Marketing / Branding Team Assessment
Is Your Current Marketing or Branding Effective for the Japanese or American Market?
Do You Need An Advertising Proposal Reviewed?
Is Your Content Creation Effective?
Are You Overpaying for Your Digital Marketing Services?
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Is your marketing working for you, or are you just used to paying for it?
Your design team, agency, or marketing hire might be creative, but is their work truly connecting with your target demographic? Whether it's a logo, product name, branding campaign, or overall strategy, ineffective execution wastes time, money, and opportunity.
We step in as your outsourced international C.M.O. (Chief Marketing Officer) to evaluate proposals as well as audit the quality of the work and the authenticity of the output being done by your current team, hires, or outsourced providers.
Our expertise bridges the gap between creative execution and strategic marketing success, providing you with clear insights into whether your team’s work is effective, or if you need to cut your losses and hire better partners.
What DIGITAL marketing Issue can we ANALYZE & AUDIT for you today?
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International Markets U.S. / Japan
Is this proposal / team / agency appropriate to help my brand in the U.S. / Japanese Market?
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Overpaying for Marketing Services
Are we overpaying for underperforming staff / agencies / services?
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Internal / External Salary Review
Is the salary this potential hire / existing staff / proposal from this agency fair?
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Creative Content Review & Analysis
Are the creative contents, logos, copywriting, etc. appropriate for your brand?
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Digital Advertising Audits
P.P.C., S.M.M., S.E.M., need to be producing acceptable ROIs. Are they?
Targeted marketing NOT localization
It's not just about finding the right words. Breaking into new markets requires the right partnerships.
Market Relevance
Does the work align with the cultural nuances, preferences, and needs of your target audience in Japan or the U.S.? Or is it based on old stereotypes and guesses that are culturally and generationally inaccurate?
Material Assessment
Are the logos, videos, or copywriting professional and effective? We analyze whether the content is hitting the mark or missing entirely.
Direct Feedback:
When needed, we’ll gather input from your target demographic to ensure their responses to your assets align with your goals.
How the wrong international partners damage your brand
International branding and product launch issues that our clients have brought us to audit:
"They clearly didn’t bother learning anything about our market."
Instead of understanding our needs, they just threw in stereotypes and called it a strategy. It was embarrassing. How can people think another culture is that 2 dimensional?
"Their version of 'American culture' was straight out of a bad Hollywood movie or TV series."
It was all racially borderline hip-hop references, a strange kind of posed aggression, and cringy attempts at English slang. It really made us uncomfortable which, since we're Americans, was ironic because it’s usually us making other cultures uncomfortable.. It was also borderline racist, and the Black Americans in our group were really uncomfortable.
"Their ‘localization’ efforts were surface-level at best."
Changing a few words using a midlevel translator AI and slapping on a flag icon doesn’t make the approach relevant. It felt lazy and amateur. Like a bad instruction manual, not a brand.
"Their tone came off as condescending and rude."
What they thought was ‘casual and friendly’ felt dismissive and unprofessional. Yes, we're American, but even we have *some* rules and manners..
"They overused cultural symbols without context."
Just throwing in a samurai or Mount Fuji doesn’t make your product culturally relevant—it makes it cringy.
"Their influencers were completely wrong for our audience."
They chose personalities who didn’t resonate with our target market, and it showed in the campaign's failure. They didn't understand our products at all or even try to. They just chose existing relationships.
"Their ad copy was full of awkward phrasing."
Instead of sounding relatable, it sounded like a bad attempt to mimic our way of speaking. Like we were being made fun of. The grammar was correct but is was all.. wrong.
"They underestimated the importance of cultural respect."
Their lack of effort to understand our market showed, and it cost us trust with our audience.
"They spent all their time trying to mimic the culture instead of creating something authentic."
Instead of building something original, they copied poorly and made us look like a cheap knock-off instead of the original being copied. It was extremely frustrating. It left us with zero brand authority.
"They clearly didn’t bother learning anything about our market."
Instead of understanding our needs, they just threw in stereotypes and called it a strategy. It was embarrassing. How can people think another culture is that 2 dimensional?
Contact US Today.
Don't sign that contract without getting a professional review first
Are You Overpaying for Marketing Services or Staff?
A professional-looking slick proposal or a big-name agency doesn’t guarantee results or knowledge of your market.
We’ll help you determine if you’re getting value for your money by:
Contract Analysis
Reviewing proposal, briefs, and agreements to uncover if you’re going to be overcharged for mediocre deliverables
Quality Check
Is the work being delivered by your team, hire, or agency worth the investment? We look beyond buzzwords and pretty designs to evaluate real effectiveness.
Performance Comparison
We assess their output against industry standards and expected results, ensuring they're not the only entity making money off the deal.
Is the Salary / Pay Your Design/Marketing Hire / Agency Asking for Fair or Reasonable?
We help you determine if a candidate’s compensation aligns with their skills and results
Skill vs. Results
It’s not about the number of deliverables—it’s about outcomes. We evaluate ROI, engagement, and market impact to ensure fair pay.
So they were paid 150k annually at a big name company to photograph widgets and now are doing the same for you.
They made a post on social media every day but the channel didn't grow, but are asking 90k because it's a large market. What's "fair"? Are they right for you?
Contextual Factors
While cost of living plays a role, hiring solely based on budget can backfire. You don’t always get what you pay for, but you aren’t going to get something for nothing either. Answering "Am I getting what I paid for" and "Is this hire worth this salary" is often a complex series of evaluations including whether or not your company can actually utilize their skill-set appropriately and to cost.
Are Your Social Media Marketing Team and Content Creation Delivering Results?
Are Your Graphic Design and Photography Relevant to Your Brand Building?
The success of your social media marketing team isn’t measured by how busy they look or how many posts they’re making—it’s about tangible results.
How pretty a photo is, and how original a logo looks doesn’t make it effective, how clearly they align with the message of your brand does.
We’ll audit and evaluate:
Goal Alignment
Are the objectives they’re working toward clearly defined, and is their output aligned with your business needs?
Work Quality
Is the messaging clear? Does the branding connect? Is creative work professional? We’ll assess whether your team or hire is truly delivering on their promises
Customer Impact
Does the work resonate with your audience? If it doesn’t, it’s not “good design” or “good content” or a “good logo”, it’s only making money for them, not you.
How the wrong content creators damage your brand
Design and content issues our clients have brought us to audit:
"Their designs looked cool, but they didn’t connect with my audience at all!"
They were too focused on being trendy and ignored what my customers actually care about. This isn't a Vogue shoot, it's ecommerce, people need to actually SEE the product.
"Their portfolio fooled us into thinking they were professionals."
It turns out they only know how to make pretty mockups, but they have no clue how to design for real-world sales. At all. It was a disaster.
"They had no understanding of my industry or target demographic."
We told them exactly who we were trying to reach, and they came back with something that was completely and objectively off the mark.
"Their videos felt like a student film project, not a professional ad."
Lots of dramatic angles and artsy effects, but it looked more like a movie trailer than something designed to sell a product. Our actual product was an after-thought.
"The images they gave us felt generic and cookie-cutter."
It looked like they used the same setup and style they use for all their clients, with no thought about what makes my product unique. Like stock photography.
"I got a ton of likes, but no sales."
They told me the campaign was a success because it got engagement. Likes from spammy accounts are absolutely useless!
"The photos were beautiful but totally missed the point."
The shots didn’t show the functionality of my product, and customers kept asking basic questions the photos should’ve answered. It’s a product shot, not a branding spread for a magazine.
"The campaign flopped because their designs didn’t drive any action."
Lots of likes and compliments, but no one clicked through or made a purchase. We wasted my money building THEIR portfolio.
"The ads looked like they were made for an art contest, not a business."
Lots of fancy visuals, but nothing that explained my product or why anyone should buy it. Like a student's ideas of what an ad should look like, not an advertisers
"Their designs looked cool, but they didn’t connect with my audience at all!"
They were too focused on being trendy and ignored what my customers actually care about. This isn't a Vogue shoot, it's ecommerce, people need to actually SEE the product.
If you're spending more thant you make, YOUR AGENCY ISn't working for you.
- Contract Review: Breaking down your agreement to clarify costs and deliverables.
- Rate Benchmarking: Comparing your fees against industry standards to ensure industry standards and competency.
- Performance Analysis: Evaluating whether your campaigns are generating measurable results, including leads and sales.
- Cost Per Conversion: Assessing your cost per acquisition to ensure alignment with ROI.
If you're concerned about your
current digital advertising (P.P.C. / S.E.M.) provider's skill levels or performance, we can even
join a meeting with them to better understand their approach and provide you with
actionable feedback.
Are You Overpaying for Your Digital Marketing Services?
We ensure you’re getting value for every dollar spent by:
How the wrong digital ad agency hurts your business
Digital Advertising issues our clients have brought us to audit:
"They burned through our ad budget in days with no results!"
We gave them a huge budget, and they spent it all on clicks that didn’t lead to a single sale!
"Their landing pages were a joke."
They threw together something generic that didn’t match my brand, and surprise—it didn’t convert.
"We kept asking for updates, and they just sent me automated reports."
No real insights, no strategy, just some graphs I didn’t understand. I felt completely ignored.
"They boosted random posts instead of running real campaigns."
We could’ve done that ourselves for way cheaper. Where’s the strategy?
"They kept pushing me to increase my budget without improving results."
Every time I complained, their answer was to spend more. Spoiler: it didn’t work.
"I got a ton of likes, but no sales."
They told me the campaign was a success because it got engagement. Likes from spammy accounts are absolutely useless!
"I found out later they outsourced everything to cheap freelancers."
They acted like they had an in-house team, but they were just farming it out to people who didn’t know what they were doing.
"Their fees were outrageous for what little they did."
I was paying them more than my actual ad spend, and I still had to question every decision they made.
"They promised a ‘magic ROI’ that never happened."
All I got was excuses about why I wasn’t seeing the returns they said I would.
"They burned through our ad budget in days with no results!"
We gave them a huge budget, and they spent it all on clicks that didn’t lead to a single sale!
Digital & Offline Marketing Spend Optimization
Is Your Marketing Budget Working for You?
Inefficient spending can drain your resources.
We specialize in reviewing both new bids and proposals BEFORE you sink money into projects, as well as auditing the effectiveness of your marketing efforts—whether handled by internal teams or external agencies.
Here’s how we ensure your current spend using your internal staffing or outsourced hires is delivering results:
- PPC / SEM ROI Review: Ad Spend ROI: Analyze whether your paid campaigns (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, etc.) are managed effectively and driving meaningful results.
- Team Skill Evaluation: We assess the competency of your current staff, freelancers, or agency.
- Are they producing professional RELEVANT work, or are their strategies and execution lacking?
- If so, are YOU, the company providing them adequate guidance?
- Or are you expecting a production team to spearhead campaigns far beyond their capabilities?
- Email Marketing Review:
- Are your email campaigns well-structured, engaging, and driving sales, or are you funding ineffective tactics?
- Once again, where is the breakdown in capabilities here?
- Were you promised abilities that weren't delivered?
- Or have you tasked someone who shouldn't be expected to spearhead this task with saving your company without appropriate guidance?
- Custom Bid / Proposal Reviews and Audits: Remember, it's always better to NOT get into a costly contract with an iffy partner than try to get out of one.
This isn't JUST ABOUT the junior staff or I.T. DEPARTMENT
Marketing is the very core of how your business thrives.
Customer Acquisition
Brand Identity
Brand Loyalty
Marketing and branding aren’t just creative endeavors—they’re business-critical investments. Let us help you ensure they’re driving the results your business deserves.
When outsourcing or hiring internal teams, you expect expertise and value. We evaluate whether your marketing spend is supporting high-quality work—or just paying for mediocrity.
Our goal is to help you evaluate the quality and efficacy of your bids and proposals as well as your current team or providers.
Not to sell you OUR services instead, but to ensure they meet the standards your business needs to survive, or to help YOU understand the support they need to succeed in their endeavors.
Stop spending more on advertising than you're getting in return.
ROI matters.
You don’t have to become an expert to identify subpar work—that’s our role.
We’ll provide the critical audit oversight you need to ensure your marketing and branding efforts are professional, effective, and worth your investment.
Can You Join a Meeting to Evaluate Our Marketing (Digital Advertising / Content Creation / ) Company?"
Absolutely. We're happy to join a video meeting and provide expert insight by:
Evaluating whether their strategies and execution align with your goals: In laymen's terms, are they good enough to deliver what their salesperson is promising and is what they're promising appropriate for your business needs?
Asking the Right Questions:
Determining if you need a creative team to execute ideas or a marketer to lead strategy and execution, and tell you which you’ve hired
Clarifying Needs
Offering a candid evaluation of their strengths and areas for improvement.
Providing Feedback
Stop wasting your digital advertising budget today
Schedule your marketing proposal review or digital advertising provider audit today.
