Once you’ve identified the problem areas in your website (the areas which are causing you the most trouble concerning profits)… your job is simply to make the necessary changes and optimizations. An inbound marketing audit will tell you exactly where your biggest problems are. So, you can begin making those necessary “fixes. Simply put, it is a detailed examination of your current efforts which focuses not on how the campaign looks or feels. Does your current campaign still hold water after an inbound marketing audit?
Here Are Some Of The Things An Inbound Marketing Audit Will Check For:
- Response Rate – refers to the number of people who completed your survey divided by the number of people who make up the total sample group
- Conversion Rate – calculated by simply taking the number of conversions and dividing that by the number of total ad interactions that can be tracked to a conversion during the same time period.
- Average Order Value – tracks the average dollar amount spent each time a customer places an order on a website or mobile app. To calculate your company’s average order value, simply divide total revenue by the number of orders. Did your website visits, telephone calls and other forms of marketing lead to a higher average order value than your competitors’? If so… keep doing what you’re doing! If not… it’s time for changes!
- Lifetime Value – the simplest formula for measuring customer lifetime value is the average order total multiplied by the average number of purchases in a year multiplied by average retention time in years.
- Referrals – It is the number of people referred to visit your site or social media business account. The Net Based Promotion Score (NPS) allows you to measure referral rate. The user takes a risk when making a referral, which means that he or she will only recommend a product based on a positive experience.
Remember: You do not have to make all the changes suggested by an Inbound Marketing Audit. But, you should at least test some of them.
Who conducts the inbound marketing audit? A consultant. It’s someone who is an expert in marketing, and it is NOT one of your “regular” employees or partners! What kinds of things will they look for? Everything! And they will dig until they find something which doesn’t measure up to industry standards! And when they see that one part of your inbound marketing efforts is lagging behind the other parts. Then, who will own it? How will they be compensated? These are questions you should be asking yourself. They matter because the answers will affect the “timing” of your inbound marketing audit and, therefore, the audit results.
It can also be done by an internal team of trusted employees who have no relationship with the client whatsoever. How long does it take to perform an inbound marketing audit? It depends. It usually takes anywhere from one to four days per client. So what should a company do immediately after having their inbound marketing audit performed? Call or email your inbound marketing consultant and find out the details of the audit.
When to conduct an inbound marketing audit?
There’s no magic time that works for everyone. But, generally speaking, the earlier the better. Especially if you’re going to do something about what you find. In the beginning, just after your prospect has decided to become a customer, is not the time to be doing an audit. No. How should you go about doing it? What should be your goals? It depends… How serious are you about inbound marketing? If you are just getting started, I suggest you wait until you have at least six months of “live” results. That way, you’ll have enough time to evaluate the health of your campaign and decide whether or not it needs an overhaul.
You can also conduct an Inbound Marketing Audit depending on different business situations. Sometimes you should do it immediately. Sometimes it’s best to wait until your next major marketing campaign. Other times, like when you are experiencing rapid growth or have just hired a new marketing director, you may decide to do it on a whim. No matter what, it is something you must think about doing on a regular basis. There will be so many new things for you to learn that the process of auditing your inbound campaign. Plus, after the initial chaos has settled down a bit, you’ll have time to pay careful attention to any audit recommendations.
If you are not constantly auditing your inbound campaigns, you will miss the boat. You see, if you don’t audit at least once every month, you will never know when one of your campaigns has lost its effectiveness. And you will continue to send more and more of your money-making efforts into oblivion. Therefore, you must learn to conduct an “inbound marketing audit.”
What are the aspects involved in an Inbound Marketing Audit?
a. SWOT Analysis – The audit consultant will look at the strength and weaknesses of the business from the customer’s view. Understanding the areas where you need to improve and focus.
b. Audience Listening – The primary job of a good auditor is to “listen” to what people have to say. You want to hear how they describe their problems, pain points, and hopes for the future. Also, pay attention to how they talk about themselves: What do they like? What do they loathe? What makes them tick? What are their hopes, dreams, and desires? How much time do visitors spend on your website?
c. Competitor Analysis – Here, you need to know about all your direct competitors. You need to find out everything about their websites, including what they offer, the products they sell, how much they are spending on advertising, etc. You should have a list of all your direct competitors’ websites. Research what makes them successful.
d. Market Overview ( Internal and External) – This is the most important part of any marketing effort. It’s also one of the most neglected. You need to know your market, what it wants and how it behaves. Not only that you need to know all about your competitors too! Inbound Marketing Audit starts with comprehensive desk research.
e. Historical Performance – How much did you sell last year? How much profit did you make? What was your average unit of sale?)
An inbound marketing audit is important because it helps you identify problems before they affect your business. It is more important than ever for companies to distinguish themselves from their competitors. Once you achieve this step, you may create an upgraded marketing strategy that will help you scale your business.
Digital Marketing is not easy, but having a mentor and a partner agency will help you. We recommend you to get in touch with Ubique Digital Solutions for you to learn more about digital marketing. UDS can help you analyse and use the result of your inbound marketing audit to make improvements for your business. Reach out to us today!
FAQs
Q: Why should a marketing audit be conducted by an independent consultant or agency?
Hiring an independent consultant or agency for a marketing audit brings an unbiased perspective. This ensures an objective evaluation of marketing strategies, uncovering insights and areas for improvement that may be overlooked in an internal assessment.
Q: What is the main reason that a company requires an independent audit?
The primary reason for an independent audit is to obtain an impartial and objective evaluation of the company’s marketing efforts. This helps identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement without internal biases, fostering more effective strategic planning.
Q: What is the most important part of the audit process?
The most crucial aspect of the audit process is a thorough analysis of the current marketing strategies and performance metrics. This includes assessing target audience reach, engagement, and conversion rates, providing valuable insights for optimizing future marketing initiatives.
