In this marketing audit guide:

• Explanation of what is a marketing audit
• List of marketing audit chapters
• Guide on how to conduct your own
• Thoughts on using AI to save time
• Free checklist of 95 marketing audit questions

What is a marketing audit?

After working on 45+ marketing audits, each of which takes 20-40 hours, I’ve spent ca 1,350 hours of my waking life (that’s about 84 days!) switching between tabs and docs.

How did I end up writing the audits? And why?

It’s rare for agencies or consultants to offer marketing audits as a standalone service. They’re usually done in-house, by the CMO. Or by an external auditing agency as part of a bigger project.

And yet, the need for an audit of a company’s marketing activities arose every time I started working for a new brand.

A 360-degree marketing audit is the fastest way to:

1. Get an exhaustive overview of what’s worked / not worked.
2. Understand each marketing channel’s state and ROI.
3. Research competing brands’ USPs and tactics.
4. Map new ideas and opportunities for growth.
5. Align company-wide goals with those of marketing.
6. Get a prioritised roadmap for the next 6 months.

Think of a marketing audit as a complete check-up of your marketing strategy.

Audits are done 1-2 times per year, and give you a deep dive into your marketing efforts to see what’s working and what’s not, and what could be optimised for better results.

You end up with a clear roadmap for the next 6-12 months.

What does a marketing audit cover?

When conducting marketing audits for my clients, I usually spend 20+ hours collecting, analysing, and formatting the information.

The resulting Google Docs file is about 60 pages long (including screenshots).

That’s a lot of hours and pages…

But if you think about it, there are also many different aspects to marketing. A well-researched and actionable marketing audit covers every aspect of your marketing strategy, from acquisition to engagement to retention.

The best way to do a marketing audit is by taking the 360-degree approach.

You should cover all the key aspects of your growth and marketing strategy, from planning and reporting to detailed per-channel analysis.

Eight key chapters of a marketing audit:

1. Results & Reporting
2. Brand & Value Proposition
3. Website/App & Acquisition Flow
4. Customer Acquisition
   1. Growth loops
   2. Paid ads
5. Social Media Marketing
6. Content Marketing & SEO
7. Email Marketing & Automation
8. Summary & Next 12 Months’ Plan

How to get started with a marketing audit?

1. Define your marketing audit goals.
2. Set up a Google Doc with all chapters.
3. Block 2-4h every day to complete the audit in 1-2 weeks.

1️⃣ Start by defining what you want to get out of your audit.

• Is your goal to improve ROI or find new ways to scale?
• Are you looking to identify weak points in your strategy?
• Just checking if your marketing strategy aligns with the CEO’s view?

Be clear about what the final audit result should look like before you start.

2️⃣ Set up a Google Doc with all chapters.

The hardest part is to start the project. Just do it.

I like writing marketing audits in Google Docs, as they’re great for formatting, including screenshots, and team comments.

Alternatively, you could use Notion or a Miro board.

3️⃣ Block 2-4 hours of time daily.

Writing a marketing audit is not a multitasking side task. Your brain needs to go into deep-focus mode where it can take in lots of information, analyse it, make connections, and come up with strategic takeaways.

I usually aim to write a full chapter in one sitting. It ends up saving a lot of time, because you don’t have to reopen all the tabs, get back into the mindset, etc.

It’s best to work on your marketing audit in the morning, when your mind’s not yet cluttered with Slack threads and meetings.

Can you use AI for auditing?

There is one part of the marketing audit where AI tools like Claude Cowork can save you time.

That’s competitive research.

I like to create a list of 10-15 competitors, and ask Claude to scrape their website and socials, then create a spreadsheet with relevant URLs, positioning and value props.

But even then, I’ll manually click each of the URLs and analyse their websites and social posts to know what’s actually there. I also collect screenshots of good examples (website blocks, USP wordings, paid ad creatives) and add them to Google Docs with my own commentary and takeaways.

As to the rest of your audit, you’ll only waste time trying to cheat with AI.

The whole point of the marketing audit is to view, analyse, and process everything with your own wise human brain.

And, obviously, you’re the only person who can come up with meaningful takeaways and next steps.

Use AI cautiously. Otherwise, you’ll end up with lots of gibberish that does not lead to any improvements or change.

95 marketing audit questions: checklist

Below, you will find five marketing audit questions for each chapter. That’s a total of 40 questions. How about another 55 to write a substantial, detailed overview?

Access the Notion page with the full checklist by subscribing to the Marketing Fix newsletter. Get the Notion Library of 95 Marketing Audit Questions.

You will find the link to Notion in your Welcome email.

Once in, you can copy the library to your account for tracking your progress. Tap “Duplicate” icon in the top-right corner.

Chapter 1: Reporting & Results

1. Have you got an up-to-date weekly/monthly KPI sheet for marketing ROI tracking?
2. Is your current marketing reporting sufficient and gives a clear overview of per-channel ROI?
3. Is there a clear marketing plan & budget for the next 6/12 months?
4. If working with agencies: Is there transparent monthly reporting on KPIs like Cost-Per-Lead and ROI?
5. Can you track the results & ROI of every marketing channel you spend on?

Chapter 2: Brand & Value Proposition

1. Who is your ICP – ideal customer profile? Is there a clear understanding about it across the organisation?
2. Are your brand USPs strong enough to convert people to buyers?
3. What is your #1 touchpoint where future customers form an opinion of your brand?
4. Does your brand leave a high-quality and trustworthy first impression?
5. Does the #1 touchpoint clearly (and immediately) communicate your product and its 1-2 top USPs?

Chapter 3: Website/App & Acquisition Flow

1. Does your website leave a high-quality and trustworthy first impression?
2. Does the #1 touchpoint clearly (and immediately) communicate your product and its 1-2 top USPs?
3. Is there a clear CTA (in website header) with the next step you want the visitor to take?
4. Do you use numbers and client logos to communicate your USP + social proof on your Home page?
5. Are your product(s) and features/benefits well visualised & communicated on the Home page?

Chapter 4: Customer Acquisition

1. Do you have a clear documentation of all paid and non-paid marketing channels with results and ROI?
2. What are your TOP 2-3 acquisition channels that drive sales and revenue?
3. Have you done any offline advertising campaigns in the past 12 months? Describe results.
4. Are there any paid channels with low performance & negative ROAS?
5. Are there any channels underperforming or delivering diminishing returns?

Chapter 5: Social Media Marketing

1. What are your brand’s active social media marketing channels?
2. Are all of your social media accounts active and getting regular engagement?
3. Are your social media profiles consistent in branding (logos, banners) AND messaging (tone of voice)?
4. Is your social media content having high engagement (likes, comments, shares, DMs)?
5. Do you have a social media strategy & plan laid out for 2+ weeks in advance?

Chapter 6: Content Marketing & SEO

1. Is organic content marketing an active customer acquisition source for your brand?
2. How are you driving traffic to your organic marketing channels? Does your audience engage with it?
3. How has ASO (Agentic Search Optimisation) affected your website traffic?
4. How visible are you in ASO results compared to competitors?
5. Is your marketing content relevant and interesting to the ICP?

Chapter 7: Email Marketing & Automation

1. Is automated email marketing part of your strategy? Have you mapped it out?
2. Are your automation workflows set up for key customer touchpoints (welcome emails, abandoned cart reminders, re-engagement campaigns)?
3. Do you have an email automation strategy to convert cold leads into customers?
4. Are you leveraging behavioural triggers (downloads, product actions, purchase history) for personalised automation?
5. How clean is your email list? Are inactive or unengaged subscribers being managed or removed?

Chapter 8: Summary & Next 12 Months’ Plan

1. Based on the audit & competitor research, how would you evaluate your current marketing strategy and results?
2. What are the weakest links in your current marketing strategy that lower your conversion rates?
3. What are the TOP 3-5 marketing activities/channels that deliver results?
4. What are the marketing activities with no ROI that you should stop spending resources on?
5. If you had to 2x your customer acquisition in the next 6 months, where would you focus?

Final recommendation

Summer is one of the best times for conducting a marketing audit.

Half the team’s off, and so are your customers.

Slow office days mean lower distraction. And this is just what’s required for a good, productive writing day.

Worried about not having enough experience?

That’s just another excuse. As with many things in life, Google is your best friend whenever in doubt.

Give it a go!

Not sure you have enough experience–or time–to write your own audit? You can hire me to do it for you. Read more here.

Further reading recommendations:

• 30min DYI Facebook Ad Account Audit
• 25+ Best Marketing Newsletters in 2025 – Read by TOP 5% Marketers

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