Raw Digital · Free Checklist

The Marketing Spend Audit.

Work through this once a quarter. Every box you can't tick with confidence is budget at risk.

Where the money leaks

Wasted marketing spend rarely looks like waste. It looks busy — campaigns running, invoices paid, dashboards full. The leaks hide in seven places. Go through each and tick only what you can prove.

1. Attribution — do you know what's working?

• You can name the channel that generates your best customers, not just the most clicks.
• Every lead source is tracked to a real revenue figure, not a vanity metric.
• You could pause your worst-performing channel tomorrow and know exactly what you'd lose.

2. Paid media — is every dollar earning?

• You have a target cost-per-lead and cost-per-sale, and you're hitting them.
• Spend is concentrated on winners, not spread evenly "to be safe".
• Someone reviews and optimises campaigns weekly — not "set and forget".

3. Tools & subscriptions — are you paying for shelfware?

• You can list every marketing tool you pay for and what each one is for.
• Nothing is billing monthly that the team stopped using months ago.
• You're not paying for two tools that do the same job.

4. Agencies & contractors — are you buying output or overhead?

• You get a clear monthly report tying their work to commercial outcomes.
• You know who actually does your work — not just the account manager.
• The retainer scope matches what you actually receive each month.

5. The funnel — are you paying to fill a leaky bucket?

• You know your website's conversion rate, and it's being actively improved.
• Leads are followed up fast — minutes and hours, not days.
• You're spending on keeping and growing customers, not just chasing new ones.

6. Content & creative — is it working, or just filling a calendar?

• Content is tied to a goal, not published for the sake of "staying active".
• You reuse and refresh what works instead of always starting from scratch.
• You could point to a piece of content that directly drove revenue.

7. Ownership — is someone accountable for the whole picture?

• One senior person owns the marketing number, not a scatter of freelancers.
• Budget decisions are made on data, by someone who understands the P&L.
• You review total marketing spend against total return, at least quarterly.

Three quick wins

1. Cancel the shelfware. Cull every subscription nobody's opened in 60 days. Instant, permanent saving.
2. Cut the worst channel by half. Move that budget to your proven winner and measure the difference for a month.
3. Fix follow-up speed. Responding to leads in minutes instead of days is free, and often the single biggest lift in return.