Free · 30 minutes · zero pitch

The P.U.L.S.E
Score
One score.

The P.U.L.S.E. Score is a free digital health audit. It tells you where your brand is alive, where it is flatlining, and where the next marketing dollar should go. Before you spend it.

Run mine nowUsed by Capital Region SMBs · 2024 – 2026

What is the P.U.L.S.E. Score?

A diagnostic.
Not a sales pitch.

P.U.L.S.E.™ stands for Presence, User Experience, Loyalty, Share of Voice, and Effectiveness. Fifty points each, two-hundred-fifty total. A Heartbeat strategist scores you against a fixed rubric, so a Saratoga coffee shop and a Troy contractor can be compared on the same scale.

You walk away with a number, a grade per pillar, and a one-page action list. No pitch attached. If we are the right fit, you will book us. If we are not, the score is still yours to keep.

The rubric

Five pillars.
Fifty points each.

P

Presence

Where you show up, how well, and how often. The foundation pillar: if you are not visible, the rest does not matter.

  • Platform mix vs. audience fit
  • Profile completeness & optimization
  • Posting frequency and consistency
  • Format fluency (reels, lives, stories)
  • Editorial planning rhythm
50 pts · 10 per sub-criterion
U

User Experience

The friction between someone finding you and taking the next action. Where most SMB sites and feeds quietly bleed leads.

  • Clear CTAs in every piece of content
  • Time on site & pages per session
  • Bounce rate on top landing pages
  • DM and comment response time
  • Mobile flow end-to-end
50 pts · 10 per sub-criterion
L

Loyalty

Whether the audience is sticky, or whether you are renting attention every week. Loyalty is the leverage that makes paid spend efficient.

  • Engagement rate vs. category average
  • Save and share ratio
  • Returning visitors as % of total
  • UGC and customer advocacy signals
  • Audience growth rate, organic only
50 pts · 10 per sub-criterion
S

Share of Voice

How big you sound in the category vs. how big you are. The pillar that connects organic marketing to PR and earned media.

  • Branded search volume trend
  • Category presence vs. local competitors
  • Earned media mentions & citations
  • Review velocity & sentiment
  • Backlinks from local publications
50 pts · 10 per sub-criterion
E

Effectiveness

The receipts. Did the marketing turn into revenue? This pillar is non-negotiable and weighted into every recommendation.

  • Social to web traffic and quality
  • Lead form submissions per month
  • Revenue attributable to organic channels
  • Cost per lead and cost per acquisition
  • Percent of campaigns hitting their KPI
50 pts · 10 per sub-criterion · weighted into final grade
Grade tiers

What your
score means.

A raw 250-point number is hard to act on. We translate it into a tier letter, the way a credit score becomes a grade. The action list changes based on which tier you land in.

A
Pulsing

Brand alive across every pillar. Compounding loops in place. Now optimize at the margin.

200 – 250
B
Steady

Strong foundation, two pillars dragging. Targeted work fixes it fast.

160 – 199
C
Murmur

Present but inconsistent. A rhythm change unlocks the next 40 points.

120 – 159
D
Faint

Whole pillars missing. Foundational build needed before spending on ads.

80 – 119
F
Flatline

Start from zero. Strategy and systems first. Spend later.

0 – 79

Run the lite version

30 minutes.
Zero pitch.

Tell us where to look. We score you against the rubric, send the result, and stay out of your inbox unless you say otherwise.

  • 01 · You submit the form.
  • 02 · Strategist runs the rubric (24h).
  • 03 · You get a score, a tier, an action list.
  • 04 · We follow up only if you ask.

We use this only to score and send your audit. Read our privacy posture in the footer.

FAQ

Real questions
about the audit.

Is the P.U.L.S.E. Score actually free?

Yes. The lite version is free with no follow-up unless you ask for one. We give it away because it is the most useful 30 minutes we can spend with a prospective client, and because it almost always tells you something you did not already know.

How long until I get my score back?

A strategist runs the rubric within 24 business hours of submission. You receive a PDF with your number, your tier letter, a grade per pillar, and a one-page action list.

Is the lite version different from the full audit?

Yes. The lite version is the rubric. The full version adds competitor benchmarking, a 90-day prioritized action plan, and a working session to walk through it. The full audit is included in every Heartbeat engagement.

Will you use my data?

Only to score the audit and email it back. We do not sell, share, or feed prospect data into anything else. If you want us to forget you afterward, reply “delete” and we will.

Find your pulse.

Run the auditFree · 30 min · zero pitch