Where SMB marketing budgets leak: the numbers
Across the 74 audits we’ve completed — every one published as a case study — the leaks cluster into five categories, and most audits carry three or more of them simultaneously.
Insights
Field notes from real audits.
No thought leadership. Benchmark data, leak patterns and fixes — written from what the audits actually find.
Cornerstone · Benchmark report
Where SMB marketing budgets leak: data from our audits
The five leak categories we test for — the most common shows up in 68% of audits, and most carry three or more — ranked by average dollar impact, and what each costs to fix.
Read the report below → · 12 min18.7%
median share of spend found leaking
$58k
median annualized findings per audit
3+
leak categories carried by most audits
Paid media
Your ROAS is lying to you: an attribution field guide
Why Meta, Google and GA4 all claim the same sale — and the three checks that reveal your real blended return.
Read → · 8 min Working with agenciesHow to audit your agency without firing your agency
The independent-second-opinion playbook: what to check quarterly, what to ask for, and when a leak is nobody’s fault.
Read → · 7 min BenchmarksWhat “good” looks like at $10k–$250k/month spend
CAC payback, email revenue share, retargeting frequency and five more benchmarks, by industry and spend band.
Read → · 10 minYour ROAS is lying to you: an attribution field guide
In our audits, reported ROAS overstates real blended return by 20–30% on average. Not because anyone is cheating — because Meta, Google and GA4 each claim the same sale. One DTC client’s dashboards summed to 122% of actual revenue.
How to audit your agency without firing your agency
Most leaks we find are nobody’s fault. Platforms drift, prices go stale, flows get built once and forgotten. An independent audit isn’t a vote against your agency — many agencies use our findings as their next quarter’s roadmap. We never sell media management, so there’s no conflict of interest.
What “good” looks like at $10k–$250k/month spend
Benchmarks from our audit base, by the numbers we verify against revenue data — not survey self-reporting. Use these as trigger points: outside the range means an audit most often clears its guarantee floor.
Free benchmark
Get the benchmark report
The SMB Margin-Leak Report — 74 audits, one data set.
The median leak by industry and spend band, the five culprits we find most, and a self-check worksheet. Read the numbers free; take the full PDF with you.
Stop reading about leaks. Find yours.
Fixed fee. 5–7 days. $10k–$50k of findings, or your money back.