The Digital Marketing Assessment is a detailed audit of your organization's digital marketing that gives you an impartial, neutral evaluation of your digital marketing strategies, processes, practices, programs, and operations.  It is designed as a self-assessment to quickly identify areas of opportunity and problems that are affecting your organization's digital marketing performance.  It will help you identify areas of strength and areas of opportunity for improvement.  
     
  Once you've completed the analysis, feel free to contact us for a FREE NO OBLIGATION consultation to review your responses and provide an objective analysis of your current digital marketing efforts.  To schedule your consultation, please call 651-315-7588 or contact us by email to schedule a date and time for this meeting.  You will need to send a copy of the completed analysis to us for our review before the meeting is scheduled.    
     
  You may reset all factors to " " to start over or when you are finished using the tool by clicking the RESET button at the top of each page, to reset that page .  To reset all factors on all TABS at once, click the RESET ALL button at the top of the SCORE CARD TAB.  
     
  Topics  
     
  The assessment is broken down into the following areas:  
     
  1)  Website  
  2)  Social Media  
  3)  SEO - SEM  
  4)  Mobile  
  5)  Digital Display  
  6)  Email  
     
  Instructions  
     
  Simply click the section titles on the tabs below or the hyperlinks to each section above and complete all of the questions within each section.  When you have completed all of scored sections, click on "Scorecard" tab in order to learn your overall assessment.  
     
  In each section, select a value of 1 to 5 from the drop list in the scoring column for each statement.  If the statement is not applicable to your situation, select "NA" from the drop down list.  When you are finished with each section, no statements are to be left unanswered.  
     
  Check the Scorecard TAB for your total results & overall score.  
     
  Scoring  - Rating Scale  
     
  6 - Strongly Agree  
  5 - Agree  
  4 - Unsure  
  3 - Disagree  
  2 - Strongly Disagree  
  1 - Not Applicable  
     
  © 2018 DWS Associates.  All Rights Reserved.  
  Digital Marketing Assessment Score Card  
                   
  Each section looks at key functional areas.  You need to score above a "3" in each section.  If not, you should focus on developing policies, practices and processes to improve your organization's overall digital marketing strategies, practices and efforts.  
                   
  Section Description Total
Questions 		Questions
Applicable to
Your
Organization's
Business 		Questions
Answered 		Maximum
Points From
Answered Questions 		Actual
Points
From
Applicable
Questions
Answered 		Average
Score 		 
  1 Website  
  2 Social Media  
  3 SEO - SEM  
  4 Mobile  
  5 Digital Display  
  6 Email  
    Totals / Overall Score  
                   
  Analysis of your Score         Score    
                   
  Grade "A" - Excellent -          5.1 -  6.0    
  Overall, a score of 4.1 to 5.0 means that you have excellent digital marketing processes and practices in place.      
                   
  Grade "B" - Above Average         4.1 - 5.0    
  A score between 3.1 and 4.0 means that you have good processes and practices in place and only need to work on fine tuning a few critical areas.  You could benefit from streamlining processes.      
                   
  Grade "C" - Fair         3.1 - 4.0    
  A score between 2.1 and 3.0 means you need to evaluate and document processes that utilize your resources efficiently.        
                   
  Grade "D" - Below Average         2.1 - 3.0    
  A score between 1.1 and 2.0 means that your organization has a lot of work to do in improving digital marketing strategies and digital marketing management processes and practices.        
                   
  Grade "F" - Poor         0.0 - 2.0    
  A score below 1.0 means that your organization is on digital marketing life support, wasting resources and returning no positive benefits to your overall business and marketing strategies and programs.      
  Section 1 - Website
         
  Rate your level of agree with the following statements.  Select a value from the drop down list in the column headed "Score."  If the statement is not applicable to your situation, select "NA."  No question should be left unanswered.  Check the Score Card TAB for your results and total score.
  Rating Scale: Results for This Section:    
       Score - 6 - Strongly Agree Total Questions in This Section  
       Score - 5 - Agree Total Questions Answered  
       Score - 4 - Unsure Total Questions Applicable to Your Situation  
       Score - 3 - Disagree Total Points From Applicable Questions  
       Score - 2 - Strongly Disagree Total Points Possible  
       Score - 1 - Not Applicable Average Score  
         
# Strategies, Practices, Processes, Programs, Operations, etc.. Score Comments / Concerns
1 All of our online channels work together to provide a seamless experience to customers wherever, whenever and however they contact us.
2 We have dedicated resources to create digital content.
3 Our customer relationship management system is integrated with our website.
4 We post customer and partner testimonials on our website.
5 Our home page clearly communicates who we are, what we do and what the reader can buy or get from us.
6 Our website is well laid out and it is easy for the user to find what they want, when they want it for any product/service.
7 The content on our website is easy to understand.
8 All of the navigation on our website appears above the fold on web pages.
9 Our website is integrated with our social media channels.
10 Our online image is consistent with our off line image and brand.
11 Our website contains a blog to promote our industry leadership and to keep content fresh to attract readers.
12 All our web properties are optimized for mobile.
13 Our website content includes multiple calls-to-action telling the reader what we want them to do.
14 We have a robust analytics platform that allows us to measure online behavior and conversions.
15 We have a clear end goal for what we want our website visitors to do.
16 We keep the content on our website fresh by updating it frequently.
17 We do a good job of measuring the effectiveness of our website by using tools such as Google Analytics, Web Trends or other services to track how our site is doing.
18 We selected key words for our webpage meta tags based on keyword analysis.
19 We have prepared our websites and apps to accommodate devices based on Apple, Android, Windows and other common commercial platforms.
20 Our website is optimized for cross browser compatibility.
21 The content on our website is easily skimmable.
22 We keep the content on our website as concise as possible.
23 Our website's navigation is predictable and easy-to-use.
24 The main navigation for our site remains constant throughout our site.
25 Our website is linked to social media accounts to make it more interactive and shareable.
26 We prominently show a link to Support or Customer Service in our parent Website.
27 To aid accessibility, we use navigation aides, such as site map, skip navigation link, or breadcrumbs.
28 All pages have a consistent layout, color scheme, and title/heading structure.
29 We use videos on our website to increase reader engagement.
30 We use bulleted lists and text formatting to speed reading of content on our website.
31 The content on our site is organized in a consistent manner.
32 The URL for our site is predictable based on our company name.
33 Each web page has all meta tags in place.
34 We frequently check and test all internal and external links to make sure none are broken producing error pages.
35 Our website is optimized for semantic web.
36 We are satisfied with the design and content on our web properties.
37 Our website provides compelling content and has a previewed value to our customers. 
38 Our mission is clear on our website.
39 We put case studies, called "Successes" on our website.
40 Our privacy policy is clearly stated and up-to-date.
41 The terms of use of our website are clearly stated and up-to-date.
42 Text and typography on our website are easy and pleasant to read.
43 We cut out all unnecessary information from the content on our website.
44 We use headings to break up long articles on our website.
45 We use the inverted pyramid writing style to place important information at the top of our articles.
46 We make hyperlinked text user-friendly.
47 We use visuals strategically on our website in articles to enhance readability.
48 We make it extremely easy to contact us by placing our phone number and email address in page headers, footers, and sidebars.
49 We make effective use of external links to other industry resources.
50 All text links on our site have some visual cue that they are links.
51 Our website avoids "so-what" content on the home page.   
52 We use consistent terminology to describe site elements.
53 We avoid intermingling site tools with top-tier content navigation.
54 Users get directly to the home page of our site without there being any site introduction pages being in the way.
55 Our website is designed / optimized for mobile device access.
56 We maintain consistency in fonts throughout navigation.
57 Content on our site does not include outdated material.
         
  Section 2 - Social Media  
           
  Rate your level of agree with the following statements.  Select a value from the drop down list in the column headed "Score."  If the statement is not applicable to your situation, select "NA."  No question should be left unanswered.  Check the Score Card TAB for your results and total score.  
  Rating Scale: Results for This Section:      
       Score - 6 - Strongly Agree Total Questions in This Section    
       Score - 5 - Agree Total Questions Answered    
       Score - 4 - Unsure Total Questions Applicable to Your Situation    
       Score - 3 - Disagree Total Points From Applicable Questions    
       Score - 2 - Strongly Disagree Total Points Possible    
       Score - 1 - Not Applicable Average Score    
# Strategies, Practices, Processes, Programs, Operations, etc.. Score Comments / Concerns  
1 My company has clear goals for social marketing.
 
2 Our social media is well integrated into our overall marketing promotional mix.
 
3 We have a dedicated person (and/or staff) that manages our social media activities.
 
4 Our social media content strategy is in-line with our overall SEO strategy
 
5 We currently have a company profile on social media networking sites such as LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
 
6 We are ready to incorporate social marketing strategies throughout the buying process.
 
7 We know who we are targeting with our social marketing.
 
8 We have a formal process for evaluating and responding to online comments about our company, products and services.
 
9 We have dedicated resources to create digital content.
 
10 We produce enough quality content to sustain social marketing conversations.
 
11 All of our online channels work together to provide a seamless experience to customers wherever, whenever and however they contact us.
 
12 We are committed to making every campaign social.
 
13 We have a social media presence that resonates with our target audience and promotes relationship building and sharing.
 
14 We have a formal social marketing policy guide for employees that participate in social media.
 
15 We do a good job of creating a variety of content types to share on social media channels to keep  our audience engaged.
 
16 We have a formal process for monitoring our brand online.
 
17 We allow streaming media, social networking, and some commerce sites.
 
18 We have an effective decision-making culture that encourages trial and error experimentation with new initiatives.
 
19 At least 15% of our total marketing head count is focused on social, content and inbound.
 
20 Our primary purpose for using social media is to establish our organization as thought leaders within our industry sector.
 
21 We have developed buyer personas so we know what content will resonate with them the most.
 
22 We use Twitter to promote activities (i.e., contests) during events.
 
23 We use Twitter lists to segment users by interest or group together brand advocates and our favorite twitter users.
 
           
  Section 3 - SEO - SEM
         
  Rate your level of agree with the following statements.  Select a value from the drop down list in the column headed "Score."  If the statement is not applicable to your situation, select "NA."  No question should be left unanswered.  Check the Score Card TAB for your results and total score.
  Rating Scale: Results for This Section:    
         
       Score - 6 - Strongly Agree Total Questions in This Section  
       Score - 5 - Agree Total Questions Answered  
       Score - 4 - Unsure Total Questions Applicable to Your Situation  
       Score - 3 - Disagree Total Points From Applicable Questions  
       Score - 2 - Strongly Disagree Total Points Possible  
       Score - 1 - Not Applicable Average Score  
         
# Strategies, Practices, Processes, Programs, Operations, etc.. Score Comments / Concerns
1 All of our marketing initiatives have an SEO component to them.
2 Our keywords are in line with our intended audience behavior.
3 We have an SEO/SEM plan in place.
4 We have dedicated resources to manage and support our SEO/SEM efforts.
5 Our social media content strategy is in line with our overall SEO strategy.
6 We make sure that the content for our pages is relevant to our website's theme.
7 We use keyword analyzers to ensure that our pages are targeted and optimized for our selected keywords.
8 We currently engage in pay-per-click advertising as a way to create website traffic.
9 We are dedicated to producing quality digital content that demonstrates our thought leadership.
10 We make content on our web pages easy to read.
11 We create content that is extremely relevant for keyword phrases.
12 Our web site accessible without requiring the use of Flash, Silverlight, JavaScript/AJAX, Java applets, frames, etc.
13 We use bullet points and bolding to break up large blocks of content.
14 We use a unique title tag for each page on our website.
15 We check frequently to make sure that we have no broken links.
16 Our meta descriptions use keywords wisely.
17 Our meta descriptions include a compelling description on which a user would want to click on.
18 We try to use keyword phrases 4 times within your page content.
19 We do not have any hidden, spammy or paid links in our site.
20 We use multiple variations of that keyword phrase – singular and plural versions, abbreviations, acronyms. 
21 We try to create unique content for every medium so that search engines don't see it as duplicate content and penalize us for it.
22 We try to use our keyword phrase once in your page H1 tag
23 We use H1 tags on pages that we are trying to drive unique traffic to (SEO page).
24 We use H2 tags if there are multiple sections.
25 When linking to another page on the same site from within content, we select good anchor text (keywords) to use in the actual link and do this often. 
26 We make sure that all images have appropriate alt tags.
27 We use short, easy to read and comprehend sentences in our page content.
28 We try to limit paragraph length to 3 sentences.
29 Our web site has custom error pages that returnee the correct (status code").
30 We use a tree-like structure where top level pages are the most important pages on our website.
31 We have the most important pages directly from homepage or from the top categories.
32 Our web site menu is visible from all the pages and is developed in HTML so that the search engines can find the rest of the pages.
33 We provide text links for all pages on our website.
34 We have unique titles and descriptions in all the pages on our website.
35 We incorporate important keywords in our URLs.
36 We keep title tags at 66 characters or less in length, including spaces.
37 We avoid the use of duplicate meta descriptions.
38 We try to keep our meta descriptions 150 to 160 characters in length.
39 We do not use quotes or any non-alpha characters in our meta descriptions.
40 We do a good job of including internal links on our web pages.
41 We use dashes between the words, rather than underscores.
42 We do not use non-alpha characters in our image or file names.
43 We use text links instead of image links, when we point to internal pages.
44 We have eliminated all the links that point to different versions of the same page, causing duplicate content problems.
45 We make that we do not have too many outgoing links per page.
46 We make sure that all of our pages do not compete with each other on SERPs.
47 We make sure that we do not have lots of different pages optimized for exactly the same keywords.
48 We try to make sure that our URLs are not too long or too spammy.
         
  Section 4 - Mobile  
           
  Rate your level of agree with the following statements.  Select a value from the drop down list in the column headed "Score."  If the statement is not applicable to your situation, select "NA."  No question should be left unanswered.  Check the Score Card TAB for your results and total score.  
  Rating Scale: Results for This Section:      
       Score - 5 - Strongly Agree Total Questions in This Section    
       Score - 4 - Agree Total Questions Answered    
       Score - 3 - Unsure Total Questions Applicable to Your Situation    
       Score - 2 - Disagree Total Points From Applicable Questions    
       Score - 1 - Strongly Disagree Total Points Possible    
       Score - NA - Not Applicable Average Score    
           
# Strategies, Practices, Processes, Programs, Operations, etc.. Score Comments / Concerns  
1 We have mapped out our customer path and conversion links using mobile media.
 
2 Mobile marketing syncs with our target audience demographic
 
3 All of our web properties are optimized for mobile.
 
4 Our management team understands how mobile marketing fits into our overall marketing efforts and supports these efforts.
 
5 We align our mobile market efforts with our other online and off-line initiatives.
 
6 We have specific budget set aside for mobile marketing initiatives.
 
7 We have a good sense of how quickly our mobile web traffic is growing.
 
8 We are correctly staffed to plan, implement and measure out mobile marketing efforts
 
9 We have a good idea on how our competitors are utilizing mobile marketing initiatives.
 
10 We have or are developing an app designed to engage our customers.
 
11 Subscription terms and billing intervals are clearly specified and disclosed to the consumer.
 
12 All advertising, promotional material, and service-help messages clearly display the opt out information.
 
13 We have or are considering an SMS (text) marketing campaign.
 
14 We create mobile specific ad copy and calls to action for our mobile campaigns.
 
15 We always gain permission from the people we plan to engage by employing an opt-in procedure.
 
16 For applications that require payment, we always create a double opt-in process for subscribers that ensures willing participation.
 
17 We are satisfied with our customer acquisition program using mobile media.
 
18 Our campaigns clearly communicate all material terms and conditions of a program.
 
19 Service pricing information is clearly and conspicuously indicated.
 
20 We have a clear opt-in procedure for our mobile campaign effort and don't send unsolicited messages.
 
           
  Section 5 - Digital Display Advertising
         
  Rate your level of agree with the following statements.  Select a value from the drop down list in the column headed "Score."  If the statement is not applicable to your situation, select "NA."  No question should be left unanswered.  Check the Score Card TAB for your results and total score.
  Rating Scale: Results for This Section:    
       Score - 6 - Strongly Agree Total Questions in This Section  
       Score - 5 - Agree Total Questions Answered  
       Score - 4 - Unsure Total Questions Applicable to Your Situation  
       Score - 3 - Disagree Total Points From Applicable Questions  
       Score - 2 - Strongly Disagree Total Points Possible  
       Score - 1 - Not Applicable Average Score  
         
# Strategies, Practices, Processes, Programs, Operations, etc.. Score Comments / Concerns
1 We make sure that all of our ads and messages are targeted to our audience.
2 The growth of our digital advertising is consistent with our customer's buying habits.
3 We clearly define the goals of the ads during the design process - to sell, to promote the brand or both.
4 We are satisfied with our web conversions using digital display advertising.
5 We make sure that all of our ads communicate with the customer and prospect in their language.
6 Our ad content is consistent with our SEO keywords.
7 We measure the effectiveness of all of our ads.
8 We support ads with dedicated website landing pages.
9 We experiment with different creative approaches.
10 We test different approaches and advertising formats in our ads.
11 Our ads are recognizable as our brand.
12 Our display advertising has a video component to it.
13 All of our ads include an explicit call-to-action.
14 To make our ads as effective as possible, we use larger fonts and fewer words. 
15 We keep the file sizes of our ads low to have a fast-loading ad.
16 We use standard sizes for our banner ads.
17 We avoid the use of pop-ups and pop-unders in our ads.
18 Our landing pages are consistent with the focus of the ads.
19 We target our audiences with appropriate creative treatments.
20 We keep our log and call to action consistent.
21 We place our ads near relevant site content.
22 Our ads focus on major selling points, emphasizing benefits instead of features.
23 Our ads always include ALT text to ensure that a text description of our banner ad will be displayed should the browser not support images.
24 Our ads are brief and don't include any unnecessary information.
25 We use our landing pages to generate leads.
26 We use rich media ads to generate higher click rates.
27 We use large ad formats to attract more web users and increase click through rates.
28 We avoid placing ads on websites that are crowded with ads.
29 We do a good job of avoiding buzz words in our ads.
30 We do a good job of managing reach and frequency of ads through strategic media placements.
31 We design our ads to work with the websites where we want to place them.
32 We use selectively use animation in our banners to draw attention and get noticed and tell a story.
33 We are careful with the selection of fonts and font sizes that we use in our ads.
         
  Section 6 - Email
         
  Rate your level of agree with the following statements.  Select a value from the drop down list in the column headed "Score."  If the statement is not applicable to your situation, select "NA."  No question should be left unanswered.  Check the Score Card TAB for your results and total score.
  Rating Scale: Results for This Section:    
       Score - 5 - Strongly Agree Total Questions in This Section  
       Score - 4 - Agree Total Questions Answered  
       Score - 3 - Unsure Total Questions Applicable to Your Situation  
       Score - 2 - Disagree Total Points From Applicable Questions  
       Score - 1 - Strongly Disagree Total Points Possible  
       Score - NA - Not Applicable Average Score  
         
# Strategies, Practices, Processes, Programs, Operations, etc.. Score Comments / Concerns
1 Our e-mail marketing initiatives are in-line with our overall marketing strategy.
2 We have the ability to track our e-mail click-thrus to the point of conversion.
3 Our e-mail content is useful and relevant to our target audience.
4 Our strategy is closely in line with our social media strategy.
5 We make sure that our value proposition, call-to-action, and any key information about the offer that will compel users to keep reading appears in the space normally allocated to the email preview pane.
6 Users can unsubscribe from our email with either a single click or by replying to the email.
7 Our personalized email is address from the appropriate individual to the appropriate individual (i.e.., peer to peer, CEO to CEO, etc.).
8 We regularly do A/B split testing of our mailing list.
9 We design our email to be CAN-SPAM compliant.
10 Our email landing pages are visually compelling and encourage immediate action.
11 We have a clear customer retention program using e-mail.
12 In sales conversion email, we limit the number of navigational links to keep the reader focused on the action we want them to complete.
13 We use personalization in key areas of the email message including the subject line and body of the email to increase open rates and click-through rates.
14 We are satisfied with our customer relationship management (CRM) system.
15 The growth of our e-mail database has been consistent.
16 The links in our email are always underlined and formatted in a bold type face.
17 Our email newsletters follow the 80/20 rule - 80% about industry trends, analyst reports, and white papers and 20% about us, information about new customers, new products and offerings.
18 Our email landing pages have the call-to-action or value proposition "above the fold" so that the users don't have to scroll down to see it.
19 We test our email landing page formats and offers.
20 The subject lines of our emails create a sense of urgency so the reader will open the email as soon as possible.
21 Our email strictly follow the inverted pyramid rule: most newsworthy info at the top (who, what, when where, why, how?); important details in the middle; and other general info and background info at the bottom).
22 We limit the use of images in email because the vast majority of subscribers email service providers inboxes images will not load and the user will see a blank white space.
23 Our bulk email sender is reliable and follows email marketing best practices.
24 We are careful to avoid using words in our email copy that spam filters look for.
25 Our email does a good job of communicating that we are an authoritative source of information about our industry and profession.
26 We include all terms and conditions that apply to an offer in the email message being sent.
27 We don't rely on images alone to sell our products or convey our messages.
28 We minimize the use of copy and text in our emails.
29 We test all of our email by sending it to a smaller seed list of recipients prior to sending them to our entire list.
30 We make sure that the subject line in our email clearly states the offer and benefit to the recipient.
31 We format links to look like links so that users recognize them.
32 We stay away from coding our html email template using CSS because many email service providers will strip it out.
33 We avoid using dark backgrounds with light font colors because many email service providers will step out our background image or misread our font colors.
34 We avoid using CSS in our email design template to avoid code translations problems across multiple email service providers.
35 Our B2B email is more focused on words than on images.
36 We are careful to pay attention to outside events that may affect the recipient's behavior and response to our email.
37 We include our physical mailing address in our email.
38 Our email messages are relevant and do a good job of connecting with the recipient's business and personal interests.