As the new year approaches, now is the perfect time to review your current performance and plan your marketing strategy for the year ahead. Whether you’re fine-tuning your digital campaigns or rethinking your entire approach, taking the time to analyse, reflect and plan will set your business up for success.
Here’s how to build a basic marketing plan that’s strategic, measurable and ready to deliver results in the new year.
Gather feedback and insights
Start by meeting with your sales and marketing teams to discuss the past year’s activity. What campaigns performed well? Which areas didn’t meet expectations? Encourage open feedback so you can identify patterns and opportunities.
Use this insight to guide your priorities for the coming year and make sure every part of your marketing plan supports your wider business goals.
Review your analytics and performance data
If you haven’t already, take a deep dive into your data. Understanding what resonated with your audience will help you make informed decisions and set realistic goals for the year ahead.
Focus on three key areas:
Digital advertising and social media
Whether your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns are managed in-house or by an agency, review how your budget is performing. Check your keywords, ad copy, and audience targeting to ensure you’re getting the best possible return on ad spend (ROAS).
Revisit your social media insights to see what content gained the most traction, which posting times worked best, and what topics engaged your audience.
It’s also worth reviewing your website analytics. Look at where your leads and conversions are coming from, organic search, social, or paid ads, to understand what’s truly driving performance.
Offline marketing
Offline campaigns still play an important role in brand awareness. Review direct mail, print advertising, outdoor media (OOH), and collateral to calculate their return on investment (ROI). This will help you decide where to focus your spend next year.
Build a visual marketing plan
Once your research is complete, it’s time to plan. If you already have a marketing calendar, update it with your latest data. If not, create a visual plan in Excel or Google Sheets to map out activity month by month. See the example below.
List your marketing channels – such as email campaigns, PPC, social media, out-of-home (OOH), and content marketing – in the first column. Add months or quarters across the top. This approach lets you see your activity at a glance and identify gaps or overlaps.
When your plan is mapped, start gathering cost estimates for each campaign. Whether you work with a single agency or multiple partners, updating your plan with accurate pricing helps build a realistic, evidence-based marketing budget.
Present your strategy with confidence
With your analysis complete and your plan visualised, you’ll have everything you need to present a strong marketing strategy for next year. Your plan will be based on data, aligned with your business objectives, and ready to deliver measurable results.
And if you’d like support reviewing your current marketing activities or developing a new content marketing plan, Pixel Advertising can help. Our team can audit your existing performance, identify new opportunities, and create a strategy built for growth in the new year.
