Governance
Each engagement has a named client sponsor, an agreed decision the audit must inform, and a documented scope. Interim findings are shared at defined checkpoints so leadership is never waiting on a single delivery.
How we audit
A method built to survive challenge.
Five stages, one evidence standard, and a deliberate validation step that removes factual dispute before conclusions are debated.
The process
How the audit process works
- 1
Align
We agree the decision the audit must inform, the questions in scope, the stakeholders involved, and the standard of evidence required. Confidentiality and conflict terms are set before any work begins.
- 2
Secure evidence
We collect marketing plans, channel roles, content calendars, social posts, creator briefs, community logs, listening data, platform exports, paid social accounts, media reports, campaign briefs, contracts, staffing plans, invoices, and stakeholder interviews through a controlled evidence request.
- 3
Analyze
Evidence is tested against the five audit lenses. Findings are traced to source documents so that every conclusion can be located, questioned, and defended.
- 4
Validate
Draft findings are fact-checked with the client team and, where appropriate, the agency. Validation removes error and disagreement about facts before conclusions are debated.
- 5
Report and act
Leadership receives an executive report, an evidence schedule, prioritized risks, and a 90-day action plan with named owners, sequencing, and checkpoints.
Standards
Governance, conflicts, confidentiality, and validation
Conflicts
Potential conflicts are identified and disclosed in writing before an engagement is accepted. We hold no commercial relationships with agencies, platforms, or technology vendors, and fees are never contingent on findings.
Confidentiality
Evidence is handled under mutual non-disclosure, stored in access-controlled systems, restricted to named engagement personnel, and returned or destroyed at the client's instruction on completion.
Fact validation
Draft findings are circulated for factual correction before conclusions are finalized. This separates disagreement about facts from disagreement about interpretation and makes conclusions durable under challenge.
Evidence
What we examine
Findings are traced to primary sources, not to summaries prepared for the review.
- Marketing and channel plans, briefs, and strategy documents
- Social media strategy documents and platform role definitions
- Content calendars, editorial plans, and production schedules
- Published social posts, assets, captions, and community responses
- Platform exports and native analytics across organic and paid social
- Creator and influencer briefs, contracts, deliverables, and reporting
- Community management logs, response times, and escalation records
- Social listening data and audience research
- Paid social and media plans, delivery reports, and reconciliation records
- Campaign creative, brand guidelines, and testing results
- Reporting history, dashboards, and measurement documentation
- Contracts, statements of work, fee schedules, and invoices
- Staffing plans, team structures, and time allocation records
- Stakeholder interviews across marketing, social, finance, and procurement
Engagement formats
Four ways to engage
Focused audit
A single lens examined in depth, most often social media strategy and performance, measurement integrity, or commercial value. Suited to a defined question with a near-term decision attached.
Full marketing agency audit
All five lenses across the agency relationship, covering marketing performance, social and content effectiveness, operating model, creative relevance, and media and commercial accountability, with stakeholder interviews and a complete evidence schedule.
Review readiness
Preparation and governance for a formal agency review, including evaluation criteria, scope definition, and transition risk mapping.
Ongoing verification
A recurring annual or semi-annual verification that keeps performance, measurement, and commercial terms under independent examination.
Deliverables
What leadership receives
Executive report
A concise leadership document that states what was examined, what was found, and what should happen next.
Evidence schedule
Every finding mapped to the documents, data, and interviews it rests on, so conclusions can be traced.
Prioritized risk register
Performance, social, commercial, measurement, and relationship risks ranked by financial and operational exposure.
Stakeholder validation record
Documented fact-checking across marketing, finance, procurement, and, where in scope, the agency.
90-day action plan
Sequenced actions with owners, decision points, and measures so findings translate into movement.
Confidential
Request a confidential agency assessment
A short, confidential conversation to understand the decision you are facing, the evidence available, and whether an independent audit is the right instrument.