Marketing reviews and audits for B2B and professional service firms in London, UK, Europe and USA
We’re busy, but we can’t tell if any of it is working.
That’s the sentence, almost word for word, that starts most of these conversations. Your team is producing. Events are running, content is going out, someone’s posting on LinkedIn every week. But when your managing partner asks which of it brought in work, nobody can answer with much confidence.
A review answers it. Not with a feeling, with evidence.
What is a marketing review or audit?
A marketing audit is an independent review of everything a firm is doing across marketing and business development: what’s running, what it costs in money and in people’s time, and what it’s actually generating. It ends in a written, prioritised set of recommendations you can take to your leadership team and act on.
Signs you need one
- Your marketing is busy and nobody can say what’s working.
- You’re spending on channels because you always have, not because you know they pay.
- Your marketing team isn’t meeting expectations and you can’t quite articulate why.
- You’ve got new leadership, or a new head of marketing, and you want an honest baseline.
- You’re about to write a marketing plan and you don’t know your real starting point.
- A senior marketer has left and you’re not sure what state things were actually in.
- Your competitors are visibly more present than you and you don’t know how they’re doing it.
- You’ve been established a while, you’re growing, and you know a second pair of eyes would help.
What I review
I look across seven areas, because marketing problems are rarely where the firm thinks they are.
Competitive landscape and industry insight. Your market, what your competitors are actually doing, the wider factors shaping your sector, and what your clients say when someone asks them properly.
Strategic alignment. Whether your marketing objectives connect to your business plan, or whether the two have quietly drifted apart.
Branding and messaging. Your brand, your assets, what you claim makes you different, and whether that lands with the audiences you’re aiming at.
Products and services. What you sell, and whether it matches what the market is currently buying.
Marketing operations. Systems, processes, resourcing and budget. This is where I find the most waste, and it’s the area firms least expect.
Marketing and business development channels. Everything online and offline, and what each is contributing.
Performance metrics. What your marketing and leadership teams measure, and whether those numbers can actually support a decision.
What you get
A written recommendations document, prioritised by impact, designed to be shared with your leadership and marketing teams rather than filed. It tells you what to stop, what to keep, what to fix and what’s missing.
Then a debrief with whoever needs to be in the room, to talk it through and agree what happens next.
The report is written to be argued with. If your head of marketing disagrees with a finding, that’s a useful conversation, and it’s a better outcome than polite agreement and no change.
How it works
1. Discovery. I gather what exists: plans, budgets, data, reporting. Then I interview the people who matter, usually your leadership team, your marketing and BD people, and sometimes your clients.
2. Analysis. I work through the seven areas and look for the patterns. This is the part you don’t see much of.
3. The report. You get it in writing, with proper time to read it before we discuss it.
4. Debrief. We talk through the findings, deal with the disagreements, and agree the priorities.
Reviews take three to six weeks depending on the size of your firm and the scope of your marketing. I’ll be as light on your team’s time as I can be. Realistically you’re looking at a handful of interviews and some document gathering.
What happens after the review
Some clients take the report and implement it themselves, which is what it’s written for.
Others want help. Geradin and Partners brought me in on a consultancy basis afterwards to work with their communications officer on implementation. Some firms move straight to a marketing plan, since the review gives you the honest starting point a plan needs. Others bring me on as their fractional marketing director to deliver it.
There’s no assumption of any of that. A review that leads to nothing more is a review that did its job.
Why work with me
I’ve been running Helen Cox Marketing since 2016 and have worked with clients across professional services and B2B, from magic circle and silver circle law firms to top ten accountancy practices and large consultancies. I’ve also written over 50 marketing plans, which means I’ve seen a lot of firms from the inside.
That’s what a review is really buying. When I tell you your events programme isn’t earning its place, or that your metrics can’t support the decision you’re trying to make, it’s because I’ve seen the same pattern in dozens of firms. And because I’m not selling you the delivery afterwards, I can tell you if the answer is to spend less rather than more.
I’m a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM) with Chartered Marketer status.
Who this is for
This works best for professional services firms and B2B businesses that have been established a while, are growing, and know that an outside view would help. Law firms, accountancy practices, consultancies and B2B organisations, usually commissioned by a CEO, managing partner or head of marketing.
It’s less useful if you already know what the problem is and just want it fixed. If you can name the issue, a project or a marketing plan will get you there faster and cheaper. A review is for when you can feel that something isn’t right and can’t yet say what.
It’s also not the right choice if you’re not prepared to hear the answer. Some of these reports land uncomfortably, and the value is in acting on the awkward findings rather than the reassuring ones.
Get in touch
If you can feel that something isn’t working but you couldn’t yet say what, that’s exactly the point at which a review is worth commissioning.
Book a discovery call, tell me what’s prompting the question, and I’ll tell you what I’d look at and what it would cost.
I work with B2B businesses, law and solicitors firms, accountants and consultancies in London, the UK, Europe and the USA.
FAQs
Three to six weeks, depending on the size of your firm and how much marketing and bd there is to look at. That covers the interviews, the analysis, the written report and the debrief.
Less than you’d expect. Usually a handful of interviews of about an hour each, plus someone pulling together your existing plans, budgets and reporting data. I aim to be as light-touch as possible while still seeing everything that matters.
A review tells you where you are. A plan tells you where you’re going. If you don’t have an honest picture of what’s currently working, a plan is built on assumptions, which is why quite a few clients do the review first and the plan afterwards.
Not necessarily, and often the opposite. A common finding is that a firm is spending real money and real time on activity that isn’t earning its place. Because I’m not selling you the delivery afterwards, I’ve no reason to inflate the answer.
Typically your CEO or managing partner, your leadership team, your marketing and business development people, and sometimes partners or fee earners. Occasionally your clients, if you’re happy for me to ask them. The insight that changes a review often comes from someone who’s never been asked about marketing before.
A written recommendations document, prioritised by impact and written to be shared internally, plus a debrief session. Not a slide deck you have to react to on the spot.
If you’d like me to. Some clients implement themselves, some bring me in on a consultancy basis to advise their team, and some move to a marketing plan or a fractional role. There’s no obligation either way.
No. If you haven’t got one, working out what resource you need is usually one of the recommendations.
It’s a free 30 minutes for me to understand what you’re dealing with and work out whether I’m the right person to help. If I’m not, I’ll tell you and point you somewhere better.
Happy clients
The quality of Helen’s review blew me away
Initially we engaged Helen for an in-depth marketing review for our Insurtech firm. The quality of Helen’s review blew me away. Her attention to detail, strategic thinking, and ability to dissect complex marketing challenges is a testament to her experience and knowledge in the field.
The report identified areas for improvement but hit the brief in providing actionable steps to enhance our market positioning and customer engagement.
Joe O’Connor, CEO, RDT Insurtech
She has helped us build a solid foundation for the firm’s marketing presence
We needed help to review our marketing and business activity and a set of recommendations that we could implement to ensure that we had a consistent and persistent presence.
We found Helen’s marketing review insightful, practical, and full of helpful ideas We have now brought Helen in on a consultancy basis to work with our communications officer to support and advise in implementing the review.
Damien Geradin, Managing Partner
Geradin and Partners – Competition Law
Case study highlight
Elevating an insurtech firm: A comprehensive marketing review
Discover how I partnered with an InsurTech firm to conduct a deep-dive marketing review and set the stage for growth. The CEO approached me to help them win new clients, establish a marketing team, and launch an exciting new offering, positioning the business for long-term success.
Let’s talk…
For more information on any of my services, get in touch and let’s talk.