# Completed B2B marketing audit: fictional Northstar Maintenance

**Everything about Northstar Maintenance and all figures below are fictional.** This is a filled teaching example, not a Maestro client result or market benchmark. The case inputs, limits, arithmetic, and decision are all stated in this file so it can be used on its own.

## 1. Decision boundary

- Business decision: Should Northstar focus its offer on US manufacturers with 500 to 5,000 employees and at least three plants, or broaden it to smaller single-site teams? How should it allocate $35,000 for January–March 2027 under that choice?
- Offer and next step: Annual software subscription; first call is a maintenance workflow review. No free implementation or guaranteed savings assessment is promised.
- Historical cohort: Distinct first inquiries from January 1 to June 30, 2026; first recorded channel; duplicates removed.
- Outcome cutoff: October 15, 2026. Opportunity counts apply to the same inquiries. Later entrants have had less time to mature; the recommendation is provisional.
- Stage definitions: Inquiry means a distinct first form or event inquiry. Target fit means the stated multi-plant segment. This fictional export counts an opportunity only when it belongs to a target-fit inquiry. It therefore cannot show whether the segment beats an alternative. Stage and source-tag spot checks remain open.
- Constraint: $35,000 January–March 2027 program budget. Demand generation lead, product marketer, and sales operations partner are available. Product marketer has four existing November hours for a small pre-quarter interview readout, then 20 January hours for the page and follow-up design. The $3,000 test budget starts in January and does not fund November interviews. No new full-time hire.
- Decision owner and meeting: Fictional marketing lead; buyer interview readout November 20, 2026, and allocation/event commitment meeting December 1, 2026.

## 2. Evidence inventory

| Fictional source/date | Observation | State and consequence |
|---|---|---|
| CRM first-inquiry and opportunity export, Jan 1 to Jun 30 with Oct 15 cutoff | 205 distinct inquiries, 68 multi-plant target-fit inquiries, and 20 opportunities within that target segment under first-channel assignment; 137 inquiries outside the segment | Observed, but the outside-segment size mix and commercial outcome under a different offer are Unknown; stage definitions and tags need a spot check |
| Six recent fictional won/lost notes, reviewed Oct 15 | Four mention multi-plant rollout or integration effort | Observed directional signal; small sample cannot estimate market prevalence |
| Fictional homepage and sales deck, reviewed Oct 15 | Homepage: “maintenance software for every team”; deck: multi-plant planning and rollout support | Observed message mismatch |
| Fictional content library, reviewed Oct 15 | Product page and two technical guides; no multi-plant rollout answer | Observed coverage gap, not proof that a new page will create opportunities |
| Fictional CRM response timestamp audit, reviewed Oct 15 | Missing timestamps: 37/120 social, 2/40 search | Observed missingness; whether follow-up was late is Unavailable |
| Fictional GA4 setup, reviewed Oct 15 | Form submission is a key event | Observed site action; not an opportunity count |
| Cost records, Jan 1 to Jun 30 | $35,000 across four programs | Observed program costs; not total company acquisition cost |

## 3. Same-cohort channel view

| First channel | Six-month program cost | Inquiries | Target-fit inquiries | Opportunities by Oct 15 | Record limit |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---|
| Broad paid social | $12,000 | 120 | 18 | 3 | 37 response timestamps missing |
| Intent search | $8,000 | 40 | 24 | 8 | 2 response timestamps missing |
| Organic content | $6,000 | 25 | 14 | 5 | Response-time completeness not supplied |
| Trade event | $9,000 | 20 | 12 | 4 | Response-time completeness not supplied |
| **Total** | **$35,000** | **205** | **68** | **20** | Stage and tag spot checks open |

Arithmetic: 120 + 40 + 25 + 20 = 205 inquiries; 18 + 24 + 14 + 12 = 68 target-fit; 205 − 68 = 137 outside the chosen segment; 3 + 8 + 5 + 4 = 20 opportunities within the target-fit group by the export definition; $12,000 + $8,000 + $6,000 + $9,000 = $35,000. Social target fit is 18/120 = 15%; search target fit is 24/40 = 60%. These are within this fictional cohort, not external benchmarks. The 20 opportunities cannot establish segment superiority because the export excludes opportunities outside the target segment. The 137 outside-segment inquiries are not all known to be single-site or valueless. Historical program costs cover six months; the new budget covers one quarter. The equal $35,000 totals do not imply equal monthly spend. The table does not establish revenue or causal channel contribution.

## 4. Whole-system review

| Area | Fictional observation | Consequence and candidate action |
|---|---|---|
| Segment and offer | Current offer and sales deck address multi-plant planning; buyer notes raise rollout. The 137 outside-segment inquiries have unassessed buyer fit and commercial history for a different offer | Focus the next-quarter offer on multi-plant workflow review because it fits current offer evidence and scarce capacity; hold a single-site offer until buyer and commercial evidence is gathered |
| Positioning and proof | Homepage is broad; sales deck names multi-plant planning | Test a specific first-screen explanation; do not invent customer proof |
| Website and next step | Current page and first reply need a promise comparison | Product marketer checks page, form, confirmation, and first reply before launch |
| Organic content and search | No rollout-question page; two technical guides exist | Use buyer notes to create one answer and link to the relevant product page |
| Paid and social | Social has more inquiries but lower target-fit share than search | Bound the social message test; do not move the full budget before response audit |
| Email and events | Event contributes 12 target-fit inquiries and 4 opportunities; attendee and email follow-up content is Unavailable | Reserve, but do not commit, the $9,000 event allocation until follow-up is checked; reassign it at the allocation meeting if the evidence fails |
| Measurement and handoff | 39 response timestamps are missing across social and search | Sales operations reconciles assignments and activity history |

## 5. Findings and competing explanations

| Observation | Hypothesis | Alternative explanation | Separating evidence | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social: 120 inquiries, 18 target-fit, 3 opportunities; search: 40, 24, 8 | Broad social message attracts buyers outside the chosen segment | Missing follow-up or inconsistent stage/source rules depress observed social opportunities | Reconcile 39 missing response timestamps; spot-check fit, stage definitions, and source tags on records from both channels | High confidence in the counts as exported; low confidence in the causal explanation |
| Four of six recent buyer notes mention rollout/integration; homepage is broad; deck is specific | A rollout explanation would help target buyers assess the offer | The six notes overrepresent buyers already far along, or the page exists but was missed in the inventory | Interview a few target buyers, verify the live content inventory, and compare the actual page and call promise | Medium confidence in the mismatch; low confidence in predicted lift |
| Form submission is a GA4 key event | Site activity can be tracked | Key event count is mistaken for qualified pipeline | Reconcile same-cohort inquiry IDs to CRM stage history | High confidence that the event and stage measure different actions |
| 137 inquiries are outside the declared multi-plant segment; the export counts opportunities only inside it | Focus the next offer on multi-plant workflow reviews based on current offer and buyer notes, not on a segment outcome comparison | A separate single-site offer could serve some outside-segment buyers; their sizes, needs, and outcomes are unassessed | By November 20, sample outside-segment inquiries and buyers, inspect reasons and commercial history under an explicit alternative offer | Medium confidence in focus for the next quarter; no comparative segment performance conclusion |

## 6. Investment decision

- **Segment/offer choice:** Focus next quarter on multi-plant manufacturers and retain the workflow-review call. Hold a separate single-site offer until the November 20 buyer readout and outside-segment commercial review. This choice fits the current offer, rollout questions, and 20-hour product-marketer limit; the counted opportunities cannot compare segments.
- **Back provisionally:** Keep intent search at $8,000 and content at $6,000 next quarter. Reserve $9,000 for the event conditional on checking attendee follow-up. These are owner-selected ceilings inside the fixed budget, not modeled optimal amounts or causal ROI conclusions.
- **Change:** Cap broad paid social at $9,000 in the new quarterly plan. Test a multi-plant message with the same destination and stage rule, and use $3,000 in January–March for a rollout-question page and follow-up test.
- **Hold:** Do not launch a separate single-site offer merely because 137 inquiries fall outside the current segment. Their size mix, needs, and commercial outcomes for that offer are Unknown. Do not make a larger social investment or announce a winning channel until response timestamps, stage rules, and tags are checked.
- **Allocation:** $9,000 social + $8,000 search + $6,000 content + $9,000 conditionally reserved event + $3,000 January rollout page/follow-up test = **$35,000** for January–March. The November interviews use four existing hours outside this budget. These are owner-selected planning ceilings, not data-derived returns. This is a new plan, not a comparison of rates with six-month historical costs. If event follow-up evidence fails, reassign its reserved $9,000 at the December 1 allocation meeting.
- **Capacity:** Product marketer has four existing November hours for interviews and 20 January hours for the page and follow-up. If either task exceeds its own time allowance, narrow its scope or move its date; do not assume another hire or draw on the future test budget for November work.

| Priority | Action and evidence | Owner | Cost/time | Outcome and review trigger |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reconcile 39 missing timestamps and spot-check channel/stage definitions | Sales operations partner with demand generation lead | Existing time | December 1, 2026: report resolved count and revised same-cohort table. If still unreliable, hold any larger channel shift; if resolved, revise the allocation from the corrected table. |
| 2 | Keep the multi-plant workflow-review offer; interview a small buyer sample in November, write one rollout answer in January, and check page-to-reply promise | Product marketer | Four existing November hours for interviews; 20 January hours and $3,000 January–March budget for page/follow-up | November 20, 2026: continue the focused offer if interviews support the rollout job; revise if another job dominates; hold single-site expansion if evidence stays thin. January 31, 2027: page target. |
| 3 | Test multi-plant social message within the new quarterly cap | Demand generation lead | $9,000 next-quarter social ceiling | April 30, 2027: inspect target fit and follow-up; revise or stop if they remain poor. October 15, 2027: compare opportunities from January–March inquiries with the same defined cutoff; continue only if the full evidence supports it. |

## 7. Decision note

Northstar should focus the next-quarter offer on multi-plant manufacturers and hold a separate single-site offer until it learns what the 137 outside-segment inquiries need. Keep search and content provisionally, reserve the event allocation only until attendee follow-up is checked on December 1, cap social at $9,000 in the new quarterly plan, and fund one rollout-message test. The current offer, buyer rollout questions, and limited product-marketer time support that provisional focus. The opportunity export excludes outside-segment deals by definition, so it cannot rank segments. Missing response timestamps and unverified stage rules could change the channel interpretation. Sales operations will reconcile those records before a larger shift; the new January–March cohort has an October 15, 2027, opportunity readout.