Every business person will be aware of the financial audit process where accountants pour over the books to assess whether financial reports are accurate. Or you may be aware of the quality audit process of ISO9000 series standards where external and internal auditors pour over your processes and procedures looking for breaches of standard protocols.

In some ways these activities give auditing a bad name.  They are seen as bureaucratic nit picking where the focus is on minute detail and not the overall thrust of a policy.  In respect of quality audits it has often been said that you end up with immaculate and detailed processes but that the end product can still be useless.

But auditing is important because, particularly with a marketing audit, it provides the information required to ensure that a chosen strategy will succeed.

The first half of a strategic marketing plan is effectively a series of audits.  You ‘audit’ the external macro-environment through PESTEL analysis i.e. the likely prospects in the fields of Politics, Economics, Society, Technology, Environment and Law.  You ‘audit’ the ‘micro-environment’, the external factors directly affecting a business through tools like Porter’s five forces (Suppliers, Buyers, Potential Market Entrants, Substitute Products, Competitors): And of course you need an Internal Marketing Audit.

Tools like the Shell Directional Policy Framework and the GE matrix can only be used properly when managers have solid information as to the capabilities, resources and assets.

An internal marketing audit needs to match your organisational capabilities, assets and competencies to the needs and wants of your chosen market.  This is the process of competitive positioning.

Strategic marketing planning  requires that you identify the needs of the market and identify the capabilities of your organisation.  You also need to identify the capabilities and competencies you do not have and which you need to develop to operate in chosen market segments.

So what are your organisational capabilities and assets include:

•  Financial assets:  Not just your bank balance but the ability to get funding and access to credit.
• Physical assets:  Your premises, and facilities e.g. Are your shops in the right location, are your distribution centres located for the most efficient supply chains?
• Operational assets:  Plant, Production Machinery, Process Technologies
• People assets: Knowledge levels, staff quality, number of staff, etc.
• Legally enforceable assets: Intellectual property, franchise contract terms, production licences, etc.
• Internal systems:  Management Information Systems, Customer databases, etc.

You also need to assess your marketing assets:

1. Customer-based Assets:  This includes your perceived brand image and reputation; Consumer recognition of your corporate identity, brand franchises, customer loyalty, the ability to create defendable market positions and through these assets the ability to obtain higher margins
2. Market Leadership:  Do you enjoy the benefits of market leadership.  This doesn’t just mean having the greatest level of market share.  It includes leadership of share of voice and having a distribution network which allows the greatest level of market coverage.  Do you have the power to demand prominent eye-level shelf space?
3. Country of Origin:  Different cultures prefer and appreciate different brand and product attributes.  Does your brand benefit by its relation to its country of origin e.g. German cars have a reputation for good build quality and the quality of their engineering.  Welsh lamb and Scottish beef both have a reputation for high quality.
4. Uniqueness of Product or Service:  Do you do something no one else does.  Do you have a key, distinctive sets of assets.  Apple have strong marketing assets in the appearance and design of their products and the level of innovation.

You need to assess your distribution-based assets.  This means assessing the size and quality of distribution networks.  This assessment isn’t just one of geography; it is an assessment of whether your distribution network allows the correct level of intensity in the marketplace.

Think of Pizza Express.  This was a business which was created with a unique identity; reasonably priced Italian food together with live music (mainly Jazz).  It expanded to a chain of 550 restaurants.  So it achieved significant market intensity, but in doing so it lost its uniqueness and became yet another high street restaurant chain.

You need to assess whether your distribution network is fit for purpose; whether you can guarantee supply lead times and react quickly to market change.  You need to assess your level of control over your distribution and supply chains.  Do you control your marketplace or, as is the case with the big supermarkets, your retailer controls the marketplace.  For example, Irn Bru is the market leading soft drink in Scotland and McDonald’s wanted to sell it in their restaurants; but Coca Cola had sufficient market power to prevent Irn Bru being sold in McDonalds and they retain their position as the soft drink supplier in McDonald’s premises.

You need to assess you internal assets which lie outside you marketing function and their ability to be deployed to assist your marketing efforts.  Can these assets be deployed to create new market advantages.  Can you use cost structures to create greater profit margins? Can you gain better productivity and plant usage (e.g. process ergonomics).  Can you gain economies of scale?  Do you have better information systems than your competitors?

Can you utilise you market alliances?  Do you have agreements with third parties which allow access to markets through local distributors?  CAN YOU USE CONSULTANTS TO GAIN MANAGEMENT EXPERTISE?  Do you have exclusive access to technological developments and processes? Can you gain through licensing and joint ventures (for instance many car manufacturers now share chassis platforms which lowers costs).  Are you able to gain exclusivity? For example, when the iPhone was launched in the UK it was sold exclusively through Carphone Warehouse.

Organisational competencies; the abilities and skills within a company, can be classed as follows:

• Strategic Competencies:  Management’s skill and ability to push strategies forward and their ability to communicate a strategic vision.
• Functional Competencies:  The functional skills of people in your organisation, human resources management, operations, IT, etc.  In marketing, can you properly manage customer relations and channels. Do you properly manage your product portfolio and do you have good new product development processes?
• Organisational Competencies:  Your ability to manage the day-to-day challenges of your businesses.  This includes areas such as sales force co-ordination, the ability to run promotional campaigns such as special offers and discounts, the ability to coordinate external relationships with suppliers, distributors and retailers.
• Internal Competencies:  The abilities and skills of those in your organisation at a strategic, functional and operational level.  This includes specialist and professional skills e.g. an HGV licence, academic and professional qualifications, etc.
• Team Competencies: Often the sum is greater than the individual.  A team that works well and efficiently, formally and informally.  Teamwork is a skill.
• Corporate Level Competencies: Your organisational skills as a whole e.g. the ability to exploit a knowledge base and having effective and efficient communication channels.