It is commonplace to find that a business invests heavily in marketing and PR activity but quite often, they don’t check whether their communication strategies are effective. They might look and record the analytics for web and social, but they don’t review activities as part of a whole, meaning they miss out on some really key intelligence.  

A communications audit is a strategic review of a business’s use of communications. It analyses and assesses how a business communicates across all communications channels, from social platforms and the company website to media sources, internal emails, newsletters and print materials. 

An overall communications review is key to conducting a successful marketing campaign that reaches and resonates with a business’s audience. Strategies can be implemented from the findings of the audit to improve audience engagement and tweaks made to strengthen the effectiveness of future campaigns and general marketing. 

Why Every Business and Campaign Needs a Communications Audit 

Ensure Brand Consistency 

An audit will highlight any inconsistencies in your messaging, tone, or branding, which could cause a sense of mistrust or confusion for your audience. For your marketing materials to resonate with your audience, they need to be clear and align with the way that you perceive and communicate your brand.  

Improve Audience Engagement 

Is your content reaching and resonating with your target audience? A good engagement rate is an indicator of content landing in the right places. For example, on LinkedIn, a good engagement rate is considered between 2% and 6% for company profiles (Hootsuite), indicating a successful content strategy that produces high-quality interactions.  

By assessing the impact your content is having on audience engagement, you can create future targeted campaigns for specific audiences. 

Create Strategies for Future Campaigns 

Conducting a review of your content strategy will help inform your future campaign strategies, increasing the likelihood of success by addressing your campaign aims. For example, an investigation into the type of content you are creating for your audience and tone of voice will help to inform your future strategies to increase your engagement. 

Why Campaigns Need Communications Audits Too 

Evaluate Campaign Effectiveness 

Inconsistent messaging across campaigns and other content can lead to a reduced return on investment, since customers may feel confused about what your brand truly stands for, and struggle to build a perception of who you are. This may mean that a customer might not deem your brand as trustworthy and put them off making a decision, for example, making a purchase.  

A communications audit assesses why a campaign may not have been so successful by identifying any inconsistencies across your messaging and branding, which can in turn, inform future campaigns.  

Refine Future Campaign Messaging 

Findings from a comprehensive communications audit can be used to enhance the efficiency of your future campaigns, to ensure they reach and resonate with your target audiences and produce a good return on investment.  

By crafting messaging and branding that complement each other and addresses the needs of your target market, you will be in a good position to create an effective campaign that lands. 

If you are looking to conduct a communications audit and in turn create a meaningful brand that resonates, get in touch with Amy Jeffs at amy@heyme.co.uk