Assessment
Business leaders lose their way getting from point A to point B in marketing, and there are no trail maps to get them back on track. What they need is a compass, so I built one. This scores you against The Compass, the framework every engagement I run starts from and the one the book is built around. Twenty-five statements, about five minutes, and your findings appear on this page. Nothing is sent anywhere and I do not ask for your email.
The framework
Every engagement I run starts from the same place. Ecosystem sits at the center: your customers, your competitors, and the real conditions your business has to survive. Four directions point outward from it, and each one has a tangible half you can see and an intangible half most companies never discuss. Miss one and the whole plan wobbles. The twenty-five statements below are those five things, five statements each.
The center
Your customers, your competitors and the conditions your business actually has to survive. It has no tangible and intangible half because it is not a direction. It is the ground the other four are measured from, which is why it is the one worth getting right first.
Direction
BudgettangibleValueintangible
Direction
MeasurablestangibleGoalsintangible
Direction
AssetstangibleTeamintangible
Direction
TacticstangiblePlanningintangible
Your Compass
Each arrow fills from the center outward as far as your answers took it. The black outline is where best practice sits. The empty part of every arrow is the distance between the two, and it is the same picture I would draw on a whiteboard in our first conversation.
Where you are Best practice
The gap
The levels
Every direction, and the assessment as a whole, lands on one of five levels. They are not grades. They describe how reliably a thing happens: whether it is absent, accidental, taking shape, deliberate, or good enough to model the rest of the business on.
1
DeficientYou are here
This is a standing start. Whatever else is working in the business, this part is not, and it is almost certainly costing you money you cannot see.
2
ImmatureYou are here
There is something here, but it is happening by instinct rather than by design, which means it cannot be relied on or repeated.
3
EmergingYou are here
The foundations are going in. The work now is making it consistent enough that it survives a bad quarter or a change of staff.
4
EstablishedYou are here
This is working and it is deliberate. The gains left are real but incremental, so this is probably not where your attention belongs first.
5
OutstandingYou are here
This is a genuine strength. Protect it, and use it as the model for whichever section scored lowest.
Five sections, five gaps. The widest one is where the next piece of work belongs, and in my experience it is rarely the one that feels most urgent.
you answered
Why it matters
Being connected with your marketplace and their hopes, pains and frustrations makes it easier to create high-performing marketing messages.
What I would do
Building customer interviews into your company's normal business cadence can help you get lots of insight without spending an extraordinary amount of time or money.
you answered
Why it matters
Business leaders often like to think that they know everything about what their customers want, but we should always be prepared for a surprise, especially as needs and marketplaces evolve.
What I would do
Identify an individual at your company whose job it is to be perpetually curious about your customers and what they want and need over time. This will not take a lot of time each week and will create huge benefits.
you answered
Why it matters
When done poorly, marketing is a selfish endeavor in which businesses talk about themselves and everything they do and why they are great. But oftentimes your customers are looking for you to meet them where they are.
What I would do
Remember that your marketing isn't really for you, it's for your customer and the problems they are looking to solve. Whenever you're developing marketing material, ask “Would my customers see themselves in this?”
you answered
Why it matters
Language is powerful: it has the power to make people feel understood or isolated. We tend to use terms at work that make it easy for us to communicate internally, but that jargon might not be useful in marketing.
What I would do
Practice active listening. When a customer describes what they're looking for, make a note and add it to a file. You'll likely find commonalities in the ways customers express themselves, and that should inform your writing.
you answered
Why it matters
We sit and make marketing plans, but the most important person, our customer, is not in the room when we do it. Developing profiles or personas for key customer types can ensure they are always in the room.
What I would do
Study your customers, categorize them, and then start cataloging the phrases, sales pitches and vocabulary you would use or avoid in talking to this type of person. Think of it as mass customization for your marketing.
you answered
Why it matters
The idea that business leaders should be comfortable spending on marketing without any expectation of return on their investment is unfair. But those leaders often don't know what they should be able to expect or ask for.
What I would do
Fixing the disconnect between budget and value starts with understanding what you're buying. You're buying new customers, and you're trying to do that in a sustainable and scalable way. It's the only way this works.
you answered
Why it matters
If there's a theme developing in this section, it's that you should know what you're paying for. But it's not going to happen by accident: your budget is actually a pivotal part of your strategy.
What I would do
A budget is often used to fund stuff: websites, software, ad campaigns, sales brochures. But that's not its job. The budget's job is to fund sales growth, so build the budget around the goals, not the stuff.
you answered
Why it matters
“How much ROI should I expect for my marketing spend?” is the, sometimes literally, million dollar question executives want answered. Therefore the formula we use to build our budget should include ROI from the start.
What I would do
The method I recommend for budgeting is built on allocating a portion of gross profits, which means that success in sales and marketing delivers profits back at a level we can be happy with.
you answered
Why it matters
When you win a new customer, you're not just winning the first sale, you're winning a profitable relationship that could last years.
What I would do
Lifetime Value (LTV) is how we quantify the average profit each new customer brings in over the duration of the relationship, and it can be calculated and measured over time.
you answered
Why it matters
Branding is about a lot more than logos and colors. It's about having a business that means something in your marketplace, and a business that will command a good price point.
What I would do
We can measure the impact of branding in the average Lifetime Value of our customers. When we want to increase LTV, we pay for that growth through branding, justifying higher price points and building customer loyalty.
you answered
Why it matters
If the people that you hire to drive your success aren't on the same page about where you're headed, you're going to have a problem. And, believe it or not, it's not uncommon for the marketing team to feel disconnected from business goals.
What I would do
Create rituals around sharing and repeating core business goals. It can even be a standing agenda item in your team meeting. This sort of ritualizing fosters alignment and reminds everyone that they have a share of ownership and accountability for those goals.
you answered
Why it matters
Success is only success if we can agree we've gotten there. Even if we think we're aligned on goals, it doesn't matter if we're not in agreement on how those goals are measured.
What I would do
All of your goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. This helps ensure that everyone knows exactly what needs to happen in order for us to recognize success without any sort of debate.
you answered
Why it matters
Marketers often grumble about moving goalposts and how frustrating it is to chase a result, only to be told later that the goal has changed. Communication is critically important to success.
What I would do
Just as we need to create rituals to ensure that everyone on our teams knows what our goals are, we also need to create a ritual for what happens when a goal needs to change, because sometimes those changes are unavoidable.
you answered
Why it matters
Everyone needs to know how they're doing, what's working and what's not. Consistent updates on progress and success can inform how we build momentum or solve problems.
What I would do
Back to the point above about SMART goals, a good objective is going to be something that we can measure. Dashboards and numbers help create accountability and allow us to track progress over time. The great thing about numbers is that they don't care about excuses or stories.
you answered
Why it matters
The tactics I choose, the money I spend, the employees, agencies and freelancers I hire should all be in the service of my business goals.
What I would do
Strong goals have a way of telling people what their jobs are. They inform decisions and priorities and reinforce accountability. And just as importantly as fostering clarity for your team, goals do the same thing for you, and should inform your leadership.
you answered
Why it matters
Again, branding is more than logos and colors, and the point of standards is not so that everything looks the same. Consistent branding creates strength and reinforces value. When customers see that consistency, they know that your company knows who you are, and it makes it easier for them to understand as well.
What I would do
If you search for examples of brand guides online you might get a little intimidated. But a good brand guide doesn't need to be fancy or intense, it just needs to be useful and informative. Start with a basic deck and lean on your team to help you fill in the details.
you answered
Why it matters
Companies, even smaller companies, tend to create a lot of content nowadays. But that doesn't mean that we always have to create it entirely from scratch. The assets in our library can be used as building blocks for future efforts and can shorten our turn times to create new campaigns.
What I would do
Being strategic in building a good library means looking forward and backward. In your content calendar, try to take into account how existing materials can contribute to or inform new work, and use new work to strategically close gaps in your library.
you answered
Why it matters
Lack of accountability is a huge pain point for business leaders trying to build a strong marketing and sales program. But accountability is not created in a vacuum.
What I would do
Accountability and expectations are often implied rather than overt. That does not work: if you have a different idea of what someone's job is than they do, that's a formula for disaster. Everyone on your team, even freelancers and agencies, should have a job description and an outline of what they are accountable for.
you answered
Why it matters
There are valid reasons that departments under the umbrella of revenue don't always get along: competing goals, scarcity of resources, disagreements over attribution. But these disagreements are completely incompatible with the success of your business.
What I would do
The answer is alignment: ensure that everyone is working on the same goals, and that those goals do not conflict. Progress for sales should not create a deficit for marketing and vice versa. If marketing does not have an active role in the sales process, traditional attribution metrics can create unnecessary tension.
you answered
Why it matters
Even on small teams, there need to be rules and boundaries. Everyone deserves to have ownership over their specific area and have meaningful contributions.
What I would do
In most any group there will be differences in personalities, where some people will be more aggressive. Open communication and transparency is helpful in preventing issues like these, as are clear roles and an emphasis on accountability. It's never helpful if a team member seizes someone else's job, even if their intentions are good.
you answered
Why it matters
Time and money are often our two scarcest resources, and choosing ineffective tactics wastes both. Changing this dynamic is one of the most impactful adjustments you can make.
What I would do
I recommend a simple checklist every time you make this type of decision. If a tactic aligns with your goals, the habits of your audience, the budget you can spend, and a portion of the sales process you need to influence, you have a strong chance at success.
you answered
Why it matters
It's shockingly easy to get derailed by something that sounds like a good idea. We're constantly inundated with silver bullet types of sales and marketing strategies via email, social media, books and podcasts. But while ideas are everywhere, few things kill productivity like false urgency.
What I would do
Be mindful of how emotions play into your decision-making: urgency is often created by an emotional need and not a temporal one. But if either kind of urgency creates new priorities, there needs to be a team discussion of what existing work is going to be removed or pushed back to make room.
you answered
Why it matters
When there are conflicts between what a manager thinks an employee, freelancer or agency is doing and what that person thinks they should be doing, problems can easily arise.
What I would do
Instituting a process for deciding what gets worked on, and in what priority, can be extremely helpful. Transparency and frequent communication here helps you and your team avoid conflict and use resources wisely. Project management systems help but don't need to be intense: even a simple tool can be very useful.
you answered
Why it matters
Creating awareness is a fundamentally different exercise than increasing customer loyalty or nurturing leads. There are no one-size-fits-all marketing activities, even though vendors will often try to sell them that way. It's important to have clarity on the outcome you need before you select the tactics.
What I would do
If you're not sure what to expect from a specific marketing tactic, do research and talk to experts. Buy someone lunch or coffee and let them explain the outcomes you might expect from a radio ad, SEO or a social media campaign. Don't assume that what a salesperson or vendor tells you is 100% accurate.
you answered
Why it matters
It sounds like common sense, but it's not uncommon for a business to spend on marketing without thinking much about their actual customers. Success in choosing marketing tactics requires knowing the behaviors of the people we want to influence.
What I would do
If you don't have a handle on this, go back to the section on Ecosystem. Buying a highway billboard when my audience is subway-riding New Yorkers probably won't work. Ditto for search ads aimed at younger people who might use YouTube or AI chat bots in the place of a traditional search engine.
The assessment tells you where you are. The framework tells you what to do next, in what order, and what to stop doing. That is the whole of a planning engagement: your market connected to your budget, to your goals, to your tactics, with the measurement agreed before anyone spends anything.
Half an hour, no deck. Bring your widest direction and I will tell you plainly whether I can help, including when the answer is no.
