Why You Should be Doing Regular Digital Marketing Audits (And How to Do it)
Maintaining a successful digital marketing strategy requires constant optimization and adaptation. With how quickly online marketing changes, what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. That's why regularly conducting digital marketing audits is essential for any business looking to maintain a competitive edge.
In this post, we'll explore what exactly a digital marketing audit entails, why they're so important, and how to conduct one using our all-in-one digital marketing audit checklist.
What is a Digital Marketing Audit?
A digital marketing audit is a thorough, systematic assessment and analysis of all the factors influencing your current online strategy. It involves reviewing your business goals, KPIs, budget allocation, analytics and tracking, platforms and tools, content strategy, and more.
Essentially, a digital marketing audit helps you take a closer look at the health and performance of your digital presence as a whole. It allows you to identify what's working well, what needs improvement, and where there are new opportunities for growth.
The digital marketing audit checklist we use covers all the key areas:
Strategy
Budget & Bidding
Tracking & Analytics
Campaign Structure
Ad Creatives & Copy
Audience Targeting
Landing Page & User Experience
Compliance & Best Practices
Performing an audit using this checklist provides a 360-degree view of your digital marketing efforts.
Why Regular Digital Marketing Audits Matter
It's easy for businesses to get stuck doing the same digital marketing activities month after month without even wondering if they are still effective. Over time, this leads to wasted budgets and missed opportunities.
That's why it's critical to audit your digital marketing strategy at least every 6 months.
Here are some key reasons regular audits are vital:
Align with Changing Business Goals: Your business goals likely shift over time. Audits ensure your digital strategy still aligns.
Optimize ROI: Audits identify low-performing areas to shift budget to more profitable ones.
Find New Growth Opportunities: You can spot new marketing channels, platforms, formats, placements, keywords, or partnerships.
Fix Ongoing Issues: Audits surface problems hurting performance, like technical errors or messaging inconsistencies.
Keep Up With Changes: From algorithm updates to new ad formats, you can adapt your strategy accordingly.
How to Conduct a Digital Marketing Audit
Now that you understand the real value of digital marketing audits, let's explore the process of conducting one using our checklist:
Step 1: Establish Your Goals, KPIs and Benchmarks
What are your current business goals and KPIs? How does digital marketing help achieve them?
Gather historical analytics and sales data to establish benchmarks.
Step 2: Review Your Current Digital Activities
Document all current digital marketing initiatives, platforms, campaigns, and assets.
Compile budgets, schedules, calendars, and insights from previous reports.
Step 3: Analyze and Measure Against Goals
Assess each component of your digital marketing strategy against your established goals and KPIs.
Identify what's working efficiently toward your objectives and what's not.
Step 4: Find Gaps and Opportunities
Pinpoint gaps in your strategy that could be improved.
Research industry trends and innovations you could implement.
Look for potential new marketing channels or partnerships to leverage.
Step 5: Create Prioritized Recommendations
Craft a prioritized list of recommendations based on impact, effort, and resources needed.
Focus on quick wins and long-term growth opportunities.
Step 6: Document Audit Findings and Recommendations
Compile audit information into a report to share with stakeholders.
Include visuals like charts and graphs to showcase insights.
Once you've completed the audit, the next key step is to analyze the findings and compare them to your main business goals and KPIs. Review each part of your strategy and determine what is successfully driving your targets and metrics versus what is isn’t quite hitting the mark.
Use data to draw conclusions where possible. Are your top campaigns delivering ROI and conversions? Is website traffic converting to sales? This data-driven approach will validate what's working and reveal gaps and opportunities.
Common Digital Marketing Audit Challenges and Solutions
When going through the audit process, some common challenges can come up:
Incomplete data: Integrate analytics and use tools like Looker Studio (previously called Google Data Studio) to centralize data.
Identifying high-impact areas: Focus on the metrics most aligned to business goals to determine priority.
Lack of resources: Consider getting external support from freelancers or agencies to apply recommendations.
Determining ROI: Set benchmarks and run experiments to quantify returns.
No long-term vision: Develop a 3-6 month action plan focused on strategic goals.
The challenges above are common ones we've seen over and over again. You're not alone in facing them. But tackling them head-on, not ignoring them, leads to a competitive edge.
See the obstacles as chances to improve your process over time. With the right mindset and tools like our checklist, marketing audits become a strategic value-add, not a burden. Leaning into these challenges by polishing your approach at each stage sets you up for better results. Investing in regular audits gives you the advantage your competitors may be ignoring.
Start Your Next Digital Marketing Audit
By this point, it’s probably clear that regular digital marketing audits are essential for driving continuous improvement and tangible business growth. Try to avoid getting stagnant and missing out on promising opportunities.
To kickstart your next audit, feel free to use our online digital marketing checklist for a streamlined process. Or get in touch if you need assistance carrying out audit recommendations or developing data-driven digital marketing strategies. Don’t forget that investing in audits provides real long-term value for your business.
This article was written with the support of A.I. technology.
