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You don’t need a ton of data to create your 2026 marketing plan. Figure out what generates leads and what doesn’t, plus a few new things to try.
The year is winding down, and you already have a fantastic 2026 marketing plan in place, right?
No?
Well, guess what? You probably don’t need to spend a lot of time creating a plan, nor do you need to make massive changes to what you’re already doing.
I’m not! Instead, I am tweaking what’s working, dropping what’s not, and trying new things.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you to do a deep dive into metrics this time. This time, we’re gonna tackle this subject from a qualitative angle.
How to create a 2026 marketing plan you are excited about
First, figure out what marketing worked this year
In my world, “what’s working” is a Venn diagram of marketing projects that:
- I enjoy doing
- Keep me top of mind
- Generate leads
Marketing is all about building relationships that will lead to sales, right?
First things first, you need to get your humanity and expertise out there to build relationships. You do this in a variety of ways:
- A website that clearly explains how you help your ideal client
- Blog posts that freely share your knowledge and tell stories
- Free (but gated) guides and worksheets that provide detailed, actionable strategies
- Email newsletters, podcasts, and webinars that deliver that knowledge and those stories to your people
- Social media posts that start conversations (one of the best ways to build relationships)
- Print pieces that help people remember you long after you meet
Go through this list.
- What marketing projects you enjoy doing? What’s a chore?
- Which ones keep you in front of your ideal clients?
- And for the million-dollar question: What generates leads?
Let’s talk about that – of all the things you do, what the heck generates leads?
But what generates leads?
I can answer that for my own agency: Blogging consistently and sending a monthly newsletter.
This past year, I got several leads via a Google search, and that is all because of blogging. Blogging tells search engines that your website is active, and because I optimize blog posts for search, my blogs appear in search results. (It also helps that I’ve been blogging for so many years.)
As for my newsletter, I get responses. People literally hit “reply” and tell me they love my newsletter, or they just say hi, or they declare, “Wow, that was such a great blog post!”
And you know who’s on my newsletter list? My top referral sources.
That doesn’t mean I am going to stop creating free downloadable resources or using LinkedIn for marketing.
Here’s why:
Anyone who downloads a free resource from my website goes on my monthly newsletter list. I have a very low unsubscribe rate, so this strategy works for me.
LinkedIn keeps me actively connected to a lot of good people in my network. It also doesn’t cost me a lot of time or money to stay active on there.
Next, decide what marketing did not work this year
How you answer is entirely dependent on what you did this year, so let me share what I learned didn’t work for me:
Offering paid courses
In the past two years, I collaborated on two paid courses, neither of which went anywhere. The amount of time that went into creating the courses and all the marketing around it (landing pages, promo copy, emails, social posts, etc.) added up to A LOT of hours.
No matter what we did to promote the courses, neither had any takers. Never doing that again.
Charging for my monthly AMA
I initially thought that the monthly Ask Monika Anything (About Marketing) I launched this year would be paid, and that it would be a new revenue stream.
Nope. No one wanted to pay for it.
I changed my approach from revenue-generating to relationship-building. In other words, it’s free. And it’s fun, and I’m so glad I pivoted.
Using overly aggressive calls-to-action
This is a recent revelation, courtesy of my October Ask Monika Anything.
Calls-to-action are usually too aggressive – email me, sign up now, schedule a free consultation. They are asking for a commitment instead of building a relationship.
I went through all the calls-to-action on my website and in my email lead nurturing campaigns, and I changed them. Now, I ask questions to start a conversation. You build relationships via conversations, not commands to get in touch.
Creating new “5 Business Rules” videos
Nicole Krug and I launched our “Five Business Rules” YouTube channel back in 2016. As much fun as we had creating the videos (we laugh hard and often in just about every video), the channel never took off.
We marketed it a hundred different ways and even invested in ads. Yet our audience never even hit 100 subscribers. A few months ago, we called it quits.
(For all you fans out there, don’t worry, the channel will stay up.)
Third, decide what new marketing things you want to try
You do not need to try every new marketing trend or idea! Stick to a few to keep things manageable.
Here’s what I am adding to my 2026 marketing plan:
Create video on LinkedIn
Using video in marketing has been a best practice since forever, but I have been lazy about incorporating it into my LinkedIn marketing strategy. Sometimes, the cobbler is barefoot, you know?
Well, in 2026, the cobbler is getting a new pair of shoes.
Use an analytics platform
After enjoying a free trial of an analytics platform created by marketers for marketers, I’m going to start using one to track my agency’s and my client’s performance across platforms – website, social, email, etc.
This will allow me to send reports to my clients every month, but more than that – I can tweak their marketing strategies without getting mired in data.
Keep in better touch with lead/referral sources
Referral sources are more precious than gold. I have enjoying reconnecting with a few over the past month, and I am going to be more intentional about turning it into a regular, ongoing practice in 2026.
Get serious about asking for referrals
For years, I’ve been saying this. For years, I’ve not been doing it (see: barefoot cobbler).
At the beginning of each client engagement, I am going to:
- Schedule a check-in call (for on-going projects) or a wrap-up call (for one-time projects)
- Ask for feedback on what I did well and what I can approve
- Ask who else they know who could use more leads for their business
Hat tip to Kim Fredrich for this idea.
Related: The Slow Death of Your Business: 4 Things That Happen When You Stop Marketing