synnovate

Organizational challenges are often the hidden saboteurs that stop firms achieving relevance in marketing by placing constraints on innovation and on the adoption of technology and best-practices, or they limit the manpower or skills required to create compelling campaigns and programs. A Brand Audit will enable a firm to lay a solid foundation for management and oversight. Recognising that successful marketing is entrenched in a well defined brand and marketing framework that encourages innovation against a backdrop of meaningful corporate control.

The following approach to brand auditing is based on a robust audit methodology that focuses on 7 key areas of marketing capability. This methodology is suited to the assessment of the marketing activities of all firms.

1. Do we have alignment – the visions, goals and objectives of the firm need to align across divisions, functions and permeate deep into the daily tactical of the firm. Where possible firms need to align with their suppliers and customers to maintain consistency of purpose.
2. Where is the value – what is it that makes you brand valuable in the hearts and minds of your customers, suppliers, investors and the local community. What do you stand for!
3. What coming next – firms that don’t innovate die, how are you managing the evolution of the customer experience? Remaining relevant and central to their hearts and minds is the central focus of any good CMO.
4. Managing insight – knowledge is a powerful asset, how do you gather and disseminate information to the areas of the business that needs it most. What are the current opportunities open to your marketing team, how are they integrated into the mix and who is best suited to help you succeed. How are you engaging your customers in the process of building management insight?
5. Engaging customers in the firm’s creative process – Ownership of the customer is everyone’s responsibility. Customers must be engaged in the creative and delivery processed of the business to maximize the experiential opportunities.
6. Telling the stories - The conversations that occur at all levels in the company need to be consistently aligned to the values and mission of the business. One of the biggest problems facing most firms is the confusion of stories that exist in the public arena.
7. Executing the plan – It is the role of the entire business to jointly create, support and deliver the plan. A good audit will review the processes for engaging and including the whole organisation in the marketing plan.

Develop a robust auditing approach will provide an excellent baseline against which significant improvement and enhancement of a firms marketing can be undertaken. By employing a more informed management approach to brand and marketing, your business will have the capacity to perform way above its current level. What would you say if some-one told you that you could have an additional 10% in your marketing budget, an audit has the potential to find that 10%.

An audit culture can help a company refine its business practices and improve its productivity and profitability, the investment required to conduct a thorough audit should be made with the understanding that most audits pay for themselves in the insight they uncover. It has been my experience that the inefficiencies and redundancies pointed out by the audit can be eliminated and savings should normally exceed the amount required to conduct the audit in the first place.