Paid Media Audit
A forensic investigation of your advertising accounts. Not a surface-level check — a deep dive into where budget is going, where attribution is misleading you, what to cut, and what to scale. Delivered as a prioritised, actionable report.
Typical clients find 20–40% of budget is either wasted or misattributed.
Your report looks fine. Your results don't match.
Every agency delivers a dashboard. Green arrows, improving metrics, campaigns "optimised." But your CPA keeps creeping up. Your ROAS looks fine in the platform but revenue isn't growing. You're not sure if the budget you're spending is actually working.
This is almost always an attribution and architecture problem, not a creative or budget problem. The accounts need to be read forensically — not just reported on.
What I actually look at
Account Architecture Review
Campaign structure, ad group logic, audience layering, bidding strategy alignment. Most accounts have structural problems that optimisation can't fix.
Attribution & Tracking Audit
Tag implementation, conversion event setup, attribution model analysis, cross-channel overlap. Where are conversions actually coming from?
Budget Allocation Analysis
Where is money going vs. where results are coming from. Budget vs. performance by channel, campaign, audience, and time period.
Audience & Targeting Assessment
Who you're actually reaching vs. who you want to reach. Audience overlap, exclusions, lookalike quality, and intent signal strength.
Prioritised Action Plan
Not a list of 200 recommendations. A prioritised plan: what to fix this week, this month, and this quarter — with expected impact for each.
What you receive
Common questions
Google Ads, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), LinkedIn, TikTok, programmatic (DV360, The Trade Desk), and affiliate platforms. I also review the attribution layer — Google Analytics 4, Northbeam, Triple Whale, or whatever you're using for cross-channel measurement.
Direct read-only account access is always preferred — it lets me see the full picture including historical data, audience setups, and tracking configurations. If there are restrictions, I can work from structured exports, but the audit will be less comprehensive. All access is governed by a signed NDA.
Yes — the action plan is written to be implemented by your in-house team or agency. If you want implementation support, I offer a separate engagement or can transition into the Fractional Advisory engagement to oversee it.
I typically work with brands spending R100k–R500k+ per month. Below that threshold, the ROI on an audit is less clear — I'll be honest with you on the call if I think your budget doesn't justify the fee. Above R500k/month, the audit almost always pays for itself within the first month of implementing the changes.
Find out where your budget is
actually going.
Start with a free 30-minute call. Tell me about your current setup — I'll tell you what an audit would cover and whether it makes sense.
Book a Free Strategy Call