Before we write a proposal for any company, we run a 15-point audit of their situation. It takes two to four hours of research and analysis, and it tells us three things: can we help them, will they succeed, and are we the right fit? This article walks you through that entire process, both as transparency about how we operate and as a self-assessment tool you can use to evaluate your own readiness.

Audit Point #1: Channel Positioning Clarity

We start with the most fundamental question: can we articulate who this channel is for in one sentence? If the company can't define their target audience and the specific problem their content will address, everything built on top of that will wobble.

A channel without clear positioning is like a shop without a sign. People might wander in by accident, but they won't come back, and they certainly won't recommend it to anyone. Positioning means understanding the intersection between what your customer needs, what your company is uniquely qualified to deliver, and what actually gets watched on YouTube. That Venn diagram is where your channel lives.

The red flag here is "we want to reach everyone interested in [broad category]." The green flag is "we help [specific audience] solve [specific problem] better than anyone else." As we discuss in our guide to growing a YouTube channel from zero, this positioning work is the single most important phase of a YouTube launch, and skipping it is the most common reason channels fail.

Audit Point #2: Existing Content Quality

If the company already has some videos, we review them closely. We're not looking for cinematic perfection, but we are looking for baseline indicators: is the audio clear enough that viewers won't click away? Is the lighting decent? Is the editing competent? More importantly, is the content substantively valuable, or is it thinly veiled sales material?

This assessment tells us whether the problem is primarily execution, which we can fix, or whether there's a deeper misunderstanding about what YouTube content should be. An existing library of decent, informative content that just isn't optimised is a great starting point. A library of product demos and company announcements suggests a bigger educational conversation is needed first.

Audit Point #3: Conversion Funnel Existence

This is where a surprising number of companies fall short, and it's one of the most critical factors we assess. Do they have a lead magnet? Something valuable enough that a viewer would willingly exchange their email address for it? What happens after someone watches a video and wants to take the next step? Is there a nurture sequence that builds trust over time? Is the sales process defined and functional?

YouTube views without a conversion pathway are like opening a shop and forgetting to put products on the shelves. We've seen this scenario play out repeatedly: a company invests in beautiful content, gets respectable view counts, but generates zero business impact because there's nowhere for interested viewers to go.

The red flag is "we'll figure out the funnel later." The green flag is a clearly mapped customer journey with lead magnets ready, a CRM in place, and a sales process that can handle YouTube-sourced leads. If the funnel doesn't exist yet, that doesn't mean we won't work together, but it does mean we need to build it before we start driving traffic.

Audit Point #4: Internal Resources and Availability

YouTube requires a human being on camera. Regularly. We need to know who that person is, how much time they can realistically commit, and whether they're comfortable (or willing to become comfortable) presenting on video. We also assess whether the company has any existing production resources or design capabilities that could support the work.

The red flag here is vagueness: "our founder might do some videos" or "we'll figure out who presents later." The green flag is a clearly identified host who has carved out time in their schedule for regular batch filming sessions and understands that this is a real commitment, not something to squeeze in between meetings.

Audit Point #5: Budget Realism

We need to understand not just what a company can spend, but whether their expectations match their budget. A company that wants full-stack YouTube growth for €3,000 per month has a mismatch between ambition and investment that no amount of creativity can bridge. Conversely, a company with €20,000 per month and realistic expectations about timelines is positioned for success.

Budget conversations are always a bit uncomfortable, but they're essential. We'd rather have an honest discussion about what different investment levels can achieve than let a client sign up for something that won't deliver the results they're expecting. For a fuller picture of what different price points actually get you, our guide to YouTube agency pricing breaks this down in detail.

Audit Point #6: Timeline Expectations

When does the company need to see results, and what's driving that timeline? If the answer is "we need 10,000 subscribers by next quarter because our CEO promised the board," we have a problem. YouTube doesn't work on that kind of timeline, and artificial pressure leads to bad decisions: chasing virality instead of building systematically, choosing clickbait over substance, and ultimately producing a channel that doesn't serve the business.

The green flag is a company that understands the six-to-twelve-month investment horizon and is building YouTube as a long-term asset rather than a quick win. They're not under artificial deadline pressure, and their leadership understands that organic growth compounds but takes patience.

Audit Point #7: Competitive Landscape

We research the competitive landscape on YouTube before taking any client on. Who are their main competitors on the platform? How established are those channels? What are they doing well, and where are the gaps?

If five competitors already have channels with 100,000 or more subscribers producing excellent content, we're late to a crowded market. That doesn't make it impossible, but it dramatically changes the strategy and the timeline. On the other hand, if we discover that a particular niche is underserved on YouTube, that represents a genuine opportunity to establish dominance quickly.

The red flag is a company that hasn't looked at the competitive landscape at all, or worse, one whose strategy is simply to copy what competitors are doing. The green flag is awareness of the competitive environment combined with a clear differentiation strategy.

Audit Point #8: Current Marketing Metrics

We ask for baseline metrics from other marketing channels: cost of acquisition, lifetime value, conversion rates, channel-by-channel performance. This data serves two purposes. First, it gives us a benchmark against which to measure YouTube's eventual performance. Second, it helps us set realistic expectations for what YouTube can contribute to the business.

If a company doesn't know their CAC or can't tell us which channels are performing, that's a red flag, not because it makes YouTube impossible, but because it suggests a broader measurement gap that will make it difficult to prove YouTube's value to leadership. We need to be able to show the impact in numbers, and that requires a baseline to compare against.

Audit Point #9: Team and Stakeholder Buy-In

Who's championing the YouTube initiative, and how much political capital do they have? Is the executive team genuinely on board, or is this being pushed by a mid-level marketing manager who's going to struggle for resources and attention?

Without executive sponsorship, YouTube projects get killed the moment the company hits a rough quarter. The slow early months, which are completely normal and expected, become ammunition for sceptics who want to redirect budget to channels with more immediate payoff. We need a champion who can protect the investment through those early months and who has the authority to make it stick.

Audit Point #10: Content and Subject Matter Expertise

YouTube rewards genuine expertise. Audiences can tell within seconds whether someone is speaking from deep knowledge or reading a generic script, and the algorithm reflects that in retention and engagement metrics. We assess whether the company has people with real, demonstrable expertise who can teach, inform, and occasionally surprise their audience.

The green flag is a company full of smart people who have unique insights to share but haven't yet packaged that knowledge for video. The red flag is a company that wants to cover topics they don't actually know much about, hoping to learn as they go. That approach produces content that's indistinguishable from the thousands of mediocre videos already cluttering YouTube.

Audit Point #11: Brand Readiness

Does the company have established brand guidelines, a clear visual identity, and consistent messaging? A YouTube channel extends your brand into a new medium, and if the brand itself is still in flux, the channel will reflect that inconsistency. This isn't a dealbreaker, but it does mean some brand work may need to happen in parallel with or before the YouTube launch.

Audit Point #12: Success Metrics Definition

How will the company measure success, and are those metrics connected to business outcomes? "Just get us views" isn't a success definition; it's an invitation for misaligned effort. We need agreement upfront on what "working" looks like: is it leads generated, revenue attributed, subscriber growth rate, or some combination?

Equally important is that these success metrics remain stable. Moving goalposts, where the definition of success shifts every quarter, make it impossible to build a coherent strategy and almost always indicate a lack of internal alignment.

Audit Point #13: Historical Attempts

Has the company tried YouTube before? What happened? Why did it fail? This history is valuable because it reveals patterns. Maybe the last attempt failed because they published sporadically. Maybe the content was good but there was no funnel to capture interest. Maybe the host left the company. Understanding what went wrong previously helps us avoid repeating those mistakes.

Audit Point #14: Product-Market Fit

This might seem tangential, but it's fundamental. Is the company's product actually good? Do customers love it? Are there genuine testimonials and case studies to draw from? YouTube is an amplifier: it can dramatically accelerate a company with strong product-market fit, but it cannot fix a product that nobody wants. If the company is still searching for fit, YouTube is premature. Fix the product first.

Audit Point #15: Cultural Fit

Finally, we assess whether we'll work well together. This is subjective but important. Does the company's communication style mesh with ours? How fast do they make decisions? Are they comfortable with the kind of direct, sometimes challenging feedback that produces the best work? Are they collaborative, or do they want to micromanage every creative decision?

A poor cultural fit, even between two competent parties, produces friction, frustration, and ultimately a failed partnership. We'd rather identify that upfront than discover it three months in.

What Happens After the Audit

Our audit produces one of three outcomes.

Strong yes, which happens about 40% of the time. The opportunity is clear, the resources are aligned, and we're confident we can deliver meaningful results. We proceed to a strategy workshop and then to a formal proposal.

Yes, but not yet, which is about 35% of prospects. The opportunity exists, but something critical is missing, perhaps the funnel isn't built, the budget isn't quite there, or internal buy-in is still forming. We share our honest assessment, recommend specific steps they can take to get ready, and stay in touch. Many of our best client relationships started with a "not yet" that became a "yes" three to six months later.

No, which is about 25% of prospects. There's a fundamental mismatch that we don't believe can be resolved: wildly unrealistic expectations, a budget that doesn't support the scope needed, product-market fit issues, or a cultural disconnect. We're straightforward about this and, where possible, refer them to solutions better suited to their needs.

Use This to Evaluate Your Own Readiness

You don't need us to run this audit. Take each of these fifteen points and honestly assess where your company stands. If you're green across the board, you're in excellent shape to start a YouTube channel. If you have a few amber areas, address them first or be prepared to tackle them simultaneously. And if you're red on more than a few, take the time to get your house in order. YouTube will still be there when you're ready, and you'll get much better results for starting from a position of strength.

Better to wait until you're genuinely ready than to rush in and waste months of effort and budget on a channel that was never set up to succeed.

If you'd like us to run this audit for your company, or if you've self-assessed and want to discuss what you've found, get in touch.