2020 has been a wildly unpredictable year, to say the least. Depending on your company’s outlook, planning, and readiness, the next half of the year can seem either daunting or thrilling.
To be competitive, in this new world, it’s vital to know what is working and what’s not. That’s why a digital marketing audit is so critical.
I know that you are busy hiring excellent talent, creating new products, driving sales, putting out fires, etc., so I outlined a basic marketing audit service that touches on some important considerations for any review. From a basic strategy to key trends in different marketing channels, this overview will guide you in the right direction.
Step 1: Strategy Review
Since your marketing should be viewed as an ecosystem that seamlessly flows together, it’s best to first take a step back and review your overall strategy, goals, and results. A few questions your team should answer are:
What markets are we currently targeting? Are we leaving any out for a particular reason?
Does each of our products/services have their own unique selling points? Do our customers know about them and are they clearly stated in our marketing?
What are our top competitors doing that creates a threat or opportunity for us?
Being as honest as possible, what marketing efforts are doing well and which ones are failing?
These questions can help you review your goals, prep for the rest of 2020 and beyond, see the big picture of the health of your ecosystem, and uncover your marketing’s results-to-goal grade.
Step 2: Channel Review
It is also important to collect data and review each marketing channel of your ecosystem. These micro-reviews can help you pinpoint specific areas of struggle and success. Additionally, it’s also necessary at this point to research benchmarks and stats in each marketing category to ensure you’re ready to compete moving forward.
Here’s a starter list with common marketing channels to review. To get your mind moving forward, we’ve listed some 2020 stats and predictions to take into account:
Website: For many companies, this is the single biggest driver of sales and awareness. Customer expectations for websites are high and will continue to grow in 2021. This has led to new website innovations such as 3D design and voice user interface.
Video: Projected to be 82% of internet traffic by the end of 2020. From aerial footage to motion design, I work with creative video teams are ready to craft videos that provide that viral WOW factor.
Email: 59% of marketers cite email as their number one source of ROI. Are your emails primed for conversions and optimized for mobile?
Logo and colors: Is it time for a modern makeover? You may want to run an end-of-year preference test, either formally or on social media, to determine if your logo and color palette resonates with your current and look-alike customer bases.
Social Media: 78% of consumers’ purchases are impacted by companies’ social media posts. People are scrolling their social media at record breaking highs during quarantine. Your company's social media strategy and community management could really be a make it or break it factor.
Digital ads: Strategy first, then design. I am consistently testing and optimizing ads so that you get the most traffic and sales for your dollar.
Print marketing: Beautifully branded billboards, mailers, presentation materials, magazine ads, and so forth are still a vital part of a marketing ecosystem.
In addition to the commonly used marketing channels, here are newer modes of marketing which are, for the right brands, flourishing. Be sure to research and analyze these platforms when determining new goals:
Smart speaker (Alexa, Google Home)
App advertising
Facebook Messenger bots
Live video marketing
Step 3: Putting It All Together for the Year to Come
Now is the time to take all of the data you have analyzed and turn your learnings into goals for 2020 and beyond. Often times an audit leads to more questions and research—this is a good thing! Perhaps, you need to have more clarity in order to make your sales and marketing funnel more effective, or it can be more specific, such as better integrating new leads from tradeshows. I am here to help.
Marketing is an ever-changing world – a complex endeavor, which must be entrusted to experienced and successful professionals. My experience includes over a decade of managing marketing strategies and implementation for law firms, therapy practices, fine jewelry designers, medical device firms, finance companies, wellness products, and more. Let's chat!
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