--- title: "Free Marketing Audit Checklist: 30 Self Scored Checks" description: "A free marketing audit checklist for SMBs: 30 checks across paid media, attribution, pricing, retention and reporting that show where your budget leaks." url: https://marginfix.ai/marketing-audit-checklist/ lastmod: 2026-10-12 --- Your number See this page in your own figures: industry, spend and the estimated leak. [Run the estimator →](/estimator/) [Home](/) › Marketing audit checklist Guide · 30 checks · no email required # Marketing audit checklist Tick every check you cannot answer with confidence, or where the honest answer is the wrong one. The ring keeps your score, in this browser only, and the audit picks up every flagged area. - 5 min read - 6 areas, 30 checks - Median finding $58k a year across 74 audits ![Portrait photograph of Cristian Bragau](/assets/founder/cristian-bragau-2026-10.jpg) **[Cristian Bragau](/about/cristian-bragau/)** Founder & Lead Auditor · Reviewed Oct 2026 [Download CSV](/marketing-audit-checklist/marketing-audit-checklist.csv) On this page 1. [Paid media](#paid-media) 2. [Attribution](#attribution) 3. [Pricing and offers](#pricing) 4. [Retention](#retention) 5. [Budget allocation](#allocation) 6. [Reporting](#reporting) 7. [Questions](#questions) Your score Tick the checks you cannot answer with confidence. Each flagged area is compared with the 74 audited budgets. [Have all 30 checked →](/book/) 01 ## Paid media and incrementality The most common leak we find: paying for conversions that would have happened anyway. Non incremental paid spend appeared in 68% of the 74 audited budgets. [Every finding, ranked.](/findings/) Paid media and incrementality: 5 checks **1.1** For each paid channel, can you name the share of conversions that is incremental, caused by the ad, versus organic pull through? **1.2** Have you run at least one geo or audience holdout test in the last 12 months to measure true incremental lift? **1.3** Is any channel scaling on last click ROAS alone, with no incrementality check? **1.4** Are brand keyword and retargeting budgets tested against a holdout, or just assumed to work? **1.5** Would the spend survive a two week pause where you watch total revenue, not platform reported revenue? 02 ## Attribution and measurement When every platform claims the same sale, reported ROAS adds up to more revenue than you actually made. This is where reporting quietly stops telling the truth. Attribution inflation appeared in 54% of the 74 audited budgets. [Every finding, ranked.](/findings/) Attribution and measurement: 5 checks **2.1** Do your platform reported conversions, summed across channels, exceed your actual order count? If so, you have attribution inflation. **2.2** Is there a single source of truth, a blended MER or contribution view, that ties spend to real revenue? **2.3** Do you judge channels against a business level number (blended MER or CAC), not each platform’s self report? **2.4** Do you know your blended CAC and CAC payback period from actuals rather than a dashboard estimate? **2.5** Is view through conversion credit kept separate from click based credit in your reporting? 03 ## Pricing, offers and discounts Offers and discounts are where margin quietly leaves the building: priced below the true landed cost, or never switched off. Mispriced offers appeared in 47% of the 74 audited budgets, discount habits in 34%. [Every finding, ranked.](/findings/) Pricing, offers and discounts: 5 checks **3.1** Is every core offer priced above its fully loaded cost, with COGS, fulfillment, payment fees and returns included? **3.2** Do any standing discounts or promo codes never expire? **3.3** Have you checked whether discounts are training your best customers to wait for the next sale? **3.4** Are bundle and upsell prices set so they do not cannibalize full price hero products? **3.5** Do annual or subscription plans stay above their retention value after the discount is applied? 04 ## Retention and lifetime value Acquisition gets the attention; the margin often leaks on the back end: renewals, churn and the cost to serve. Retention leaks appeared in 41% of the 74 audited budgets. [Every finding, ranked.](/findings/) Retention and lifetime value: 5 checks **4.1** Do you know contribution margin by cohort, not just blended across everyone? **4.2** Is growth spend outrunning retention, so you are refilling a leaky bucket? **4.3** Are loyalty or referral rewards costing more than the repeat revenue they drive? **4.4** Is free tier or support cost measured against what each plan actually earns? **4.5** Do you measure LTV on contribution margin, or on revenue, which overstates it? 05 ## Channel and budget allocation Budget set once and never revisited is budget spent on last year’s returns. Wasted paid spend was 22% of spend across the 74 audited budgets. [Every finding, ranked.](/findings/) Channel and budget allocation: 5 checks **5.1** Is spend allocated by close rate and return by source, or spread evenly out of habit? **5.2** Are two channels, or two locations, bidding against each other for the same demand? **5.3** Is any channel being paid twice for the same customer (paid plus retargeting plus affiliate)? **5.4** Are affiliate or partner commissions paid on sales the brand had already won? **5.5** When did you last zero base the media plan instead of rolling last quarter’s forward? 06 ## Reporting and governance You cannot fix a leak you cannot see. Most reporting shows revenue; margin is where the answer lives. A median 18.7% of spend was leaking in the 74 audited budgets, inside an 11% to 28% band. [Every finding, ranked.](/findings/) Reporting and governance: 5 checks **6.1** Can you see marketing performance on contribution margin, not just revenue or ROAS? **6.2** Is there one owner accountable for spend efficiency, or is it split across teams? **6.3** Do you review spend against incrementality on a fixed cadence, or only when results dip? **6.4** Could an outsider trace a reported result back to its source data in a day? **6.5** Is anything in your reporting a platform grading its own homework? Across the corpus of 74 audits a median **18.7%** of marketing spend was leaking, inside an 11% to 28% band; the median highlight finding is worth $58k a year. [74 cases](/findings/) [The benchmark](/benchmark/) Cite this figure In 74 audited SMB marketing budgets a median 18.7% of spend was leaking, inside an 11% to 28% band; non incremental paid spend appeared in 68% of audits. MarginFix, marginfix.ai/marketing-audit-checklist/ 07 ## Checklist questions ### Can I do a marketing audit myself? Yes. This checklist is the DIY version of the six areas a full audit covers, and working through it will surface the obvious leaks. What an independent audit adds is objectivity (no stake in your channels), a benchmark to compare against, and the time to test the leaks that are not obvious. Many teams self assess first, then commission an audit for what they cannot see. [Audit or in house review, compared →](/compare/marketing-audit-vs-in-house-review/) ### How often should I audit my marketing? A full review once or twice a year suits most SMBs, with a lighter quarterly check on the fastest moving items: paid media efficiency and any standing discounts. Audit sooner if spend has scaled sharply, you have changed agencies or platforms, or reported ROAS looks better than the bank balance. ### How long does a marketing audit take? A focused audit takes days, not months: a MarginFix audit delivers findings in 5 to 7 working days. Working through this checklist yourself takes a few hours if your reporting is in order, and longer if you first have to assemble the numbers, which is itself a useful signal. ### Where does my score go? It stays in this browser; nothing is sent anywhere while you tick. If you request an audit from this page, the flagged areas and the count are carried into your booking message, so the auditor starts from your list instead of a blank page. ## Have all 30 checked. Every check against your own numbers, in 5 to 7 working days. $10k to $50k of findings, or your money back. [Request the audit](/book/) [Book the fit call](/book/call/) Fixed fee. No retainer. NDA first. Go deeper ## Read on from the checklist - [The marketing audit process Eight steps from scope to readout, in the order that keeps the numbers honest.](/insights/marketing-audit-process/) - [The benchmark Where 74 SMB marketing budgets leaked, by share of spend and by industry.](/benchmark/) - [Google Ads audit checklist 25 checks for search and PPC, scored in the browser.](/google-ads-audit-checklist/) - [Meta ads audit checklist 20 checks for paid social, scored in the browser.](/meta-ads-audit-checklist/) - [Glossary Blended ROAS, MER, incrementality and the other terms behind every check.](/glossary/) - [Margin leaks The five leak patterns in depth: what each one is and how an audit finds it.](/margin-leaks/)