What is a digital audit? PPC, SEO, SEM, CPL, CPA…the list goes on and on. Digital marketers love their acronyms and when you combine these with the endless amount of data that is available to organizations, digital marketing feels overwhelming. Simply put the primary goal of the digital audit is to ensure you are focused on the right metrics and measuring the right data in an easy-to-understand roadmap that evaluates all digital channels and activations. All areas of digital should be integrated into your marketing strategy.
Organizations know that digital is essential to their growth and success. Due to the rapid and accelerated growth of digital marketing, many companies have inherently implemented a haphazard digital piecemeal approach as new data, social platforms and SEO best practices are activated. All your digital elements should work together and be integrated into the overall marketing strategy. The digital ecosystem is diverse, and constantly changing and it is critical that companies have a deep understanding of where they are and what areas of opportunity exist in their digital strategy.
Information is Power
The first stage of the audit is taking the time to meet with key stakeholders. Where possible we like to meet with your entire marketing team and have one-on-ones with those that are involved in the digital areas of your business. We also find it beneficial to meet with key stakeholders from various departments from operations to sales as the feedback and insight they bring to the table are extremely valuable to us and assist us in gaining a deep understanding of your business in a relatively short period of time. Any vendors or suppliers of Martech that you use as external support for your digital marketing are also valuable information sources.
The Psychology of your Customer
Before we start to do our digital deep dive, there is one more significant pre-step and that is to take the information gathered in the interview stage along with a surface-level dig into your marketing collateral and begin to construct your Customer Journey. The psychology of marketing has always been fascinating to me. I believe it all started with the first marketing book I ever bought which was, Why We Buy; The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill. This is a very important pre-step as it helps ensure that we understand your customer journey, whether you work with B2B or B2C.
A very common oversight is not starting the customer journey early enough. Getting into the mindset of the customer before they are considering your product or service is the key to optimizing your digital strategy. We have been told by many organizations that this area was worth the investment as the breakdown into the micro-steps the customer takes in engaging with their brand really brings to light the importance of ensuring that their strategy is omnichannel and taking into account the way a consumer interacts both online and offline.
What should be included in a Digital Audit?
Your digital deep dive should be customized to your organization. Areas that are often included as part of a digital audit:
- Analytics & Data Reporting
- Content Marketing
- Digital KPIs & Goals
- Email Marketing
- Paid Digital Advertising/Activities
- SEO (corporate and local)
- Stakeholder Interviews
- Social Media
- Reputation Management
- Website & Mobile App
Each of these sections (and often more) are evaluated and a summary is provided as to what is being done well, what low-hanging fruit are there to quickly adjust and correct, and what opportunities exist that should be considered for future digital success.
Byproduct of your Digital Audit
In our experience, a byproduct of a digital audit is a recommended org chart for your digital marketing team. Through our research and discovery phases, we identify how certain roles or resources could be added or streamlined to create a more efficient and effective delivery of your digital strategy. Marketing teams come in all sizes and budgets and the resources available to you for your SMB or enterprise organization should not be an obstacle to growth or support. Taking this into account we can provide priorities for the organization so you can scale and grow.
Are you ready?
After completing many audits there are some key indicators that your organization must embrace that are essential to get the most out of your digital transformation or audit.
- Key stakeholders involved in the project are collaborative and see us as an extension of their team.
- The organization must be transparent with its data.
- Willingness to go outside the ‘this is always the way it has been done’ box
- Be open and receptive to feedback. We will always highlight your wins, but to grow we also have to highlight areas that can be improved.
- Have fun. We enjoy what we do and want you to enjoy the process too.
If you would like to discuss a digital audit for your organization, drop us an email and we would be happy to chat. All your digital elements should work together and be integrated into the overall marketing strategy. Let’s ensure that your company is focused on the right metrics and data in an easy-to-understand roadmap that is inclusive of all digital channels and activations.
Bonus: We love podcasts. They help us learn and continue to be on top of all things digital, added bonus is that we get to multi-task and learn while we walk the dog, cook dinner or drive kids to activities. Take a listen to the amazing and hilarious words of former Google employee and digital marketing evangelist, Avinash Kaushik, on how to ‘Suck less!’‘ from one of my favorite digital marketing podcasts, The Digital Marketing Institute.
