The Marketing Audit Handbook

A marketing audit is perhaps the most neglected strategic activity in a company! It is one of the best kept secrets – an intelligently and skillfully conducted marketing audit is a sure-fire way toward corporate excellence!

Many companies think they don’t need to conduct a marketing audit, that is, until they see that the ‘writing is on the wall’. Unfortunately, by then the cash-flow of the company is so impeded that the business cannot afford to conduct one. Because, carrying out a marketing audit can be quite expensive! Why? It is done by highly skilled and specialized marketing professionals. A marketing audit should be done quite regularly, add to this that it takes time (money!) to orient and familiarize the auditors with the business’s industry, operations, culture, value systems, strategies, structure, level and nature of competition, distribution channels, etc, etc, and you will appreciate why such a important and necessary procedure is often ignored and neglected. In the end it is mostly innovative and progressive companies engaging in it, helping them to retain their pioneer status in the market – since marketing audits invariably help a firm to identify the real essence of that which makes it unique, i.e. its skills, resources and capabilities.

I will go so far as to make the following assumption: identify those superior skills, resources and capabilities (that is unique to the company) and the end result will be acquiring a sustainable competitive advantage for your product, SBU, or/and organization – now that’s a nice prospect!

The Marketing Audit Handbook is essential material for the “can do” entrepreneur, marketing consultant, and business executive who aspire to discover their company’s (or client’s) unique and leveragable strengths. Use the e-book and its extensive list of 130 questions and relevant and value adding auxiliary material at your next board meeting – still better, arrange a two-day workshop, with a facilitator and decision-makers and discuss the questions. Remember to give each group member a copy of the e-book in advance so that they can come prepared! You will be astounded at how the The Marketing Audit Handbook will help to release your team’s creative ability!

A marketing audit is a periodic, comprehensive, systematic and independent investigation into the organization’s marketing environment and specific marketing activities, with the aim of identifying opportunities and challenges and to recommend action plans in order to increase the organization’s marketing efficiency.