Let’s be honest with each other for a moment. Most marketing managers spend the majority of their time pushing the personal interests of individuals in the C-suite or on the board. When they aren’t doing that, they are chasing vanity metrics. We ask ourselves: Are we trending? How many likes do we have? How many billboards, radio slots, or roadshows have we done this year? But we have to ask the hard question: Is that actually the job? More importantly, what impact does all of that have on the bottom line and the actual profits of the company?
It is imperative that someone sits down with these managers, directors, and executives to help them take a step back and reflect. We need to go through these strategies and ensure they are fulfilling their intended purpose: improving profits. This is why we are introducing the MARKETING STRATEGY AUDIT at Simba Growth Lab.
This audit is an in-depth, systemic evaluation of every marketing facet. It is designed to ensure that all your marketing "engines" can actually handle the growth you, as a marketing executive, are trying to create. We look deep into your "North-Star" metrics rather than just the surface-level vanity metrics that look good on a slide but don't move the needle.
To do this, we focus on four core components.
Brand Positioning - examining who you are as a brand and whether your team and your audience actually understand your identity and where you fit in the market.
Operational Alignment - making sure that your short-term marketing tactics aren't accidentally damaging your long-term brand equity or your business's financial goals.
Financial Grounding - Marketing must operate within the financial reality of the business to seal up "leaks," specifically looking at critical data like your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).
Future Proofing by identifying where you can automate or digitize, removing the processes that are killing your efficiency and hurting the customer experience as we embrace the AI era.
The process is straightforward: the audit is completed in about 2 to 3 days. It consists of deep-dive conversations with the marketing leadership and their teams, answering 100 strategic questions packaged into 10 pillars.
After these conversations, we provide a report that shows how you scored, highlighting where you excel, where you are slacking, and what is missing entirely from your strategy. This helps you, as the head of marketing, to re-strategize and adjust. If you need it, we can even create a "moving on" plan with quarterly check-ins to make sure you stay on course to achieve your growth goals.
For the C-suite and the board, this audit ensures that revenue targets are not just hit, but excelled. It reduces marketing leaks and ensures that every dollar is going where it is most impactful.
For the marketing executives and managers, I want to be clear: we are not coming for your jobs. We are here to reinforce your position and make you stronger. We want to make sure you are aligned with the main objectives of the C-suite, sustainable spending and growing revenue. Think of us as your partner and your secret weapon, coming in to make your job easier and your role more impactful.
In the coming episodes, we will talk more about why you need this audit in depth and break down the 10 pillars so you can understand them fully. We are also offering 10 free audits to create a proof of concept, so feel free to reach out on our webpage at simbagrowthlab.com