Marketing readiness checklist: 9 things to have in place before you spend

1. Strategic clarity

Ready looks like: you and your team can describe who you serve and why they pick you in one sentence, and customers would describe it the same way. Red flag: every person answers differently, or you serve "anyone who needs it".

2. Evidence that customers want what you sell

Ready looks like: repeat customers or referrals bring in meaningful revenue, and you know why you lose the deals you lose. Red flag: revenue only appears when someone pushes hard, and you cannot say why prospects walk away.

3. Sales follow-up

Ready looks like: every lead goes to one place, a named person replies within a business day, and a backup exists when they are away. Red flag: leads sit in inboxes until someone has time. More leads would make this worse, not better.

4. Measurement

Ready looks like: conversion tracking works, you know roughly what a lead and a customer cost, and leadership reviews numbers on a schedule. Red flag: you only look at metrics when deciding whether to drop a supplier.

5. Budget and staying power

Ready looks like: a budget you can hold for six months, with fees and ad spend planned separately, and a clear picture of what success looks like at 90 days. Red flag: you would cut spending by month three if revenue had not jumped.

6. Internal ownership

Ready looks like: a named person has hours set aside every week for approvals and feedback, and your company approves work in days. Red flag: "the agency will handle everything", or work that dies in review.

7. Assets

Ready looks like: a website that explains what you do and invites a next step, an offer worth acting on, brand basics in one place, and proof such as testimonials or case studies. Red flag: nothing to send people to and nothing to show.

8. History and expectations

Ready looks like: you understand why previous attempts at marketing help worked or failed, including your own share, and you expect results over months, not weeks. Red flag: every past supplier failed and you were never part of the problem.

9. Ability to manage the help you hire

Ready looks like: you could write a clear brief or job description, and someone with marketing judgement will oversee the work. Red flag: you would be hiring for "marketing" generally and working out the scope later.

How to use this list

Mark each area green, amber or red. Two or more reds means fix those before spending on anything else. Many fixes are cheap: a written sentence, a named owner, a working tracking tag, an agreed reply time.