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Marketing Performance Audit to Pinpoint Gaps and Unlock Growth

Our Marketing Performance Audit provides independent, strategic insight into what’s driving results — and what’s quietly holding back your marketing capability.

Marketing leadership from big brands...

When More Marketing Spend Doesn’t Mean Better ROI

Your marketing activity is ramping up. Budgets are higher. Teams are busier. Yet the growth curve has flattened — and the board is asking the hard questions:

  • Why isn’t ROI improving?
  • What’s really blocking performance?
  • Who’s accountable for outcomes?
  • Why can’t we clearly show marketing’s impact?

If the answers aren’t clear, our Marketing Audit can reveal them.

cost of inaction

The Risk of Operating Without a Marketing Audit

Without a formal marketing audit, the issues stay hidden — and the cost compounds:

  1. Teams focus on low-impact work
  2. Sales and marketing lose alignment
  3. Digital assets multiply but lose coherence
  4. Leadership confidence erodes
  5. Martech inefficiencies drain budget
  6. Outdated tools and process cap growth

If you can’t measure the problem, you can’t fix it — and you’ll keep spending where it’s not delivering.

our solution

Evidence-Based Marketing Audits for CEOs, Founders, and Investors

Our Marketing Performance Audit goes beyond surface-level checks or agency “free reviews”. We deliver objective, actionable insight you can take straight to the board:

Benchmark performance against objectives

Assess structure, capability, and accountability

Identify what’s accelerating growth — and what’s slowing it

Recommend practical, evidence-backed actions

No jargon. No box-ticking. Just a clear path from insight to impact.

When to Commission a Marketing Audit

Most clients bring us in when:

•  Performance stalls despite increased investment
• A restructure or leadership change is underway
• A new CMO needs a fast, evidence-based baseline
• There’s board pressure to prove marketing ROI
• The business is preparing to scale and needs abenchmark

In short - when confidence, clarity and external validation are critical.

What You’ll Receive

You’ll walk away with:

✅ A tailored audit report with prioritised findings
✅ Clear, actionable recommendations
✅ Optional leadership debrief session
✅ Templates and frameworks for immediate implementation

You get clarity, not just commentary — with recommendations that move quickly from diagnosis to delivery.

Modular Marketing Audit Options

Choose a single module for targeted insight, or combine for a full-spectrum marketing assessment.

  1. Marketing & Sales Team Performance - Leadership, clarity, collaboration, and results
  2. Company Marketing Performance - Channel mix, spend efficiency, ROI, and strategic fit
  3. Employer Brand - Talent attraction and perception at every touchpoint
  4. Company Brand - Clarity, consistency, positioning, and customer perception
  5. Digital - Website, UX, SEO, paid media, analytics, and funnel integration

Looking outward as well as inward? Pair with our Market Analysis Service.

cost-certainty

Pricing - Fixed Fee, No Surprises

The Marketing Audit cost is set by modules, market complexity, and operational scale.

Audit Modules Audit Fee (+VAT) Ideal for
1 £5,000 Targeted check on a specific area (e.g. digital or brand)
2 £10,000 Early-stage insight or fast validation
3 £15,000 Balanced review across interlinked areas
4 £20,000 Deep diagnostic across marketing pillars
5 £25,000 Full-spectrum reset or pre-investment review

Most clients recoup fees within 3–6 months through efficiency gains and better spend.

Important notes:

Scope Confirmation: Final scope is agreed following a discovery call to ensure objectives and deliverables are clearly defined.

Inclusive Fees: All fees cover discovery, diagnosis, delivery, and actionable recommendations.

Fixed Scope: A clear Statement of Work is confirmed before any project begins, giving you certainty on cost and outcomes.

Learn more about our pricing

still deciding?

When an External Marketing Perspective Makes the Difference

Our Marketing Audit Service is right for you if:

  • You value objective insight from a Chartered Marketer with board-level experience
  • Your internal resources are stretched or lack specialist capability
  • You’re under boardroom or investor pressure to move quickly and decisively

We partner with business leaders who want clarity, confidence, and a commercial edge. Many who begin with Marketing Audit continue with us as their Fractional CMOs — embedding leadership for long-term impact.

Is your organisation ready?


Take our 3-minute diagnostic to assess whether our Marketing Audit Service is the right next step for you.

need something else?

Related Services

Alongside our marketing audit support, we offer targeted services — from advisory and mentoring to fully embedded Fractional CMOs — providing focused interventions that build capability, insight, and investor confidence.

Free Online Marketing Capability Audit

Before committing to our deep-dive audit, our free online audit will give you a clue about your current performance. Takes 5-minutes.

Marketing Advisory

You’re making a high-stakes decision and need independent, senior-level input right now.

Marketing Mentoring

You, or someone else, needs mentoring to build confidence, clarity, and capability.

Fractional CMO

You need ongoing senior marketing leadership to drive strategy, execution, and team alignment.

Our project was to create a top-level marketing strategy which, once built, we could drive forward ourselves. And I can honestly say the work has been transformational for Yellowtail. After each workshop with VCMO, both Dennis Hall and I would be amazed at how much we'd achieved. We worked hard! But the results are worth it.

Sarah Steele
Operations Director, Yellowtail Financial Planning
Read the Case Study

Shout out to Paul Mills who bravely took on running a positioning workshop with us yesterday. Is there anything harder than doing the thing your client does for others for them?! Great work. Really thought provoking, and so important to have facilitated by someone with an external perspective!

Bryony Thomas
CEO, watertight business thinking

Paul is a professional strategic marketeer who is able to apply his expertise with marketing budgets large and small. The commercial impact of Shaw & Co's rebrand, which was initiated, designed and implemented by Paul, has been to differentiate us positively in a sector where few have succeeded. He delivers what he promises, on time and on/under budget, to a high quality. Paul made a positive impact on our business that will last.

Rod Leefe
chair, shaw & co

VCMO's audit brought clarity to a complex set of challenges. They cut through the noise and delivered a clear, prioritised roadmap that we could act on immediately. Their ability to engage across teams and translate insight into action was exactly what we needed.

Dr. Ross Burn
Co-founder, Catsci limited  
Read the Case Study

Lydia possesses a deep understanding of marketing strategies and has consistently delivered exceptional results. Her ability to analyse market trends, create engaging campaigns, and drive customer acquisition is truly impressive. Her dedication, attention to detail, and strong communication skills make her an invaluable asset to any organisation. I cannot recommend Lydia enough for her expertise, professionalism, and exceptional work ethic.

Alan Leckey
Business Consultant, CCO - the Collaboration Company  

Paul Mills wasn't just an outsourced marketing leader — he was a mentor. His support helped me enhance my technical marketing skills and shape a more strategic mindset, as well as build my  confidence with senior leadership and deliver higher-impact work. He is dependable and skillful, and his guidance has made me feel more capable and prepared for future challenges.

Caitlin Daniels
marketing manager, catsci limited
Read the Case Study

VCMO brings knowledge, insight and practical experience to the table, but also something else, which is quite rare, the unwavering commitment to finishing the job without compromising on the quality of the output. Their work for Yellowtail has been exemplary and we're seeing the results already.

Dennis Hall
founder, yellowtail financial planning

Ruth brought great experience and insight to my firm over many years. Her considered and thoughtful approach to problem solving are a real strength and her experience of marketing and business development in the legal sector was invaluable.

Gavin Tyler
Managing Partner, Cripps

VCMO helped us think beyond our capabilities and reframe how we communicate the true value of what we do. Paul's workshop unlocked fresh ideas resulting in a more strategic approach to our content plan and go-to-market materials. The quality of the output and power of the messaging is really impressive.

Peter Ridgway
Business Development Director, Reach Separations
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VCMO has been instrumental in reshaping how we approach marketing at Lucent. Their strategic clarity, attention to detail, and ability to deliver at pace have been exceptional. Paul's embedded himself seamlessly into the team and quickly earned trust — not just from me, but from our wider staff and partners. The website and content strategy he led have already started delivering results, and I now feel far more confident in how we grow the business over the coming years.

Steven Rowe
Founder - Lucent Financial Planning
Read the Case Study

VCMO helped me find the words and structure to communicate what I do — and who I do it for — in a way that finally connects. I’ve had more inbound enquiries since the website relaunch than in the previous two years.

Lee Spencer
aka The rowing marine
Read the Case Study

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