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2026 Digital Marketing Maturity Assessment Checklist

Author: Bill Ross | Reading Time: 9 minutes

Checklist Scaled E1761233974894 Emulent

Strategic Approach Maturity

Advanced

☐ Growth strategy is targeted toward defined buyer personas and ideal customer profiles

☐ Clearly defined partner tiers, regularly co-hosted events, content sharing and more

☐ Data-driven decision-making based on regular experiments is core to overall approach and strategy

☐ Teams are monitored and measured based on performance toward goals defined in the SLA

☐ Goals are regularly monitored, and strategy is adjusted based on performance

Intermediate

☐ Clearly defined personas and ideal customer profiles, but they aren’t integrated into the greater strategy

☐ Defined partnerships and regular events or content sharing, but not fully integrated into greater strategy

☐ Regular experiments to improve processes and address gaps in your strategy

☐ Documented service-level agreement (SLA) exists between marketing and sales, but adherence is inconsistent

☐ Goals are defined and occasionally monitored, but strategy doesn’t adapt based on results

Beginner

☐ No defined buyer personas or ideal customer profiles

☐ Initial buyer personas or profiles exist, but they are not actively used

☐ No defined process or partner relationships for co-marketing

☐ Some partner relationships exist, but no structured co-marketing process

☐ No defined process, experiments or data-informed decisions for growth

☐ Some ad-hoc experiments are conducted, but no overall growth strategy

☐ No defined alignment between your marketing and sales teams

☐ Some efforts to align marketing and sales exist, but no formal SLA

☐ No defined goals or performance indicators

☐ Goals are set on an ad-hoc basis and not tracked

SEO Maturity Assessment

Advanced

☐ Regular keyword research, planning and editorial calendar directly informs content production

☐ Site has a strong technical foundation (mobile-friendly, fast load times, proper indexing)

☐ All pages are optimized with unique titles, meta descriptions and structured content

☐ Active backlinking strategy with high-quality inbound links

☐ Website’s domain authority is high relative to industry benchmarks

Intermediate

☐ Some keywords in the top 5, loose editorial process for weaving keywords into content strategy

☐ Most critical technical SEO issues are resolved, periodic audits conducted

☐ Key pages are optimized, but some inconsistencies in metadata or content structure

☐ Some backlinking efforts, mix of medium and high-quality links

☐ Website’s domain authority is moderate and growing

Beginner

☐ Little to no keyword research and no tracking in marketing automation platform, CRM or SEO tools

☐ Irregular keyword research or tracking, no keywords in top 5 rankings

☐ Many critical SEO issues exist (broken links, missing alt tags, slow site, etc.)

☐ Some technical SEO issues addressed, but many remain unresolved

☐ Site pages have missing or poorly written titles and meta descriptions

☐ Some pages have basic optimization, but overall on-page SEO is inconsistent

☐ No backlinking strategy. Little to no inbound links from reputable sites

☐ Some ad-hoc backlinking (e.g., local directories), but no consistent strategy

☐ Website’s domain authority is low

☐ Domain authority is slightly improving but still below industry average

Paid Search (PPC) Maturity Assessment

Advanced

☐ There is a tightly knit set of 10–20 keywords in each ad group that strongly align with the ads. Keywords have low cost per click and cost per conversion

☐ Ads have strong calls to action, frequently use the target keyword and have a great quality score (7 or above)

☐ Landing pages are fully optimized (aligned copy, strong form strategy, trust elements) and consistently used for ads

☐ Display campaigns are fully integrated with overall strategy, with clear CTAs and consistent branding

☐ Retargeting campaigns are segmented by audience behavior and fully leverage personalization

☐ Entire account is well-organized; campaigns, ad groups and ads are structured around specific goals

Intermediate

☐ Keywords align well with ad groups and ads, with moderate cost per click and cost per conversion

☐ Ads have a decent call to action, occasionally feature the target keyword and have a good quality score (5 or above)

☐ Users are directed towards landing pages, but they are not fully optimized (copy somewhat aligns, basic form strategy, minimal trust elements)

☐ Display campaigns exist and are clearly branded, but don’t integrate with the greater strategy

☐ Retargeting campaigns are targeted toward specific pages or segments of your database

☐ Entire account is organized with campaigns grouped by goals, but ad groups and ads are slightly disorganized

Beginner

☐ Keywords do not align with ad groups or ads

☐ Keywords somewhat align with ad groups and ads, but there is poor use of keyword match types and high cost per click and cost per conversion

☐ Ads lack a call to action, are misaligned with the content offer and have a low quality score (3 or less)

☐ Ads have a weak call to action, don’t feature the target keyword and have a reasonable quality score (4–6)

☐ Users are directed towards website pages or blog posts rather than landing pages from ads

☐ Users are directed towards landing pages, but they are not optimized (copy does not align with ads, poor form strategy, no trustmarks, etc.)

☐ Not currently leveraging display campaigns

☐ Display campaigns exist, but without clear calls-to-action or consistent branding

☐ Not currently leveraging retargeting campaigns

☐ Retargeting campaigns exist but only toward all website visitors

☐ Account is disorganized or lacking coherent structure

☐ Some campaigns are organized by goals, and no structure exists for ad groups and ads

Blogging Maturity Assessment

Advanced

☐ Editorial calendar dictates content production and helps inform greater strategy such as social media, email and paid advertising

☐ Blogs are persona and keyword targeted with different blogs being created for different stages of the buyer’s journey

☐ You frequently submit pitches and finished posts to platforms that your personas frequent

☐ You regularly receive and publish guest posts that align with your content needs

☐ You regularly utilize Ai tools to plan and build your blogging strategy

Intermediate

☐ Editorial calendar guides content production, but doesn’t inform greater strategy

☐ Personas directly inform keyword research and the pain points addressed by blogs, but only top of funnel

☐ You regularly submit pitches or finished posts to platforms that your personas frequent

☐ You have a defined process for reviewing guest blog submissions, but they don’t always align with your needs

Beginner

☐ No defined editorial process

☐ Editorial calendar exists, but content production doesn’t always adhere to it

☐ No alignment between SEO strategy, personas and blog content

☐ Some blogs are written that are either keyword or persona targeted

☐ No process or outreach exists to contribute to guest blogging opportunities

☐ You occasionally submit pitches or finished posts for other blogs, but not consistently or strategically

☐ You don’t solicit or accept guest blogging submissions

☐ You occasionally accept guest blogging submissions, but don’t have a process for reviewing them

Social Media Marketing Maturity Assessment

Advanced

☐ Evergreen content is frequently reshared with clear strategy and reasoning for syndication

☐ Consistent posting with dedicated campaigns and frequent use of images and hashtags

☐ Regularly leveraging relevant platforms and regularly monitoring for performance and feedback

☐ Frequently engage with community on social media and well-defined process across the company

☐ Frequent outreach to influencers to promote your brand and defined strategy for identifying relevant influencers

Intermediate

☐ Evergreen content is regularly reshared on relevant channels

☐ Regular posting but infrequent use of images, hashtags or strategic campaigns

☐ Regularly leveraging platforms relevant to your buyer personas, but only casually monitoring results/feedback

☐ Regularly engage with community on social media, but poorly defined process across the company

☐ Regular outreach to influencers to promote your brand on social media, but lacking strategy

Beginner

☐ No defined process for content syndication

☐ Evergreen content is occasionally reshared on relevant channels

☐ Not actively leveraging social media to build an audience

☐ Infrequent posts and rare use of images, hashtags or strategic campaigns

☐ Not on platforms relevant to your buyer personas

☐ Platform monitoring is set up, but infrequently leveraged

☐ No defined process and irregularly engaging with your community

☐ Infrequently engage with community on social media, occasionally ignore posts tagging your brand

☐ No defined process and never interact with influencers

☐ Occasional outreach to influencers to promote your brand on social media

Content Marketing Maturity Assessment

Advanced

☐ Content production aligns with personas and a strategy that is informed by and supports email, social media and other channels

☐ Content is frequently distributed through numerous channels and is informed by email, social media or other strategies

☐ Premium content offers exist for each persona, they are aligned with ToFu/MoFu/BoFu strategy and are updated frequently

Intermediate

☐ Content production aligns with personas and a dedicated content strategy, but isn’t informed by other channels

☐ Content is regularly distributed through numerous channels, but doesn’t feed into a greater strategy

☐ Premium content offers exist and are aligned with ToFu/MoFu/BoFu or persona strategy, but there are gaps (missing or outdated content)

Beginner

☐ No greater content strategy exists

☐ Content production aligns with personas, but not a greater strategy

☐ No defined process for distributing content

☐ Content is occasionally distributed through channels outside a blog

☐ No existing premium content offers

☐ Some premium content offers exist, but they are misaligned with your ToFu/MoFu/BoFu and persona strategy

Brand Marketing Maturity Assessment

Advanced

☐ Brand and messaging are well-defined and easily accessible for team members

☐ Awards are applied to regularly and there is a process for identifying and submitting consistent applications

☐ Pitches and news are regularly shared with the media and a team or individual owns the relationship

☐ Swag exists for your brand and is regularly updated to reflect current trends

☐ Press releases are regularly shared and a team or individual owns public relations

Intermediate

☐ Brand and messaging are well-defined, but resources are not easily accessible for team members

☐ Awards are applied to regularly, but no defined process exists for doing so

☐ Pitches and news are regularly shared with the media, but nobody owns the relationships

☐ Swag exists for your brand and is shared with employees and influencers, but it is outdated

☐ Press releases are regularly shared through distribution channels, but nobody owns public relations

Beginner

☐ No defined brand or messaging guidelines

☐ Some guidelines exist for using your brand and messaging

☐ No defined process for finding or applying to awards

☐ Awards are applied for on an ad-hoc basis

☐ No defined process for engaging with the media

☐ Pitches or news are infrequently shared with the media, no defined role exists

☐ No swag exists for your brand

☐ Some swag exists for your brand, but it isn’t distributed to build awareness

☐ No defined process for public relations or news sharing

☐ Press releases are infrequently shared and not distributed through channels like PR Newswire

Event Marketing Maturity Assessment

Advanced

☐ User groups are regularly engaged with and feedback often informs strategic decisions

☐ Webinars are regularly run, and they support or directly inform future content or nurture strategies

☐ Trade shows or conferences are budgeted, sponsored and have goals such as ROI or lead generation

☐ Speaking engagements are applied for and promoted as part of the overall strategy

Intermediate

☐ User groups are regularly engaged with, but insights rarely integrate with greater strategy

☐ Webinars are regularly run, but without feeding into a greater strategy

☐ Trade shows and conferences are planned for and sponsored, but not measured for impact

☐ Speaking engagements are regularly applied for, but it’s reliant on individual employee initiative

Beginner

☐ No defined process for creating or leveraging user groups

☐ User groups exist, but they are rarely leveraged or interacted with

☐ Not currently running webinars

☐ Webinars are run occasionally on an ad-hoc basis

☐ Not currently running or attending trade shows or conferences

☐ Trade shows and conferences are attended occasionally

☐ No defined process for identifying or applying for speaking engagements

☐ Speaking engagements are identified and applied to on an ad-hoc basis

Lifecycle Marketing Maturity Assessment

Advanced

☐ Lifecycle stages are well-defined and inform greater conversion and nurture strategies

☐ Lead nurture workflows for each buyer persona exist that are aligned with their unique transitions between stages

☐ Seamless triggers and alerts that queue up additional workflows and notify sales

☐ Different re-engagement campaigns are run based on a number of triggers or factors

Intermediate

☐ Lifecycle stages are well-defined and guidelines dictate how someone transitions from stage to stage

☐ Several lead nurture workflows exist that are mostly aligned with defined lifecycle stage transitions

☐ Well-defined triggers for workflows and sales notifications, but some friction exists

☐ Re-engagement campaigns are run based on a set trigger or factor

Beginner

☐ No definitions exist for what constitutes certain lifecycle stages

☐ Lifecycle stages are loosely defined without information on how someone transitions from stage to stage

☐ No defined lead nurturing workflows exist

☐ Some lead nurture workflows exist but they are misaligned with defined lifecycle stage transitions

☐ No automation for triggers or alerts based on lifecycle stages

☐ Some triggers exist for lifecycle stages to queue up additional workflows or notify sales

☐ Not currently running re-engagement campaigns

☐ Some re-engagement campaigns are run on an ad-hoc basis

Lead Management Maturity Assessment

Advanced

☐ Lead scoring model is well-defined and leveraged in sales outreach and marketing nurture strategies

☐ Lifecycle stages are well-defined, known for most or all contacts and fully automated

☐ A clear ToFu/MoFu/BoFu form strategy is used consistently across the site along with progressive profiling and integration with lead scoring and lifecycle stages

☐ Marketing and sales software are fully integrated, there is clear visibility into performance and there’s a well-defined process for auditing new technology

☐ Your database is fully maintained through workflows and automation with all relevant cross-object field mappings set up

☐ Sales activity is regularly reported on and tracked toward a sales planning tool

☐ Opportunity stages are well-defined and automation is in place to assist with keeping records up to date which informs prioritization and process

☐ Leads are automatically rotated based on clearly defined factors such as region, company size or round robin

Intermediate

☐ Lead scoring model is well-defined, but infrequently leveraged in greater strategy

☐ Lifecycle stages are known for some contacts through automation, but some manual effort still exists

☐ A master form strategy exists, but there is a lack of progressive profiling or incorporation into the broader revenue operations strategy

☐ Marketing, sales and service software are well integrated, but reporting is challenging and/or auditing new technology is inconsistent

☐ Your database is mostly maintained through workflows and automation with some cross-object field mapping set up

☐ Sales activity is regularly reported on in a singular dashboard or system

☐ Opportunity stages are well-defined and are regularly updated, but there is still manual effort involved

☐ Leads are automatically rotated based on a mix of factors such as region, company size or round robin

Beginner

☐ No defined lead scoring model

☐ Lead scoring model is poorly defined or outdated and thus relatively inaccurate

☐ No definitions exist for what constitutes certain lifecycle stages

☐ Lifecycle stages are known for few contacts, but updating is largely manual

☐ There is no clear form strategy present

☐ A loosely defined form strategy exists, but there is a lack of consistent application, resulting in a large number of forms across the site

☐ Marketing, sales and service software are not integrated and do not communicate

☐ Marketing, sales and service software are connected but leads are frequently lost between tools

☐ No process or workflows are in place to automatically manage contacts, companies, deals or tickets

☐ A few workflows exist to automatically manage contacts, companies, deals or tickets, but the process is largely manual

☐ No defined process or reporting structure for sales activity

☐ Sales activity is occasionally reported on, but in disparate systems

☐ No defined process for sales pipeline management

☐ Opportunity stages are somewhat defined, but records are updated infrequently or manually

☐ No defined process for lead rotation

☐ Leads are manually rotated with a poorly defined process

Website Design Maturity Assessment

Advanced

☐ Information architecture is well-organized, persona-driven and flexible as your business and customers change

☐ Exceptional user experience with seamless navigation and frictionless conversion opportunities

☐ Landing pages and thank you pages are always created and aligned with best practices

☐ CTAs are regularly created and always align with page content and their destination

☐ Full conversion paths exist for each persona, and the website guides users through them

Intermediate

☐ Information architecture is well-organized and aligned with personas, but inherently inflexible

☐ Good user experience with rare errors but occasional difficulty navigating or friction in conversion

☐ Landing pages and thank you pages are created, but are occasionally misaligned with best practices

☐ CTAs are regularly created but are occasionally misaligned with page content or their destination

☐ Full conversion paths exist for each persona, but aren’t easily navigated through the website

Beginner

☐ No documented information architecture for the website

☐ Information architecture exists, but it is not intuitive and content is difficult to find for your personas

☐ Overall poor user experience with frequent slow load speed, dark patterns, 404 pages, etc.

☐ Decent user experience with occasional slow load speed, dark patterns, 404 pages, etc.

☐ No defined process for creating landing and thank you pages (multiple landing pages without dedicated thank you pages)

☐ Landing pages and thank you pages are created, but are misaligned with best practices

☐ No defined process for creating or assigning CTAs on your website

☐ CTAs are occasionally created, but are frequently misaligned with page content and/or their destination

☐ No defined conversion paths

☐ Conversion paths exist, but not for every persona or there are clear gaps (e.g., missing MoFu content)

Reporting Maturity Assessment

Advanced

☐ Funnel metrics are tracked or reported on a monthly basis and directly inform strategic decisions

☐ Forecasting is a core segment of setting annual goals

☐ A strategic balance of automated reporting and manual validation or deep dives

☐ Goals are set, measured against and used as a feedback loop to make strategic decisions

Intermediate

☐ Funnel metrics are tracked or reported on a monthly basis, but results don’t inform strategy

☐ Forecasting occurs for some goal setting and is done with validated data

☐ Automated reporting dashboards are built out, but not regularly validated with manual reports

☐ Goals are set and performance is measured frequently, but insights are rarely acted upon

Beginner

☐ Funnel metrics are not actively tracked or reported on

☐ Funnel metrics are infrequently tracked or reported on

☐ No funnel forecasting is conducted

☐ Forecasting occurs for setting goals for specific projects or with unvalidated data

☐ No defined process for reporting

☐ Reporting occurs but the balance between automated and manual reporting varies

☐ Goals are not set

☐ Goals are set but there is no active process to measure performance against those goals