For business owners and executives, it’s easy to get caught up in the daily demands of running and growing a company. The end of the year is the ideal time to pause, take stock, and prepare for the year ahead. By assessing performance before the calendar turns, you can enter January with clarity, direction, and momentum.
Ask Yourself: Are You Truly On Top Of Your Strategy And Tactics?
An internal marketing and sales audit is a powerful way to answer that question. It highlights what’s working, what isn’t, and where resources should be focused for the best results. Unlike a financial audit, this process is less about compliance and more about sharpening your competitive edge.
Below are the key areas to examine, along with guiding questions to help frame your audit.
Identify Strengths And Weaknesses
• Where did you consistently succeed?
• Which initiatives produced the greatest ROI?
• What challenges repeatedly slowed you down?
By examining your strengths and weaknesses you can determine where you should focus in the market and how you stack up against competitors. This allows you to see what facets of the company to focus your time on and how you can continue to grow.
Gather Customer Brand Opinions
• Customer surveys or feedback forms
• Online reviews and testimonials
• Social media sentiment
Customers are the one’s who shape our business. If you aren’t giving the customers what they want, where they want it, then they will go somewhere else.
Read More: The Power Of Brand Advocacy
Collect Internal Brand Opinions
• Do employees believe the brand messaging matches the actual customer experience?
• Do they feel confident presenting your products or services?
• Where do they see opportunities for improvement?
Audit Your Marketing Tactics
• Which tactics generated leads and conversions?
• Which platforms underperformed despite investment?
• Are there emerging channels you should test?
Read More: Effective Brand Positioning Strategies
Assess Your Sales Process
• Where are leads stalling?
• Are sales materials up to date and aligned with customer expectations?
• Do sales and marketing share common goals and definitions of success?
Confirm You Have a Strategy
• Do you have clear, measurable objectives?
• Is there a defined target audience?
• Does every campaign tie back to overall business goals?
Creating a strategy is imperative before you begin any marketing goals. You aren’t able to know if you are successful if there is nothing to measure against and no attainable goals to reach.
Identify Necessary Updates
• Website design and functionality
• Sales collateral
• Messaging and positioning
• CRM or marketing automation tools
Marketing & Sales Audit Checklist for SMEs
• Have we identified our top-performing and weakest initiatives?
• Do we know how customers currently perceive our brand?
• Have we gathered employee perspectives on our brand’s strengths and weaknesses?
• Which marketing tactics delivered results, and which need to be retired or improved?
• Is our sales process aligned with marketing and free of bottlenecks?
• Do we have an up-to-date, documented strategy with measurable goals?
• Are our brand materials (website, sales collateral, content) current and consistent?
• Do we have the right tools and systems in place to support marketing and sales?
Final Thoughts
An internal marketing and sales audit doesn’t have to be complicated, but it should be thorough. By honestly assessing where you stand, you create a roadmap for smarter, more effective initiatives in the year ahead. For SMEs, this proactive approach ensures that every dollar and every hour invested contributes directly to long-term growth.
Ready to put your audit insights into action? Schedule a meeting with Bush Marketing to discuss how we can help you sharpen your strategy for 2026. Reach out today!
