Activity hides decision absence.
Vendor numbers show what was done. They do not show which decision the work was against. Operators can mistake activity for a decision.
Marketing Audit Stan Consulting · Revenue-path assessment
Marketing Plan Audit for Revenue, Funnel, and Conversion Leaks
Updated June 2026 · scoped audit lane · built for revenue, funnel, offer, tracking, and team-decision leaks
A scoped review of the decisions behind the tactics: positioning, journey, channel allocation, tracking, and cadence. The audit is for operators who need to know which campaign, website, offer, tracking, or follow-up layer is costing money before more tactics ship.
Free · $0
Delivered in 5 business days
Reviewed by Stan Tscherenkow
Request the audit
Paid Marketing Services: use the Marketing Second Opinion when the leak crosses account, page, numbers, offer, and follow-up.
Last reviewed 12 June 2026 · For businesses $1M to $50M revenue with 3+ marketing vendors or roles
The decision sits here
Five decisions.A marketing plan runs on five structural decisions. One is misaligned. Tactics shipped against the wrong decision compound the wrong direction.
What this audit is
A scoped review of the marketing plan's five upstream decisions. The audit covers positioning and offer clarity, buyer journey architecture, channel allocation and budget logic, tracking and decision data, and operating cadence. Each decision is checked against the activity layer underneath it.
The deliverable is a 1-page written summary naming which decision is misaligned, why it cascades into the tactic layer, and the build sequence. Optional 15-minute walkthrough call included on request. The marketing review carries no retainer. If the finding fits an in-house CMO, fractional CMO, or different vendor, that is the recommended path.
Why this keeps recurring
Four reasons strategy problems hide inside tactical noise.
The dashboard is mistaken for the strategy.
Asking "what does the marketing strategy say about Channel X" gets answered with last month’s metrics. Metrics are downstream of strategy.
Every vendor names the strategy as theirs.
Agency, fractional CMO, in-house. Each frames their lane as “the strategy.” The operator has no neutral seat to integrate.
Cadence is too slow or too fast.
Quarterly review is too slow to course-correct. Weekly review becomes noise. Without documented cadence, decisions never resolve.
The pattern in one diagram
Five decisions decide whether tactics can pay.
Each decision sits upstream of the layer below. A miscalibrated layer 1 makes tactics in layer 5 produce wrong results predictably.
FThe framework
The Marketing Plan Marketing Services.
Five structural decisions. One is misaligned. The audit names which one and the build sequence.
01
Positioning and offer clarity.
Whether the business has named what it sells, to whom, at what value, in language the buyer recognises. The first audit question is "is the offer named clearly enough to test."
ChecksHomepage hero in industry jargon; multiple offers competing on one page; price band absent or buried; sales team and marketing team describing the offer differently.
02
Buyer journey architecture.
Whether the path from awareness to purchase is mapped and the marketing actually owns each stage. A funnel deck is not a journey until each stage has a page, proof, owner, and next action.
ChecksNo content between awareness and price; no comparison or proof page; long lead-to-customer cycle with no nurture sequence; sales team running its own mid-funnel material.
03
Channel allocation and budget logic.
Whether budget is allocated by expected return per stage, or by historical comfort. The audit question is whether the budget split is aligned with where the buyer actually decides.
ChecksOne channel carrying too much of the revenue plan; no documented reason for the split; retention and follow-up underfunded compared with acquisition; branded search treated as proof of new demand without an incrementality check.
04
Tracking and decision data.
Whether the dashboard the team checks represents what the bank account shows. A strategy meeting built on the wrong metric creates confident wrong decisions.
ChecksPlatform and data conversion counts materially disagree; no documented attribution policy; MER claimed as the only blended metric; no recent incrementality or holdout test.
05
Operating cadence.
Who decides what, on what evidence, at what frequency. The right cadence matches the decision cycle, not the platform refresh rate.
ChecksReview cadence either daily (noise) or quarterly (too slow); decision log empty; agency and in-house tracking against different KPIs; no named owner for the dashboard.
The inflection
Activity is the output.
Decision is the input.
Stan Consulting · structural observation across marketing plan audits
A decision log should state what changed, why, who approved it, and how the result will be evaluated. The audit asks for the decision log, not the dashboard.Operating note · Stan Consulting
Three priorities before adding any vendor or tactic
01
Name the decision that is stuck.
02
Set cadence before assigning owners.
03
Resolve the decision in writing, not in a deck.
The decision question
Decide first.
Execute second.
Tactics shipped against an undecided strategy compound waste. The audit identifies the missing decision before more activity layers are added.
Where the misalignment can live
Decision checks before another tactic is added.
Growth system checklist, not benchmark data. The audit names which decision is blocking revenue now.
What you receive
The 1-page deliverable, line by line.
Decision scorecard
Each of the 5 decisions scored Green / Amber / Red with one-line rationale.
The stuck decision
The single decision misaligned, why, and how it cascades into the tactic layer.
Vendor and team map
Who is doing what against which decision; gaps and overlaps surfaced.
Cadence recommendation
The growth plan cadence that matches the decision cycle, not the platform refresh.
Priority fix sequence
What to resolve first, second, third. Sequence matters; positioning fixes invalidate later checks.
Recommended next step
Whether the work fits an in-house CMO, fractional CMO, Marketing Services, or a different vendor.
The position
Decide the decision.
The tactics will follow.
Tactics applied to an undecided strategy compound waste. Naming the decision is the structural fix.
5decisions
Five structural decisions form the upstream layer. Get them right and tactics work; get them wrong and tactics compound waste.
The audit isolates the single decision currently stuck and surfaces the build sequence in 5 business days.
Stan Consulting · audit format“
Sample finding format: the agency may be executing the brief correctly while the brief itself points at the wrong revenue decision. The audit separates vendor performance from decision quality before the owner changes people or spend.Sanitized marketing services example · not a client claim
How the audit runs
Four steps from request to delivered audit.
Request
Fill the form. Stan Consulting confirms scope within 1 business day.
Discovery call
30-minute call with operator or CMO. Vendor list, dashboard share, offer page review.
Audit
5-decision review over 3 to 5 business days. Positioning, journey, channels, tracking, cadence.
Deliver
1-page deliverable arrives by email. Scorecard, stuck decision, fix sequence.
Commercial bridge
The audit is useful only if it names the stuck revenue decision.
Short answer: Use this audit when marketing activity is visible but the operator cannot tell which decision is costing money now.
Buyer problem: marketing activity is happening but the operator cannot tell which layer is costing money.
Money consequence: the business keeps funding effort without a clear fix sequence.
What to do next: use the free audit when the system needs a decision review. Use the Marketing Second Opinion when the problem crosses account, page, numbers, offer, and follow-up.
See marketing services proof · Inspect the marketing-not-working problem · Open the Marketing Second Opinion
FAQ
Buyer questions, plain answers.
What is a marketing plan audit?
A structured review of the five upstream decisions a marketing plan runs on: positioning, journey, channel allocation, tracking, operating cadence.
Is the audit free?
Yes. Delivered free in 5 business days after a 30-minute discovery call. The marketing review carries no retainer.
What does the audit cover?
Five structural decisions: positioning, journey, channel allocation, tracking, operating cadence. The audit reviews the system, not only individual tactics.
What size of business is this for?
Fit depends on the decision, system complexity, access, evidence, implementation capacity, and scope. Revenue and team count alone do not determine fit or whether paid work is appropriate.
What access do you need?
A 30-minute discovery call with the operator or CMO. Optional: dashboard sharing, vendor list, current strategy deck where applicable.
How is this different from the Marketing Services?
The initial review names the decision in scope. Any paid implementation has its scope, timing, price, access, exclusions, and deliverables confirmed after intake.
Will you sell me a retainer?
No. The audit ends with the deliverable. If the finding fits Stan Consulting, that becomes a separate scoped engagement only if you ask.
Stan’s take
Strategy work fails when activity dresses as decision.
"We are doing strategy" usually means "we ran a workshop, generated a deck, and added three quarterly objectives." None of that is strategy in the structural sense. Strategy is the decision that determines which tactics ship at all. The deck is downstream.
The five structural decisions sit upstream of every tactic and every vendor. Get them right and tactics compound. Get them wrong and tactics produce predictable noise. The audit exists to isolate the one decision currently stuck and produce the marketing plan that makes it actionable. Sometimes the right answer is to fire a vendor. Sometimes it is to keep the vendor and change the brief. Sometimes it is to keep the brief and change the cadence. The audit names which.
Stan Tscherenkow · Principal · Stan Consulting LLC
Adjacent audits
Walk the next audit if the question is narrower.
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Google Ads audit
When the channel performance is the symptom of the strategy gap.
Paid marketing services
Marketing Second Opinion
A separately scoped second opinion when the account and funnel need a written review.
Request the audit
Free marketing audit. 5 business days.
Fill the form below. Stan Consulting reviews the request, then confirms scope and the next contact step.
Marketing decision path
Use this audit when marketing is busy but the revenue decision is unclear.
This keeps the audit scoped: identify the likely leak, show what must be checked next, and avoid turning marketing services into open-ended free work.
When to use it
The buyer sees a marketing, website, ads, funnel, or conversion problem but does not know the real problem. Money risk: Buying a tactic before marketing services can spend more without fixing the revenue path.
What it checks first
Stan Consulting checks positioning, buyer journey, channel allocation, tracking quality, operating cadence, ownership, and follow-up after the lead or visit.
What it does not promise
It does not guarantee a result, replace implementation, or sell more spend before the real problem is visible.
Problem
Inspect the symptom →
Use this when the buyer sees a marketing, website, ads, funnel, or conversion problem but does not know the real problem.
Proof
See the proof →
Use relevant proof to ground the decision before choosing a fix.
Marketing Services
Start with the Written marketing plan →
Use the Marketing Second Opinion when the failing layer is still uncertain.