The word “audit” can have a discouraging and negative connotation. You hear some say “audit” and automatically look up your receipts for the past seven years, hoping the IRS won’t find a mistake in your (allegedly) honest accounting. No one wants to be audited, but if we all conducted regularly scheduled audits of ourselves, our programs, and our performance, perhaps we would achieve more of our goals, or at least adjust plans along the way when goals need to change course due to to external circumstances.

As fall approaches and economic leaders suggest that the worst of this recession may be behind us, now is the right time to create and run a marketing audit on your plans and programs. If you already do this regularly, great, as marketing audits need to be done regularly, not just in tough times. But certainly, if you haven’t, now is the time to stoop down and be realistic about what works in your marketing toolbox and what doesn’t.

So what is a marketing audit anyway? It is a comprehensive and systematic approach to evaluating your goals and strategies for your marketing program and then recognizing problem areas and correcting them so that you are more in line and prosperous in meeting your ultimate goals. The integral part of the audit covers all aspects of marketing, not just your sales initiatives. You’ll be able to find the real pain points by evaluating all areas, including how the customer perceives your products, promotions, and services; how well you know your market segments and channels; and the extent to which you actually create and execute strategic marketing. In other words, do you come up with a few marketing ideas here and there, or every six months, do you brainstorm and strategize with your teams on ways to promote and market your products and services, and then create an executable plan based on that? in that? session?

Other ways to assess your successes and problem areas is to create a checklist of all your marketing initiatives, from developing and maintaining your website and social media engagement, to direct mail campaigns, promotions and events, and internal and external sales. Create columns next to each other for poor, good, and excellent, and have your managers or supervisors mark a rating for each item. This will show where your company’s strengths and weaknesses lie, and the results can open the door to untapped opportunities to shine in a given market.

Here are some areas to consider as evaluation tools in your marketing audit:

– The Macroenvironment and the Task Environment. Demographic, environmental, economic, technological, political and cultural shifts and changes affect the macro-environment in which you trade. What is changing in these areas? How will they affect your strategy? What areas will work even in times of change? What programs and ideas need to change to be effective? The same applies to factors in the task environment, such as changes occurring with your customers, suppliers, and competitors. What changes are you facing and experiencing that are going to affect the way you do business? What are you going to do to adjust accordingly?

– Overall marketing strategy. What is your overall strategy and mission? How does your specific marketing mission statement relate to your overall business statement? Do you have strategies that address the key needs of specific stakeholder groups? Will those strategies work in six months? Do they address the state of the economy? If the economy changes, will these strategies still be relevant or will they have to be changed?

– Organization of the Audit. How will you organize and execute the audit? Companies often keep their marketing and customer service departments separate. If this is true, does your marketing manager know how your materials and promotions affect the customer and end user? Can she successfully evaluate her programs relative to what the client ultimately needs? Other communication areas that require synergy include marketing and sales, and marketing and distribution or research and development. How are the communication efforts between these areas classified?

– Productivity. You need to assess the profitability of all areas of your business, and then in turn assess which marketing programs are profitable and which are overkill. Bringing these two areas together will allow you to cut costs and be more productive and profitable as well.

Marketing audits are a necessary gut check. If you were traveling down the road and felt lost, you wouldn’t keep driving; he would consult a map or his GPS system. He would assess his location and make his next decision based on his findings, and continue from there. The same applies to your audits. By determining your problem areas, you can adjust your marketing strategies for optimal results.