You can’t fix what you don’t measure. But you can waste time measuring the wrong things.
Most B2B businesses know their marketing isn’t performing as well as it could. What they don’t know is why. Is it the messaging? The channels? Lack of consistency? Poor lead nurturing? All of the above?
A proper marketing audit reveals exactly where the gaps are—and which ones are actually costing you growth.
What a Marketing Audit Actually Is
It’s not a comprehensive review of everything you’ve ever done. It’s a focused assessment of your current marketing across six critical areas, designed to identify the highest-impact opportunities for improvement.
A good audit takes 2-4 hours if you’re honest with yourself. It should leave you with clarity on what’s working, what’s broken, and what to fix first.
Strategic Foundation
Start by examining whether you have a clear value proposition that genuinely differentiates you from competitors. Look at whether you can articulate your target audience in specific terms beyond vague descriptions like “small businesses” or “enterprise companies.” Check if your messaging remains consistent across your website, sales materials, and campaigns. Finally, assess whether you have documented marketing goals that tie directly to business objectives.
Red flags:
The warning signs here are obvious but often overlooked. If your team gives different answers when asked “who are we targeting and why should they choose us?” you have a problem. If your website homepage could describe any of your competitors with minimal changes, that’s a red flag. When marketing activity happens without clear connection to business goals, you’re spinning wheels without direction.
What It’s costing you:
If strategy is unclear, everything else is guessing. You’re wasting budget on campaigns that don’t resonate because you haven’t nailed who you’re talking to or what makes you different.
2. Brand and Messaging
Evaluate whether your website messaging is clear and compelling within five seconds of landing on any page. Look at whether your marketing materials focus on customer outcomes or just list your features. Check if your tone of voice remains consistent across all channels. Most importantly, ask whether prospects genuinely understand what you do and why it matters to them.
Red flags:
Watch for website bounce rates above 60%, which typically means people don’t understand what you do quickly enough. If your sales team constantly has to explain or reframe your marketing messages, that’s a clear signal. Another warning sign is when your about page contains more “we” statements than “you” statements, showing you’re talking about yourself rather than addressing customer needs.
What It’s costing you:
Unclear messaging means prospects don’t stick around long enough to convert. You’re driving traffic that bounces. You’re generating leads that aren’t qualified because they misunderstood your offer.
3. Lead Generation & Demand
Calculate how many qualified leads you’re generating each month and track this consistently. Identify which channels drive the most qualified leads, focusing on quality rather than just volume. Determine your cost per lead across different channels to understand where your budget works hardest. Finally, assess whether leads come from proactive campaigns you control or just inbound luck you can’t predict.
Red flags:
The biggest warning sign is not being able to answer “how many leads did we generate last month?” with confidence and data. If most leads come from random sources like sporadic referrals, one-off events, or sheer luck, you lack a systematic approach. When paid campaigns run occasionally rather than consistently, you’re treating lead generation as an afterthought rather than a business function..
What It’s costing you:
Inconsistent lead generation means unpredictable pipeline. Sales has feast or famine months. You’re reacting to opportunities rather than creating them systematically.
4. Content & Distribution
Red flags:
Content that gets published only when someone has spare time rather than following a schedule indicates lack of priority. Creating content without a clear purpose or promotion plan means you’re producing for production’s sake. When most of your content gets fewer than 50 views or generates zero conversions, you’re not reaching your audience or the content isn’t resonating
What It’s costing you:
Content without strategy is wasted effort. You’re spending hours creating material no one sees, driving no results. Meanwhile, competitors with less frequent but more strategic content are winning attention.
Check whether you’re publishing content on a consistent schedule rather than sporadically when someone has time. Evaluate if your content aligns to different buyer journey stages including awareness, consideration, and decision phases. Look at whether you have genuine distribution strategies beyond the “post and hope” approach. Most critically, determine if your content is driving measurable outcomes like leads, engagement, or pipeline contribution.
5. Lead Nurturing & Conversion
Red flags:
The most common problem is leads going into a CRM where they sit untouched until someone from sales happens to remember to follow up. If you lack automated email sequences that nurture prospects over time, you’re relying entirely on manual effort. When you can’t track conversion rates across the journey from lead to opportunity to customer, you have no visibility into what’s working.
What It’s costing you:
You’re generating leads that die in your database. Without systematic nurturing, you’re wasting acquisition costs. Leads that could convert in 3-6 months with proper nurture go cold instead.
Examine what actually happens after someone becomes a lead and whether there’s a systematic follow-up process in place. Track how long it typically takes leads to convert into opportunities. Calculate what percentage of leads are actively being worked by your sales team versus sitting dormant. Check whether you have automated nurture sequences tailored for different lead types and buyer stages.
6. Measurement & Optimisation
Determine whether you’re tracking performance metrics that matter beyond vanity numbers like traffic and likes. Check if you can connect marketing activity directly to pipeline and revenue outcomes. Evaluate whether you’re reviewing performance regularly and making data-driven adjustments to improve results. Calculate whether you know critical numbers like customer acquisition cost and lifetime value.
Red flags:
The tell tale sign of weak measurement is tracking activity metrics like posts published or emails sent rather than outcome metrics like leads generated, pipeline created, or revenue influenced. When reporting happens quarterly or never rather than monthly or weekly, you’re not using data to improve. If you can’t answer the question “what’s our best performing marketing channel?” with actual data, you’re operating on assumptions rather than evidence.
What It’s costing you:
Without measurement, you’re flying blind. You keep investing in tactics that don’t work because you don’t know they don’t work. You under-invest in what’s actually driving results because you can’t prove it.
What to do with your audit findings
Priority 1. Fix Strategic Foundation
If your strategy, positioning, or messaging is unclear, fix that before optimizing tactics. No amount of campaign activity compensates for unclear value proposition.
2. Focus on One or Two High-Impact Gaps
Don't try to fix everything at once. Identify the 1-2 gaps costing you the most (usually lead generation or conversion) and address those first.
3. Implement Measurement Before Scaling
If you can't measure what's working, don't spend more budget. Get tracking and attribution sorted so you can optimize intelligently.
4. Build Systems, Not One-Off Fixes.
The goal isn't to run one successful campaign. It's to create repeatable systems that consistently drive results. Focus on building capability, not just executing tasks.
When to Get External Help
You should consider bringing in expertise when the audit reveals gaps that your team does not have the skills to fix, or when you've identified problems but lack capacity to address them. If you need an objective perspective on what's really wrong or need to accelerate improvements rather than figure it out over 6-12 months. A fractional marketer can conduct a thorough audit in 1-2 weeks, prioritise fixes, and then implement them - combining diagnosis and execution.
The Bottom Line
Most B2B marketing underperforms not because of lack of effort, but because effort is misdirected. Teams are busy, but busy with the wrong things.
A proper audit reveals where focus should shift. It turns vague feelings (“marketing isn’t working”) into specific, actionable insights (“our lead nurture is broken, our messaging is unclear, and we’re investing in channels that don’t drive pipeline”).
Once you know what’s broken, you can fix it. Until then, you’re just hoping next month will be better.
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