Methodology
Measure. Why. Yield.
One method for every marketing line MWY takes on, and for every stage — from the first audit session to the report in month twelve. The order never changes: measure what is real, find the actual cause, and only then decide what to do.
Three steps
- 1
Measure
What is actually happening?
- 2
Why
Why are results what they are, and why is money going there?
- 3
Yield
What will produce measurable results, and who owns it?
Measure
What is actually happening?
Measure from source data, not from the reports written by the parties spending the money. We take view-only access to every system holding the real numbers, reconcile six months of reporting against those systems, and rebuild the budget line by line.
What you provide
- View-only access to the systems in use
- The last six months of reports from whoever executes
- Budget broken down by line of spend
- Revenue and margin by channel, to the extent you allow
What you get
- A health scorecard, each category rated 1–5
- A data quality report
- A rebuilt view of spend, line by line
Why
Why are results what they are, and why is money going there?
Trace causes instead of describing symptoms. Where money is wasted, where one line is covering for another, which channel is only taking credit for another's work. Assess everyone executing against the same framework. Measure how dependent you are on any single vendor or platform.
Six questions we always ask
- Does this make sense?
- Why are we doing this at all?
- What evidence says it works?
- What happens if we stop?
- What exactly are we paying for?
- How will the end result be measured?
What you get
- The cause behind each problem, with the numbers behind it
- A priority matrix: impact against effort
- An assessment of every party involved
Yield
What will produce measurable results, and who owns it?
Every recommendation carries a named owner and a deadline. We do not write the plan for your team — we challenge the plan they write, then sign it off. Execution stays with your in-house team or your agency.
What we commit to
- A committed process, measurement and reporting standard
- No promise of an absolute revenue number
- Saying plainly when something should not be done
What you get
- Five things to do in the next 30 days
- A proposed KPI framework
- A 90-day roadmap
- A monthly report in the same format, with hours used
The monthly cycle
After the assessment phase, the work runs to a fixed rhythm. You know in advance what each week holds.
Week 1
Measure
Pull last month's numbers, check data quality, reconcile what the systems report against what the books say. A 90-minute session with your marketing lead.
Week 2
Analyse
Trace the causes behind any discrepancy, review budget allocation, read the results of tests already run.
Week 3
Oversee
Review the plans and reports from whoever executes, sit in on their meetings, spot-check the work in flight. A second 90-minute session.
Week 4
Report
The Measure – Why – Yield report, meeting notes with owners and deadlines, the hours used. A 60-minute session with the CEO.
Frequently asked
How long before we see results?
The first assessment report is delivered at the end of week four, and it contains five things to do in the next 30 days. Foundation problems — broken tracking, fragmented data — take two quarters before the numbers can be trusted. We commit to the delivery date, not to a result figure.
Does MWY need edit access to our accounts?
No. We ask for view-only access. The party spending the money should not be the party checking the results — and that applies to us too.
How will our marketing team react?
We challenge plans, not people. Most in-house teams already know where the problem is and simply need an outsider to say it to the board. We do not do their work, and we do not report behind their backs.
How is this different from an agency audit?
An agency audits to sell more of its own services. We sell no execution at all, so a recommendation may be to cut a channel, reduce budget, or change agency — even when that creates work for nobody.
What if the conclusion is that everything is fine?
Then we say so and you save the retainer. It is rare, but when it happens we do not invent a problem in order to keep selling.
See exactly what you will receive
The sample audit report is a complete report, written for a fictional company. Read it before you pay anything.