Marketing Audit — Aria Studio
The NZ marketing audit that might tell you nothing needs fixing.
A paid, practitioner-led review of your digital marketing — from someone who'll give you a straight answer, including "nothing needs changing" if that's what the review shows.
Fixed price. Honest result. Audit cost deducted from any subsequent work.
Why you haven't got an answer yet
Every free audit finds something. That's the point.
Here's what usually happens when a business owner decides to sort out their marketing. They get a free audit. An agency — or a tool — scans the site, checks the SEO, generates a report. The report is long. It has a lot of red items. There's a section on what to fix and a recommended next step, which is always, without exception, to engage the agency.
Free audits are designed this way. The findings are shaped by what the auditor sells. An SEO agency finds SEO problems. A social media agency finds social media gaps. A web studio finds website issues. They always find something, because finding nothing doesn't start a sales conversation.
That's not useful. It's noise dressed up as insight.
There's also a second problem. The SEO playbook from three years ago doesn't fully account for how AI-driven search has changed what "being found" means. The audit you get from most NZ providers doesn't check whether your business is visible in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google's AI summaries — because most NZ providers haven't built that check yet.
If your marketing isn't working, the problem isn't that no one has looked at it. The problem is that no one with the right perspective has looked at it honestly.
What a paid, honest audit actually looks like
A business perspective, not a technical scan.
Most marketing reviews start with the same checklist regardless of the business. What's technically broken, what's missing from the SEO, what scores red. The problem is that a checklist treats every business the same. A broken lead capture form is critical for a business that depends on online enquiries. For a business that gets all its work through referrals, it barely matters. Understanding what the business is actually trying to achieve is what determines which findings matter and what to fix first.
Website & conversion
Not just whether it loads. Whether it converts. The copy, the structure, the offer, the calls to action, and what visitors do when they arrive.
Google presence
Business Profile, search visibility, and how your business appears to someone who doesn't already know you exist.
AI visibility
How your business appears in AI-driven search: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews. New territory most NZ auditors aren't checking yet.
Email & lead capture
Whether there's a mechanism to stay in contact with people who found you but weren't ready to buy today.
Social presence
Whether it's working for or against you, and whether the effort is proportionate to the return.
Competitive position
What your direct competitors are doing that you're not, and what you're doing that they're missing.
A note on scope: this is a digital marketing health check covering website, search visibility, and online presence. It's not a brand strategy engagement, a media planning review, or a full marketing plan. What it covers, I can fix.
The part most clients find surprising
Sometimes the answer is that your marketing is in reasonable shape. Here are two specific things worth addressing, and here's what I'd leave alone. That's a useful outcome. You stop spending mental energy wondering what you're missing, fix the two things that matter, and move on.
Other times there are five things that need attention, in a specific order, each with clear effort estimates. Either way, you leave with clarity. Not a sales pitch.
Two ways to engage
Choose the depth that fits where you are.
Get in touch
Send a message through the contact form. Tell me which tier you're interested in and a bit about your business.
Tim confirms and invoices
I'll come back within one business day. Once the invoice is paid, I work through your website, Google presence, AI visibility, and digital channels.
Findings delivered
Written summary and debrief call within 3–5 business days of payment.
Not sure which is right?
If you want to know whether your marketing has a real problem, start with the Health Check. If you already know something's wrong and need a plan, go straight to the Full Audit.
Marketing Health Check
$450 NZD
A focused two-hour review covering your website, Google presence, AI visibility, and core digital channels. Written findings summary and a 30-minute debrief call where we talk through what I found and answer your questions directly.
- ✓ Written findings summary (1–2 pages, plain English)
- ✓ Top 5 prioritised actions with clear reasoning
- ✓ 30-minute debrief call with Tim
- ✓ Honest verdict, including "nothing major needs addressing" if that's the finding
- ✓ Delivered within 3 business days
Marketing Audit + Action Plan
$950 NZD
A full review of your digital marketing across all channels, including a competitive snapshot and a structured 90-day action plan with effort estimates for each recommendation.
- ✓ Full written audit report (8–12 pages)
- ✓ Competitive snapshot of 2–3 key competitors alongside you
- ✓ AI visibility check: how your business appears in AI-driven search
- ✓ 90-day action plan, specific actions prioritised by impact
- ✓ 60-minute debrief call with Tim
- ✓ Follow-up email once you've had time to read the report
- ✓ Delivered within 5 business days
Complete Assessment
$1,400 NZD
Saves $200 vs booking separately
Both the Marketing Audit + Action Plan and the Brand Audit, delivered together. The full picture: how your marketing performs and how your brand presents. Starts with a short scoping call so we cover the right ground.
- ✓ Short scoping call before work begins
- ✓ Everything in the Marketing Audit + Action Plan
- ✓ Everything in the Brand Audit
- ✓ Combined 90-minute debrief call
- ✓ Delivered within 7 business days
Either audit fee is deducted from any subsequent build or implementation work if you decide to proceed. That's not a discount tactic. It's a reflection of how this tends to work: the audit finds the problem, and the natural question is "can you fix it?"
Common questions
It might. The audit might identify that a website rebuild, an AI tool, or a marketing retainer would make a real difference. If it does, I'll say so and give you a clear proposal. But it might not. Some businesses are in reasonable shape and just need one or two targeted fixes. If that's what I find, I'll tell you, and those fixes will be things you can handle yourself. I'd rather give you a useful answer than manufacture work.
"My website works" and "my website is generating the enquiries it should be" are different claims. If you're unsure which one is true, that uncertainty is worth $450 to resolve.
Free tools find technical issues — broken links, slow load times, missing meta descriptions. They don't tell you why your offer isn't converting, why your content isn't building trust, whether your business is visible in AI search, or what to fix first given your specific business context. Those questions require a human with a strategic perspective.
The audit will tell you which fixes are high-impact and low-effort — things you can do yourself this week — and which require more investment and should wait. Knowing the difference is often the most valuable output. You're not obligated to do everything in the report.
Most marketing consultants don't build. They assess, advise, write recommendations — and then you take those to someone else to implement. I do both. If the audit finds your website needs a rebuild, I can do it. If it identifies an AI tool that would save you hours a week, I can build it. The findings have a natural next step with someone who already understands your business.
That's the most common reason businesses hesitate. Most audits aren't designed to be useful — they're designed to generate engagements. I charge for mine because charging is the only mechanism that aligns my incentives with yours. A paid audit I deliver honestly builds trust. A free audit I use to generate leads requires finding problems whether or not they're real.
Not ready to book?
Start with the free self-audit
A 15-point self-audit you can work through yourself in 10 minutes. It covers the same areas as the paid review — website, Google presence, lead capture, and social credibility. Good for understanding where the gaps are before deciding whether a full review makes sense.
One honest thing
There's no money-back guarantee on this audit — not because the work isn't worth standing behind, but because a guarantee that says "pay me and I'll tell you your marketing needs work" has the same problem as a free audit: the incentive to find problems.
Here's the honest version: if the audit finds your marketing is in reasonable shape and nothing is materially holding you back, I will tell you exactly that. You'll have a clear picture of where you stand, a short list of small improvements, and the confidence to stop wondering whether you're missing something.
If you engage and feel the audit didn't deliver honest, useful findings, email me and tell me why. I'd rather refund and learn than keep a fee that wasn't earned.
You know your marketing could be working harder.
The question is what, specifically, needs to change. And in what order. That's a solvable problem. It just needs someone to look at it honestly.
$450 for a Health Check. $950 for the full Audit + Action Plan. Findings delivered within 3–5 business days.