Marketing Audit Plan
A marketing audit is the structured review of the organisation’s current marketing activities. It looks
at the way marketing is planned, implemented and managed. It can help an organisation identify
what has worked and what has failed to determine what they should continue to do and what else
could be done.
A marketing audit is often conducted by an independent third party from outside of the organisation
(with the involvement of the marketing team) to ensure that it remains fair and objective. Its
purpose is not to criticise particular activities but rather to identify whether there are any working
practices that could be more effective and to investigate environmental factors that may affect a
business to inform marketing planning activities.
This document should be completed prior to the commencement of a marketing audit. The plan will
ensure the purpose, scope and objectives of the audit are considered and set up-front.
1. Marketing planning process
Prior to commencing the auditing plan it is important to ensure the audit recipient is aware of the
marketing planning process.
[Instruction: Outline the steps involved in the marketing planning process – what needs to occur to
ensure marketing activities in the organisation are successful? What elements must be included in a
marketing plan? Remember to keep your responses simple and clear and avoid jargon to ensure it
can be understood by anyone, despite their previous knowledge of marketing processes.]
2. Purpose
[Instructions: Determine the main purpose of the marketing audit and outline the microenvironmental AND macro-environmental factors that may affect Luigi’s Pizzeria’s marketing
operations.]
3. Audit Type
[Instructions: Consider whether the audit will be an internal audit (looking at the internal workings
of the business when implementing our marketing plan), external audit (focussing on the external
environment and its effects on the marketing activities of the business) or a combination of the two.
Provide reasons to support your response.]
4. Scope
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[Instructions: Establish the scope of the marketing audit. When determining this you will need to
consider the purpose of the audit and the audit type. The scope should determine the depth of the
audit (whole organisation, one department, or a particular product/service), data sources that will be
used and the report format.]
5. Audit Methodology
[Instructions: What methodologies will be used during the audit process? Consider methods such as
one on one interviews, customer focus groups/feedback, use of market research data, use of sales
data, review of existing business documents, etc.]
6. Timing
[Instructions: The timing of a marketing audit will often be determined by the purpose of the audit.
What are you trying to achieve by conducting the audit and what are the timeframes in which you
want to achieve it?]
7. Participants
[Instructions: A marketing audit will often include a number of different personnel from within and
external to the organisation. Consider three key people who need to be involved in the ABMN
marketing audit, their role and what their contribution is likely to be?]
Name
Role
Contribution
8. Characteristics
[Instructions: Of the four main marketing audit characteristics explain which two are the most
relevant to the task and the audit priorities.]
9. Audit report format
[Instructions: What format will be used to present the marketing audit results?]
10. Elements of marketing audit
[Instructions: A full marketing audit should have six major elements, identify which ones should be
included in the upcoming marketing audit and why.]
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11. Audit forms
[Instructions: A marketing audit may take many forms including content/desk top audit, specific
audit, full audit, SWOT, PEST, Five Forces Analysis. Using the information provided to you what form
of marketing audit will best meet the requirements of the marketing plan and ABMN and why?]
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