Reports show that 60% of brands with documented strategies say content marketing is effective.

Further, the report shows that less effective content tactics stem from unclear goals, misalignment with the buyer journey, poor measurement of content performance, and limited resources.

These highlight the need for regular audits and optimization to identify the root causes and achieve positive ROI.

This blog explores the signs a brand needs to conduct a content marketing audit and the steps to assess the performance of content strategies. It also delves into common mistakes to avoid and what to do with audit data.

TL;DR: Content Marketing Audit Checklist

Here is a checklist to ensure the marketing audit covers every aspect of the strategy:

☐ Analyze content performance
☐ Evaluate content strategy
☐ Conduct competitor analysis
☐ Check trends across content campaigns
☐ Leverage content audit tools

What is a Content Marketing Audit?

A content marketing audit is the full diagnostic to discover what’s running well, what’s leaking, and where a brand can conduct the highest-value fixes in terms of content.

Content Audit vs. Content Marketing Audit

While often used interchangeably, these terms differ significantly in scope and objectives. Here’s a quick breakdown:

Signs That Indicate a Need for a Content Marketing Audit

While an audit should occur annually, certain indicators warrant assessing the marketing engine and prioritizing the highest-value fixes.

Here are the telltale signs a brand should look for:

1. Brand is Struggling to Stand Out

Brands often struggle to cut through the noise in a crowded market because outdated content marketing frameworks leave them behind.

The audit is crucial to redefine positioning and content to differentiate the brand from the competition and align with evolving audience needs.

2. Budget Keeps Increasing

A brand can keep spending more on its marketing campaigns while not improving its ROI. In this case, the solution is not to keep investing in another tactic, to create one or two one-off campaigns, or to add tools in the tech stack without clarity.

An audit helps analyze every dollar to ensure it has a measurable impact and to continue optimizing marketing spend.

3. No Clear Data from the Campaigns

If a brand can’t pinpoint the channels that produce the most qualified leads, deliver the lowest cost per acquisition, or achieve the highest conversion rate from website traffic, an audit may be necessary.

Through content analysis, teams can gain insights to inform data-driven decisions, such as where to allocate their limited resources.

4. Campaigns are Without a Strategy

A brand running random content campaigns without a specific business goal may be operating on autopilot.

An audit forces the brand to review every campaign to trace them back to a specific business goal. Each tactic is tied to the outcome it produces, such as its measurable impact on qualified leads or conversions.

5. There are Gaps in Content Marketing Accountability

When content marketing isn’t centralized among the sales, marketing, and content writing teams, it can become ineffective and make measurement difficult.

An audit enables a brand to establish a central voice and clear roles within a company. It provides clarity on the universal marketing strategy, execution, reporting, and decision-making.

Brands experiencing these signs should hire a content marketing consultant to take a closer look.

I am a content marketing consultant, and I can help you audit your content marketing strategy, identify friction points in your tactics, and align your tactics with your long-term goals. We can create a measurable content marketing strategy to tackle every step of the way and messaging that positively impacts your sales pipeline.

Schedule a strategy session and let’s discuss how we can tap into the power of content to engage leads and drive revenue growth for your business.

Types of Content Marketing Audits

Several audit types contribute to the overall content marketing assessment.
Here are all the angles to look at in an audit:

• Content Strategy Audit: Tracks the effectiveness of the content strategy in meeting the business objectives.
• Content Performance Audit: Reviews the existing content assets for relevance and performance. It measures metrics and KPIs such as engagement, lead generation, conversions, and ROI to determine which tactics are working and which aren’t.
• Content Funnel Audit: Assesses whether the content supports each stage of the customer acquisition funnel from awareness, consideration, conversion, to customer retention.
• Content Distribution Audit: Examines how content is shared across channels, both organic search and paid campaigns, to identify greater reach.
• Competitive Content Marketing Audit: Compares the content strategy and performance of the efforts against competitors to uncover growth opportunities and weaknesses.

How to Conduct a Content Marketing Audit

Brands should have a structured plan to ensure the audit leads to measurable improvements instead of becoming a one-time process.

Here’s a step-by-step process:

Analyze Content Performance

Brands should analyze their content marketing efforts against the audit goals. The goals could be to improve lead generation, boost engagement, or maximize ROI. It can also be used to improve overall SEO discoverability and organic search keyword rankings.

Brands can also determine which channel generates the highest engagement and conversions and then refine their distribution strategy based on the data. Additionally, they can identify high-performing content campaigns and prioritize optimization efforts to achieve greater marketing impact.

Evaluate Content Strategy

Brands should assess whether the content aligns with the goals, target audience, buyer personas, and customer journey.

They can review the messaging, publishing calendar, and content assets to determine whether the strategy addresses the audience’s needs and supports the broader marketing and revenue objectives.

Conduct Competitor Analysis

The next step is to gauge where the content campaign stands compared to competitors. This is crucial for identifying areas to exploit or where improvements to the strategy are needed.

Brands should identify content gaps, whether in the audience needs, competitor content scope, or keyword opportunities. The uncovered areas can help strengthen the overall content strategy.

They can use competitor analysis and customer experience tools to identify the content gaps. They include Screamingfrog, Google Analytics (GA) Solutions, SocialCount, and SEMrush.

Check Trends Across Content Campaigns

Brands should review each campaign to look for common messaging gaps and inconsistencies. These can help shed light on the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities in their campaigns.

For example, they may find the CTA design is lacking, or branding is inconsistent across formats.

Common Mistakes in a Content Marketing Audit

Brands can still run into problems during an audit.

Here’s a breakdown of the common mistakes to avoid:

What Comes After a Content Marketing Audit

After completing a content marketing audit, a brand should use the findings to improve its overall content strategy.

Here are the next steps to take:

1. Prioritize High-Impact Improvements: Businesses should establish clear action plans based on potential business impact and resource requirements.
2. Refine the Content Marketing Strategy: They should refine their messaging strategy to ensure every content piece targets the right audience, supports their business objectives, and delivers measurable value.
3. Improve Conversion Paths: Brands should review their CTAs, landing pages, and lead-capture forms to encourage users to become qualified leads, become customers, and drive revenue.
4. Refine the Content Calendar: Businesses must streamline their publishing schedule and production plan. The calendar can also help to stay on track with the content goal and consistently publish the content.
5. Assign Responsibilities: A crucial step is to establish clear roles and realistic deadlines. They can improve accountability and ensure the insights from the audit are implemented into tangible marketing improvements.
6. Track Key Performance Metrics: A brand should continue to monitor key KPIs, including organic traffic, engagement, conversion rates, and ROI. These metrics determine whether the improvements are successful and identify areas that need additional optimization.
7. Partner with an Expert: Brands should consider hiring a marketing consultant to help with strategy auditing and refinement, channel selection, campaign execution, and performance evaluation.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Explore the answers to commonly asked questions below about content marketing audits:

How Often Should a Business Run a Content Marketing Audit?

A brand should conduct an annual audit to identify content opportunities, adapt its marketing strategy to changing customer behavior, and continuously improve the quality of its content.

However, they can conduct multiple audits throughout the year if they have immediate objectives to address.

What Tools Are Commonly Used in a Content Marketing Audit?

An audit relies on a combination of tools to streamline the process, which include:

• Analytics tools to measure how users are interacting with content. They include Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
• SEO tools that help gather URLs on a site, help with competitor research, and offer insights on technical issues. Examples are Screaming Frog and Ahrefs.
• Organizational tools help track audit tasks. They include Asana and Trello.

Who Should Be Involved in Conducting a Content Marketing Audit?

The marketing teams and a content marketing consultant should be involved to run a detailed audit.

The expert has extensive experience running audits and can help you spot pitfalls in your content processes.

Conclusion

Brands should conduct a content marketing audit once a year or in response to changes in consumer behavior or ROI. They can transform their audit into a strategic approach by using the action plans detailed throughout the blog.

If you’re already experiencing the signs that you need a content audit, you should consider hiring a marketing expert.

We can audit your messaging across channels and identify any inconsistencies. Together, we can create content that reinforces the same core value proposition throughout the buyer journey and across all touchpoints.

Book a 20-minute discovery call and let’s discuss how to refine your strategy and maximize your ROI.