How to Review 2025 Marketing Performance Before Building a 2026 Plan

Stop guessing what worked—turn your 2025 results into your 2026 growth roadmap.

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Too many founders roll into January with last year’s plan on repeat. Same budget splits. Same campaigns. Same agencies running the same playbook. The problem? Customers evolve faster than your calendar—and if you’re not reviewing 2025 performance with precision, you’re not planning. You’re recycling.

The Data Doesn’t Lie—But You Have to Read It Right

Annual performance reviews aren’t about pulling a few vanity metrics into a deck. They’re about asking hard questions:

• Did your email open rates grow, or did they flatline while customer acquisition costs climbed?

• Did your ads actually generate revenue, or just “engagement”?

• Which campaigns converted at full price—and which only worked when you layered on discounts?

According to Nielsen, brands that regularly review and optimize campaign performance see 20–30% stronger ROI than those that don’t. The gap isn’t creative genius—it’s disciplined analysis.

What to Measure: The 2025 Scorecard

Your review should cover three categories:

1. Revenue Drivers

• Top channels for conversion

• Products or categories driving highest margins

• Customer lifetime value (CLV) by cohort

2. Efficiency Metrics

• CAC vs. LTV (did acquisition costs grow faster than revenue?)

• Return on ad spend (ROAS) by channel

• Operational costs linked to marketing execution

3. Brand Health

• Growth in social following and engagement (real audience vs. vanity)

• PR coverage and earned media value

• Repeat purchase rates and loyalty program participation

The Trap Founders Fall Into

Here’s where I see CEOs and founders miss the mark:

• Chasing channel bias. “Instagram worked for us three years ago” isn’t a strategy. Platforms evolve—so should your spend.

• Confusing revenue with profit. If your most “successful” campaign gutted margins with discounts, was it really a success?

• Ignoring lagging signals. If loyalty dipped in 2025, you’ll feel it in 2026—but only if you’re looking at the right data.

The brands that win are ruthless about facing the numbers, even when they sting.

From Review to Roadmap: How It Fuels 2026 Planning

Your 2025 review isn’t an end-of-year report card. It’s the raw material for your 2026 roadmap.

• Double down on what worked. If a channel or campaign beat ROI targets, scale it—but tie it to a specific growth goal.

• Cut the noise. If something didn’t perform, stop funding it. Don’t drag dead weight into a new fiscal year.

• Spot early opportunities. A rising platform, a breakout category, or an unexpected retention win can become a 2026 focus area.

McKinsey reports that companies that reallocate marketing budget at least once a year deliver 10% higher returns than those that keep it static. Agile brands grow faster because they’re willing to shift.

The Founder’s Checklist for a Smarter 2026

When you sit down to review 2025, ask yourself:

• Which 20% of efforts drove 80% of results?

• Where did I overspend for underwhelming returns?

• Which campaigns built brand equity beyond the short-term sale?

• Where are my growth gaps that 2026 strategy must address?

Get clarity on those answers, and you’ll stop guessing what worked—you’ll know exactly how to make 2026 stronger.

Turn Your Review Into a Strategy

At The Lavender Agency, I lead marketing strategy sessions that help founders translate performance data into a growth roadmap. No fluff, no guesswork—just a clear, confident plan designed for results.

👉 Book a session now to finalize your 2026 marketing strategy.

This blog is part of our September series on Annual Strategy Planning

Every September, founders are staring down the same challenge: how to wrap one year with intention and get the next year started without wasting time or money. That’s why this month, The Playbook is dedicated entirely to annual marketing strategy planning for 2026.

This blog follows:

• Annual Strategy Planning for 2026 – Why founders who wait until January are already behind.

Here’s what’s next in the series:

• Building a 2026 Marketing Budget That Actually Supports Growth – Why “rolling it over” isn’t a strategy, and how to allocate for ROI in a tougher market.

• Why Q1 Marketing Planning for 2026 Can’t Wait Until January – The real cost of waiting, and how to use early preparation to stretch resources further.

📩 Subscribe to The Playbook to get each blog in this series delivered straight to your inbox before anyone else.

Let’s make this actionable. Ask yourself:

• Which parts of my 2025 plan genuinely drove ROI—and which looked good but drained resources?

• Am I willing to cut underperforming channels and reallocate budget, or am I carrying dead weight forward?

• What signals from 2025 (positive or negative) should directly inform my 2026 roadmap?

Sources

• Nielsen (2024). ROI of Campaign Optimization and Review. nielsen.com.

• McKinsey (2024). The Case for Agile Marketing Spend Reallocation. mckinsey.com.