Marketing Discovery Checklist

  • Do you feel you are getting value for money from your marketing budgets?
  • Are you developing the new business opportunities as outlined in your business plan?
  • Do you actually have a business plan to compare with your results?
  • How satisfied are your customers – and do you have proof of this?

  • What unique selling propositions help you stand out from your marketplace?
  • Is your corporate or brand image consistent with your product or service, in the eyes of your customers?
  • Do you actively manage your brand, product or corporate identity?
  • How effective do you feel your external communications are? Do you have any proof of this?
  • How effective do you feel your internal communications are? Do you have any proof of this?
  • When did you last launch a new product?
  • Was the new product launch successful? Do you have any proof of this?
  • How effective do you feel your marketing is?
  • Do you have a digital marketing strategy? Do you think it works?

Brand

  • Do you actively manage your brand, and how?
  • What are your brand values, and does your company live these values?
  • How long has the brand/product been around?
  • What is the estimated brand equity?
  • What does the brand mean in the eyes of your customers?
  • Would your customers miss it if it did not exist?
  • Have you extended the brand or product line? If not, could you do it?
  • Are there any high-risk areas you should avoid?
  • Do your brand/product promotions reinforce the core values?

Business Development

  • Are you developing new business from existing customers?
  • Are you developing new business from new customers?
  • Are you developing new business from new products?
  • Do you know what your customer retention rates are?
  • Do you have an definition for a ‘good’ sale or customer?
  • Do you set revenue targets?
  • Do you set profit targets?
  • How do you manage key accounts?
  • How do you target new, potential key accounts?
  • Do your customers know all the brands/products you offer?
  • How much do you invest in business development activities?
  • What is the success rate of your business development efforts?
  • Do you have a customer relationship management (or marketing) system?
  • Do you feel the CRM system is well implemented and properly used?

Customer Satisfaction

  • Do you know how satisfied your customers are with your products/ services? Do you have any proof of this?
  • Do you operate a Customer Satisfaction Policy?
  • What do you see as the benefits of a Customer Satisfaction Policy?
  • Do you assess customer satisfaction? How do you do this?
  • To what level do you think you are meeting or exceeding customer expectations?
  • Do you hold customer satisfaction reviews?
  • If you do, is there any internal resistance to customer satisfaction reviews?
  • Do you link any customer satisfaction feedback to your customer service planning, new product development, and/or marketing strategy development?
  • How do you detect problems customers may be experiencing with your company, brand or products?

Corporate, Brand or Product Identity

  • Do you actively manage your corporate, brand or product identity? How do you do this?
  • Are your marketing and corporate communications materials consistent with this identity, and immediately recognisable as belonging to your business?
  • Do you feel that the identity works?
  • Does your identity portray the correct image?
  • Are the benefits of having and living with a corporate, brand or product identity understood throughout the company?
  • Does your board actively support the identity, and manage it?
  • Have you extended your identity to digital media?
  • Do you feel that this has worked in the new medium?

Planning

  • How does your company approach the planning cycle?
  • Is marketing planning included in this process?
  • If yes, is the marketing planning process seen as a positive management tool?
  • Has the company set definitions and procedures for the business and marketing planning processes?
  • Are the budgeting, business and customer service planning processes part of, or linked to the marketing planning procedure?
  • How do you determine the marketing budget? Does this procedure work well?
  • Do your marketing plans get monitored and evaluated?
  • How successful has the marketing planning process been?
  • Do you feel that appropriate internal and external information is available during the planning and evaluation processes?

Positioning

  • Do you know where your brand / products are positioned?
  • Do you have a clearly developed marketing positioning strategy?
  • Do your customers clearly understand what your company stands for?
  • Does your company, brand or product make a real difference in the marketplace?
  • Do you feel that you have identified all the aspects of competitive advantage your brand or product offers?
  • Do you think you exploit this competitive advantage correctly?
  • Do you communicate these advantages actively, consistently and effectively?
  • Do you think the competitive advantages you communicate can motivate your customers to choose your product/brand over the competition?

Marketing Operations

  • Do you know the capabilities and limitations of your marketers? If so, how?
  • Do you understand your market dynamics?
  • Do you have any proof of the market evolution?
  • Who are your competitors?
  • What are the differences between your products/services and branding and those of your competitors?
  • Do you have a clear set of business objectives and shorter term goals?
  • If yes, do your marketing objectives support this?
  • How is customer feedback incorporated into your marketing plans, service improvements and marketing communications activities?
  • Have your clearly defined the markets you want to develop or serve?
  • How systematically do you approach the market entry / support strategies?
  • Do you measure the return on investment provided by your marketing activities?

New Product Development

  • How do you develop new products or services?
  • How long does development normally take?
  • How many successful new products/services did you introduce in the last year?
  • Are feasibility and investment criteria set for new product assessment?
  • Do you employ and evaluate launch plans for new products/services?
  • Is your product portfolio managed centrally or locally?
  • Do you link new product development to your business and marketing strategies? How do you do this?
  • How are new product/service ideas encouraged and captured?

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