

A restoration marketing audit that argues from your own numbers.
your own numbers
A marketing audit is a systematic review of your entire marketing function against your commercial goals: the numbers reported to the leadership team, spend by branch and by channel, emergency intake and after-hours answer performance, referral and adjuster relationships treated as a measurable demand channel, local search position per service area, and the restoration companies taking work your branches should be taking. Every finding is evidence-based, banded by severity and tied to a fix with an owner. You get a findings workbook and a 90-day action plan in seven days, with no campaign work attached. Book a meeting and we will scope it honestly, including telling you when your marketing does not need auditing yet.
Tell us a little about your brand and we'll be in touch within 24 hours to lock in a time.

WHAT WE AUDIT
Four questions a restoration marketing audit has to answer.
has to answer
Every marketing audit we run works through the same four questions, in this order, because answering them out of order produces confident advice built on numbers that were never true. In a multi-branch restoration business the order matters more than usual: emergency demand is spiky, referral work and self-generated work are counted differently in most reports, and branches use their own definitions. Data and measurement are settled before anyone judges a channel. The method is the one described on our marketing audit page, read branch by branch.
Data, definitions and measurement
Spend efficiency by branch and channel
Website, intake and the customer journey
Local search, referrals, reviews and competitors
Can you trust the numbers before you act on them?
We start with measurement, because a marketing audit that skips it is guesswork with charts. That means analytics and tag configuration on the website, call tracking per branch and per channel, form and chat tracking, conversion tracking on every emergency enquiry, and whether the marketing report reconciles with the jobs that actually appear in your job management system. We place live test calls and web enquiries in several service areas outside business hours and follow each one to a person and into the record.
The first finding in a restoration audit is usually a definition, not a channel. One branch counts a call as a lead, another counts a signed authorisation, and the customer data itself is fragile: Validity's 2026 study of 500 organisations found 62% had lost revenue to poor CRM data and 67% had campaigns delayed or scrapped, while only 41% had a named data governance owner.
- Analytics, tags, consent and call tracking checked against live test events, including after-hours calls
- Lead, booked job and signed job definitions compared across branches and restated once
- Key performance indicators traced back to the systems that produce them
- A list of numbers you should stop reporting until they are fixed
62%
of organisations lost revenue to poor customer data in 2026
Where the money goes, and what it buys per branch.
Then the spend: paid search, Local Service Ads, paid social, display and retargeting, directory and lead-aggregator fees, sponsorships, vehicle and print media, agency retainers and platform fees. We rebuild the numbers from platform exports reconciled against invoices, find waste by campaign, service area and audience, and calculate cost per booked job per branch rather than a blended cost per lead that hides the branches losing money.
Timing matters in this industry, so we compare like periods rather than quarters: a freeze event or a named storm flatters every channel it touches. Across industries The CMO Survey reports marketing spending grew just 1.7% over the prior twelve months, so most of the money a restoration platform can move this year is money it is already spending badly.
- Platform spend reconciled against invoices, line by line
- Cost per booked job and per signed job calculated per branch
- Aggregator and directory leads judged on speed to contact and conversion, not volume
- A reallocation model for the budget you already have
1.7%
marketing spending growth across industries in the prior 12 months
What happens after the click, at two in the morning.
Traffic is rarely the problem. We walk the journey the way a homeowner with standing water does, on a phone first: the search result, the landing page, the service area page, the phone number, page speed on a real connection, and then the human handling of the call. Answer time, who answers out of hours, what is asked, whether an appointment is actually set and whether the call is logged against a source are all measured from recordings.
This is the cheapest finding in most audits and the one nobody has measured. Haus's 2026 index of 500 marketing and finance leaders found only 49% can measure how marketing drives business outcomes and 74% have abandoned an initiative they could not measure - and a missed emergency call is invisible in every dashboard.
- Every step from search to a set appointment tested in several service areas
- After-hours and weekend answer performance timed from live test calls
- Booked-job rate measured from recorded calls, not from call volume
- Commercial, insurance and residential paths checked separately
49%
of leaders can measure how marketing drives business outcomes
The demand your branches are not capturing, and who is.
The last block is demand. A technical review of site health, indexation and internal links, local SEO position for every branch, Google Business Profile and listings completeness, review velocity per location, visibility in AI answers, the searches your brand should own in each service area, and a competitor analysis covering offer, paid media, organic footprint and content. Referral, adjuster, agent, property manager and TPA relationships are audited here as demand channels with their own numbers, and a short strengths and weaknesses read closes the section.
That reading matters because the mix is shifting. Cleanfax's 2026 benchmarking survey found referrals remain the dominant lead source at 93%, while adjuster and agent relationships fell to 55% from 68%, and the 2026 C&R State of the Industry reports 64% of restorers use TPAs in some form while 61% of TPA users would not recommend them. A platform that cannot see which relationships produce work cannot decide what to fund.
- Local search and map pack position measured per branch and service area
- Listings, categories and review velocity audited location by location
- Referral, adjuster, agent and TPA work counted separately from self-generated demand
- Competitor analysis and a short SWOT with the gaps to attack first
93%
of restorers name referrals as their dominant lead source
Fixed scope with a defined end date, agreed in writing
Covered every time, so a weak area is a finding not a gap
A project, not a retainer, so findings cannot bend toward a sale
Workbook, plan and models handed over in files you can change
We made the difference for those brands
01 — The challenge
Marketing reports leads up, the branches report a quiet month, and nobody can reconcile it.
The pattern is consistent in multi-branch restoration companies. The marketing report shows leads up. Two branch managers say their crews were idle. Nobody has reconciled the two, because marketing counts calls and the branches count signed jobs. A storm month makes every channel look good and the next month makes all of them look broken. Aggregator invoices arrive with no way to tell which leads became work. Somebody proposes a marketing audit, and what usually arrives is a generic restoration marketing checklist with none of your numbers in it.
“Marketing reported a record quarter. Three branches reported their worst one, and neither report was wrong.”
The stakes are practical. The CMO Survey finds executives cut expenses 53.1% of the time when profits miss, and marketing is the category cut 45.4% of the time, while Cleanfax's 2026 survey reports maintaining margins as the industry's number one concern, with 19% of restorers now running gross margins under 20%, up from 12%. A marketing audit that determines current performance with evidence turns the budget conversation from a grievance into a decision.
02 — Our approach
Seven days, evidence first, then a 90-day plan.
Fixed scope, a named senior lead, a start date, and no execution work attached. Day one is access and reconstruction: analytics, ad platforms, Search Console, call tracking, the job management system and every marketing invoice, so the audit argues from what happened rather than what was reported. Days two and three test measurement end to end, including live test enquiries and after-hours calls in several service areas that we follow to a person and into the record. Days three to five cover spend by branch and channel, website and intake, local search position, Google Business Profile and reviews per location, referral and adjuster relationships as measurable channels, TPA-sourced work kept separate from self-generated work, email and lifecycle, and a competitor analysis built from live assets rather than a tool summary. Day six is judgement: every finding written with the measured evidence beside it, a severity band, the cost of leaving it alone, and the fix. Day seven is the plan and the handover call.
Nine areas are covered every time: measurement, paid search, paid social, spend efficiency, website and funnel, organic and AI search, offer and positioning, competitors, and lifecycle. We review the marketing function only. We perform no restoration work, run no campaigns, manage no listings, give no claims, insurance or M&A advice, and are not business coaches. That is what lets the workbook state that a channel we sell is not worth funding for you. The workbook and the plan are yours in editable files.
03 — What we did
How the seven days actually run.
Access and reconstruction, then measurement and definitions, then the money, the site and the local footprint, then an action plan your team can start on Monday.
Days 1-2 / Reconstruct
Your own data, rebuilt from the sources that can be trusted
Analytics, ad platforms, call tracking, the job management system and every marketing invoice, pulled into one view per branch and one for the platform.

Days 2-3 / Verify
Test enquiries and after-hours calls traced into the record
We place real calls and submit real enquiries in different service areas, including nights and weekends, trace each one through tracking and into the job system, then list what cannot be relied on.
Days 3-6 / Findings
Every finding with evidence, severity and a cost of inaction
Spend, intake, local search, reviews, referral and TPA work and competitors, written one finding at a time and banded urgent, critical, needs attention or monitor.

Day 7 / Plan
A 90-day action plan with owners and acceptance tests
Each action names the findings it closes, what done means as a number or a verified state, an owner at platform or branch level, and an effort estimate.

WHAT YOU GET
Six deliverables, all editable, all yours.
all yours
One workbook, one action plan and the working files behind them, written for your branches, your service areas and your service lines in plain language.
Findings workbook
Every finding with the measured evidence, a severity band, the cost of inaction, the fix, an owner and an effort estimate.
90-day action plan
Phased across three months, each action linked to the findings it closes and to an acceptance test rather than a vague outcome.
Branch budget model
What the same money returns moved between branches, channels and service lines, with the assumptions visible and cost per booked job shown.
KPI and measurement framework
The handful of key performance indicators worth reporting weekly at platform and branch level, how each is collected, and the tracking repairs needed first.
Intake and call review
Answer times, after-hours performance and booked-job rate scored from real recordings per branch, with the calls that were lost and why.
Quick wins list
The fixes worth doing in the first week, each with the evidence behind it and who at platform or branch level can complete it.
HOW WE WORK
Operating standards, not promises.
Operating standards

Multi-branch restoration companies
One marketing report, several branch realities, and no agreed definition of a lead.
Private-equity-backed platforms
Branches acquired at different levels of marketing maturity, reported on different numbers.
Franchisor-scale restoration brands
National media and local media judged separately, with the ad fund questioned every year.
Built on trust. Proven by results.
We partner with SMBs and Fortune 500 companies to deliver more than reach — we bring clarity, execution, and measurable outcomes. Every successful partnership starts with a strong culture fit and a shared drive to grow.








CASE STUDIES
Case studies
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FAQ
What restoration operators ask before commissioning a marketing audit.
What does a disaster restoration marketing audit actually cover?
Nine areas, every time: measurement, paid search, paid social, spend efficiency, website and funnel, organic and AI search, offer and positioning, competitors, and lifecycle. For a restoration platform we read them at two levels, company and branch, so Local Service Ads, Google Business Profile and reviews per location, emergency intake, referral and adjuster relationships and cost per booked job per branch are all inside the scope. The output is a findings workbook with evidence and severity, plus a 90-day action plan.
How does the marketing audit process work step by step?
Access and reconstruction on days one and two, measurement testing on days two and three, then spend, website and intake, local search, reviews, referral channels and competitor analysis through day five. Day six is judgement, where each finding is written with its evidence, a severity band and the cost of inaction. Day seven delivers the action plan and the handover call. The scope is fixed so nothing gets skipped when a storm week arrives.
How is this different from a restoration marketing checklist?
A checklist tells you what to look at. An audit tells you what is true in your business. We use a fixed nine-area scope so nothing is missed, but every line in the workbook comes from your analytics, your ad accounts, your call recordings, your job management system, your invoices and your live pages. Findings are ranked by severity and cost of inaction rather than listed in the order the checklist happened to run.
Do you measure how our emergency calls are handled?
Yes, and it is often the highest-severity finding in the workbook. We place live calls in several service areas, including nights and weekends, and score answer time, who answered, what was asked, whether an appointment was actually set and whether the call was attributed to a source. Booked-job rate is measured from recordings rather than inferred from call volume, so a branch with plenty of calls and few jobs stops looking like a marketing problem.
Can you separate TPA and referral work from self-generated demand?
That separation is standard in our workbook, because blending them hides which relationships and which media actually produce work. The 2026 C&R State of the Industry reports 64% of restorers use TPAs in some form and 61% of TPA users would not recommend them, while Cleanfax found adjuster and agent relationships fell to 55% from 68% as a lead source. We report each stream separately with its own cost and conversion, and we give no claims or insurance advice.
How do you handle storm months and seasonality in the numbers?
By comparing like periods and naming the weather. A freeze event or a named storm flatters every channel it touches, so we compare equivalent weeks and separate event-driven demand from baseline demand before judging any channel. Where a branch's growth is entirely weather, the workbook says so plainly, because that is the finding leadership needs before it funds another year of the same plan.
Are you a restoration marketing agency or business coaches?
Neither, on this engagement. We do not run campaigns, we do not manage listings or social accounts, we perform no restoration work, we are not business coaches and we are not M&A advisers. We review the marketing function with evidence and hand you a plan. That independence is the point: an auditor with no media retainer attached can write that a channel is not worth funding.
What does the audit cost?
A fixed fee quoted after a scoping call, with deliverables and dates written down before you commit. It varies with the number of branches, service areas and ad accounts in scope and the state of your data, so publishing a rate would mislead most readers. For context on scale, The CMO Survey puts marketing at 9.0% of company revenue and 33.6% of digital activity in the hands of outside agencies. Book a meeting for a scope and a number.
Do you run the campaigns afterwards?
Not as part of this. The audit is a project with a defined end, and no retainer is attached, which is what lets the workbook say that a channel we would happily sell is not worth funding for you. Your team, your current agency roster or another firm can execute the plan. If you later want us to run something, it is scoped and quoted separately.
Our branch data is inconsistent. Should we fix it first?
No, that is part of what the audit measures. Validity's 2026 study found 62% of organisations lost revenue to poor CRM data and only 41% had a named governance owner, so waiting for clean data means waiting forever. We document what the data can and cannot support, label directional findings as directional, and put the repairs in the plan. Building that layer is marketing operations consulting, quoted separately.
Is a marketing audit worth it while the industry is growing?
Growth is exactly when waste compounds across branches. The 2026 C&R State of the Industry finds over 80% of restorers expect revenue growth this year while Verisk reports overall claim volume down about 20% in 2025, and the Insurance Information Institute puts water damage and freezing claims at about 1.61 per 100 insured homes a year at an average severity of $13,954. Demand is real but finite, so a measurement error repeated in every service area is the most expensive thing nobody has priced.
How is this different from restoration marketing strategy consulting?
Direction of travel. The audit looks backwards at evidence: what the marketing function has been doing, what it produced and what is broken. Restoration marketing strategy consulting looks forward and decides service lines and segments, positioning and proof, channel roles, budget and measurement. Many platforms buy the audit first, because a plan written on unverified numbers is a guess with headings.
How is this different from growth advisory?
Scope of the question. Growth advisory hunts the commercial constraint wherever it sits, including service mix, production capacity, TPA concentration and the cash cycle. The marketing audit stays inside the marketing function and produces evidence and a 90-day plan. If you already know marketing is the problem, the audit is the cheaper first step.
Who needs to be involved from our side?
Whoever owns marketing, one operations leader who knows the branches, and someone who can grant access to analytics, ad accounts, call tracking, the job management system and invoices. A couple of cooperative branch managers help, because their numbers are the reality check. Expect roughly four hours of your team's time across the week: a kickoff, short interviews and the handover call.
What happens after the action plan?
Your team runs it, and every action has a named owner and an acceptance test. Many operators book a review at ninety days to check the leading indicators, which takes half a day and is optional. Where you want a standing numbers habit, scorecard advisory sets one up and hands it back, and the parent engagement is the marketing audit itself.


























































































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