Marketing Audit for UK Businesses

Marketing performance often becomes unclear when:

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• Spend is increasing but impact is uncertain
• Reporting looks positive, but results don’t translate commercially
• Different stakeholders have different views of “what’s working”
• Trust in data, agencies or internal teams has eroded
• Investment, transformation or exit decisions are approaching

At this point, the issue isn’t activity. It’s confidence.

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Without independent clarity, leaders are forced to choose between:

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1. Doubling down blindly
2. Cutting spend prematurely
3. Delaying decisions that carry commercial risk

This audit exists to replace assumption with evidence.

Our Marketing Audit is appropriate when you need to:

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• Understand what is genuinely working — and what isn’t
• Assess whether marketing investment is justified
• Establish a reliable baseline before change or growth
• Validate internal reporting or external agency performance
• Support board, investor or PE-level decision-making
• Reduce risk ahead of funding, transformation or exit

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If the priority is fixing marketing, this is not the solution.

If the priority is knowing what to do next with confidence, this audit is designed for that.

Our audit is a time-bound, independent diagnostic, designed to assess marketing objectively and without bias.

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It focuses on:

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✅ Strategy and go-to-market alignment

✅ Capability, structure and resourcing

✅ Channel performance and effectiveness

✅ Measurement, reporting and governance

✅ Sales and marketing alignment

✅ Budget allocation and efficiency

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The goal is not to judge effort — it is to understand effectiveness, risk and readiness.

To avoid ambiguity, our Marketing Audit is not:

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❌ An implementation programme

❌ A leadership engagement

❌ A consulting retainer

❌ A commitment to further services

❌ A sales exercise

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It is deliberately independent.

You are free to act — or not — on the findings.

Our Marketing Audit is most commonly commissioned by:

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• CEOs and founders who need confidence before committing to change
• PE investors and operating partners assessing portfolio performance
• Boards and NEDs seeking objective assurance
• Leadership teams preparing for growth, restructuring or exit

What matters is not role title — but responsibility for high-stakes decisions.

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Case Study: CatSci Limited engaged VCMO to conduct a marketing audit, revealing growth blockers and providing a clear roadmap to align marketing with goals.

The output of the audit is designed to be decision-ready.

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Typically, this includes:

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✔️ A clear assessment of current marketing effectiveness

✔️ Identification of strengths, gaps and risks

✔️ Evidence-backed insight into performance and capability

✔️ A prioritised set of findings

✔️ Clear implications for investment, leadership or structure

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This gives you the clarity to decide:

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1. Whether to invest further
2. Where to focus
3. What to change
4. Or whether to pause entirely

Clients typically use the audit to:

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• Inform board or investor discussions
• Support funding or exit preparation
• Validate or challenge internal narratives
• Decide between advisory, mentoring or leadership routes
• Reduce risk before committing further resource

The audit creates a shared, factual baseline — removing opinion from the conversation.

Rather than a one-size-fits-all package, the audit is constructed from focused diagnostic modules, selected based on the questions you need answered.

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Common modules include:

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1. Performance & Effectiveness Review - Assessment of channel contribution, ROI signals and commercial impact.
2. Capability & Operating Model Assessment - Review of team structure, skills, resourcing and ways of working.
3. Strategy & Go-to-Market Alignment - Evaluation of ICP clarity, positioning and GTM coherence.
4. Measurement, Data & Reporting Review - Analysis of metrics, dashboards, decision usefulness and governance.
5. Sales & Marketing Alignment Review - Examination of handoffs, accountability, incentives and pipeline logic.

Modules are selected only where they directly inform the decision at hand.

Once scope is agreed, pricing is fixed. There is:

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❌ No scope creep

❌ No open-ended billing

❌ No obligation to proceed beyond the audit

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The audit is deliberately independent. You are free to act — or not act — on the findings.

• Conducted by Chartered (CIM) marketing leaders, not junior analysts
• Independent — not linked to media, platforms, or execution fees
• Commercially interpreted — not academic reporting
• Board & investor ready — not internal-only diagnostics
• Designed to inform real decisions, not theoretical benchmarks

If you’re not ready for a deep-dive audit, these routes may be more appropriate:

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• Market Analysis — when you need to understand your competitive marketplace before committing to change
• Marketing Advisory — when you need senior input without a retainer
• Investor Due Diligence — when confidence and assurance are required ahead of funding or exit
• Marketing Mentoring — when you (or a team member) needs mentoring to build confidence, clarity, and safeguard future capability‍
• Fractional CMO — when you need embedded leadership to own marketing

If an independent assessment of your marketing function is required, this page is the right place to be.