Marketing Audit - Is your business ready for 2020?
The next decade is less than a month away. Depending on your company’s outlook, planning, and readiness, this can seem either daunting or thrilling.
To head into 2020 with confidence, take the necessary time to completely review your 2019’s goals by compiling data and comparing results to desired outcomes. To ring in the new year with a competitive edge, it’s vital to know what is working and what’s not. That’s why a digital marketing audit is so critical.
We know that you are busy hiring excellent talent, creating new products, driving sales, putting out fires, etc., so we 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 2019 goals, prep for 2020, 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. After a revamp of a client’s website and digital strategy, their sales grew by 291% in just 2 years. Customer expectations for websites are high and will continue to grow in 2020. 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, the ParkerWhite Creative Team is 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. From Instagram taking away “likes” to Facebook getting the biggest face-lift in its history, 2020 is going to be a make it or break it year for your company’s social media.
Digital ads:
- Strategy first, then design. Learn more about how the ParkerWhite Digital Ad Team efficiently drives sales online.
Print marketing:
- Beautifully branded billboards, presentation materials, magazine ads, and so forth are still a vital part of a marketing ecosystem. Check out some of our recent work for a coworking space client.
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. We are here to help.
Marketing is an ever-changing world – a complex endeavor, which must be entrusted to experienced and successful professionals. ParkerWhite has over 27 years of experience in branding and marketing in highly regulated industries such as medical device and finance. Before the ball drops and the new year rings, make a jump start on new beginnings by taking advantage of our digital marketing audit services. We’d love to help you make 2020 your best year yet – let’s chat!
