In short: A distribution diagnostic is a short, paid, scoped piece of work that answers which channels can carry a product to its buyer, what each costs, and where the next serious money should go. It has a fixed duration, price and written output, runs small real tests, and carries no obligation to continue.
Key points
- It includes a band map of channels, a read of existing assets, two or three small parallel tests, and a written answer.
- The ruled-out list is the most durable page because it stops the same arguments recurring every quarter.
- One week cannot show long-run customer value, seasonality, behaviour at ten times volume, or whether restricted approvals will arrive.
- A free proposal is a sales document; an audit lists problems but tests nothing.
- Insist on a fixed price and end date, tracking in your name, and the next step priced in the same document.
Companies are offered "audits," "assessments," "discovery," and "free strategy sessions" constantly. Most are sales conversations with a document attached. A diagnostic is a different thing, and the difference is worth understanding before paying for one, or accepting a free one.
The definition
A distribution diagnostic is a short, paid, scoped piece of work that answers a specific question: which channels can carry this product to its buyer, what does each one cost, and where should the next serious money go. It has a fixed duration, a fixed price, a written output, and no obligation to continue.
We sell one as the Sounding, a one-week paid distribution diagnostic. The mechanics below are the ones we use, and they are the ones a company can use to evaluate anyone else's.
What it includes
A band map. For each channel and geography that matters, whether the platform carries the category openly, with conditions, or not at all, and what any conditions require. Written down, so it can be argued with.
A read of what exists. The current tracking, the accounts, the data, the content, the partner relationships, and the claims the company can substantiate. Not an audit of everything, but enough to know what a channel test can be built on.
Two or three small tests, run in parallel. Each in an open-band channel, each with a written question and a threshold, each with tracking the company controls, each funded modestly. A week is long enough to learn whether a channel is open, whether it converts at all, and roughly what an outcome costs at small scale.
A written answer. Which channel read, which did not, what each cost, what was ruled out and why, and what the next step should be, priced. The ruled-out list is the most durable page, because it stops the same arguments recurring every quarter.
What one week cannot tell you
Long-run customer value. Seasonal effects. How a channel behaves at ten times the volume. Whether a restricted-band approval will arrive. Whether a partner program will produce in month six what it produced in week one.
A diagnostic that claims to answer those questions is overselling. What it can do is close the question of where the next dollar goes, which is more than most companies know when they spend it.
How it differs from the alternatives
A free proposal is a sales document. Its cost is recovered in the engagement that follows, and its recommendations are shaped by what the provider wants to sell. It has no defined end and no obligation on the provider to be right.
An audit reviews what exists and lists what is wrong. Useful, but it does not test anything, so it produces opinions about channels rather than evidence from them.
A strategy engagement produces a plan, usually over several weeks, at consultancy rates, and leaves execution to someone else. Valuable for large, complex questions; oversized for "which channel should we try first."
A diagnostic is smaller than a strategy engagement, more evidence-based than an audit, and, because it is paid and scoped, more honest than a free proposal.
What to insist on
A fixed price and a fixed end date. A written question the work will answer. Tracking in your own name. Small real tests rather than desk research alone. A written output you can act on without hiring the provider. And the next step priced in the same document, so you know what continuing would cost before you decide whether to.
A provider who offers all of that is selling you an answer. A provider who offers it free is selling you the engagement that follows.
lowob takeaway: A distribution diagnostic is a paid, scoped week that maps which channels can carry your product, tests the likely ones cheaply, and tells you in writing where the next dollar should go. It cannot tell you the voyage's earnings. It can tell you whether there is water under the hull.
Common questions
What is a distribution diagnostic?
A short, paid, scoped assessment of which channels can carry a product to its buyer, what each costs, and where the next serious money should go, with a fixed duration, fixed price, written output and no obligation to continue.
How is a distribution diagnostic different from a marketing audit?
An audit reviews what exists and lists what is wrong but tests nothing, so it gives opinions about channels. A diagnostic runs small real tests and gives evidence.
What can't a one-week channel test tell you?
Long-run customer value, seasonal effects, how a channel behaves at ten times the volume, whether a restricted approval will arrive, or whether a partner program will hold up in month six.
Should I accept a free strategy proposal from an agency?
A free proposal is a sales document shaped by what the provider wants to sell, with no defined end and no obligation to be right. A provider who offers it free is selling the engagement that follows.