Don’t Wait Until January to Plan Your 2027 Marketing

January has a funny way of arriving before anyone is quite ready for it.

One minute you’re wrapping up fall projects. Then budgets are being finalized, holiday schedules are taking over and someone suddenly asks:

“So, what are we doing for marketing next year?”

If that conversation starts on January 5, you’re already behind.

Not disastrously behind. But unnecessarily behind.

For established businesses, fall is the better time to start building the annual marketing plan for the year ahead.

January should be when the plan starts working. Not when everyone starts trying to figure out what the plan is.

Established businesses should begin annual marketing planning in September or October, while budgets, revenue priorities and operational plans are also being developed.

Starting early gives the business time to set objectives, allocate budget, prepare campaigns, update the website, create content, coordinate sales activity and assign responsibilities before January.

January should be execution time, not brainstorming time.

One of the easiest ways to build a weak marketing plan is to start with marketing.

That sounds backwards, but stay with me.

Before asking:

“What should we post next year?”

ask:

“What does the business need to accomplish next year?”

That is where useful marketing planning begins.

Maybe the business wants to:

• increase recurring revenue
• enter a new market
• grow a particular service line
• pursue larger commercial customers
• improve customer retention
• expand geographically
• strengthen the sales pipeline
• launch a new service
• become better known in a particular industry

Those priorities should shape the marketing plan.

Otherwise, marketing becomes a collection of activities rather than something that supports the business.

A good marketing plan starts with revenue priorities, not a content calendar.

Before planning campaigns, decide what success needs to look like.

For example:

Grow annual revenue by 15%.

That’s useful. But marketing still needs more context.
Where is that growth expected to come from?
Existing customers?
New accounts?
A particular service line?
A new territory?
Larger contracts?

Each answer changes the marketing strategy.

Make the Objective Specific Enough to Guide Decisions

Compare these two goals:

“Increase awareness.”

and

“Become more visible among commercial property managers in Winnipeg so the sales team has more opportunities to pursue larger recurring contracts.”

The second one gives you something to work with.

It starts to suggest:

• audience
• messaging
• channels
• sales activity
• content
• events
• measurement

That’s what a useful objective should do.

If the objective doesn’t help you decide what to do, it probably isn’t specific enough yet.

Not every part of the business needs equal marketing attention.

Maybe one service is already busy enough.
Another may have excellent margins but low awareness.

A newer service might need support.
A mature service may only need to maintain visibility.

Your annual marketing plan should reflect those differences.

Ask Where the Business Actually Wants Growth
Which services are most profitable?
Which customer types are most valuable?
Which contracts tend to renew?
Where is there capacity?
Where does the company have a competitive advantage?
Where does leadership want the company to be twelve months from now?

These are business questions. They’re also marketing questions.

Marketing should support the revenue the business wants, not simply promote everything equally.

Annual planning is also a good time to look outside the business.
What’s changing in the market?
Are customers asking for something different?
Are competitors moving into new services?
Is there an industry where you’re gaining traction?
Are procurement requirements changing?
Are there economic or local trends that could create opportunity?

You don’t need a giant market research report. But you should understand where opportunity may exist.

Look at What Sales Is Hearing

Some of the best market intelligence is already inside the business.

Ask sales:

• What are prospects asking for?
• Which industries are active?
• Which objections keep coming up?
• Where are opportunities stalling?
• Who are you losing to?
• What customers are asking for that we don’t currently promote?

Marketing planning gets much better when it includes those conversations.

Your next marketing opportunity may already be showing up in sales conversations.

4. Consider Sales Capacity

This is where an annual marketing plan can become surprisingly practical.

Before creating a plan designed to generate significantly more demand, ask:

Can sales handle it?

If marketing produces more leads, who follows up?
If a campaign targets a new industry, does the sales team understand that industry?
If new content generates inquiries, does anyone have the capacity to quote them?
If ten new opportunities arrive next week, is there a process for managing them?

Marketing and sales cannot be planned separately.

Growth Can Create Operational Pressure Too

The same applies beyond sales.

Can operations absorb the work?
Can service levels be maintained?
Can onboarding keep up?
Is hiring required before demand increases?

The purpose of marketing isn’t simply to create activity.

It is to help create business the organization can actually serve.

There is little value in generating demand faster than the business can handle it.

This is one of the simplest annual planning exercises. And one of the most useful.

Before deciding what content or campaigns to create, map the year.

Include:

• trade shows
• conferences
• association events
• seasonal demand
• renewal periods
• industry publications
• sponsorship deadlines
• customer budget cycles
• product or service launches
• major internal milestones
• slower operational periods
• peak sales periods

Then work backwards.

Planning Backwards Makes Marketing Better

If you have a major trade show in March, the marketing shouldn’t begin the week before.

You may need:

• booth materials
• pre-event promotion
• email communication
• social content
• sales outreach
• lead capture
• follow-up materials
• post-event content

The same applies to seasonal campaigns.

If customers begin budgeting for a service in September, starting the campaign in October may already be too late.

Good timing often matters more than doing more marketing.

Businesses often build annual campaigns around a website they haven’t reviewed in years.

Before sending more traffic there in 2027, look at what customers will actually find.

Ask:

• Are all services current?
• Does the site reflect the company today?
• Are there outdated staff members or locations?
• Are calls to action clear?
• Does it work properly on mobile?
• Are case studies current?
• Are there enough trust signals?
• Are forms working?
• Can analytics track what matters?

If website improvements are required, fall planning gives you time to complete them before January.

Don’t Wait for a Full Redesign

Not every website needs to be rebuilt.

Sometimes the priority is:

• updating service pages
• improving messaging
• adding project examples
• adding customer proof
• simplifying navigation
• strengthening calls to action

Do what the business actually needs.

Fixing the website in February after launching the January campaign is the wrong order.

Content becomes much easier when you know what the business is trying to accomplish.

Instead of asking:

“What should we post next week?”

you can ask:

“What does our target customer need to understand before choosing us?”

That leads to better topics.

For example:

• common customer questions
• mistakes buyers should avoid
• how your process works
• what buyers should expect
• project examples
• customer stories
• industry changes
• service comparisons
• behind-the-scenes expertise

Content Should Support Sales Too

Good content should not live only on social media.

A useful article can help a salesperson answer a prospect’s question.
A video can be included in a follow-up email.
A case study can strengthen a proposal.
A customer testimonial can support a presentation.

Annual planning allows you to create content intentionally rather than one post at a time.

Content works harder when sales can use it too.

Annual planning is also the right time to review paid media.

That can include:

• Google Ads
• social advertising
• industry publications
• radio
• sponsorships
• print
• directories
• trade publications
• event advertising

Don’t automatically renew everything. But don’t automatically cut everything either. Ask what role each channel plays.

Some Media Generates Leads
Search advertising may capture people actively looking for a service.

Some Media Builds Awareness
An industry publication may keep your company visible among a very specific audience.

Some Media Supports Relationships
A sponsorship may create access to people you actually want to know.

Those are different purposes. They should be measured differently.

The question isn’t simply, “Did this generate a lead?” It’s, “What job is this investment supposed to do?”

Campaign planning gets much better when nobody is rushing.

If you know you want to run a spring campaign, start developing the idea before spring.

That gives you time to:

• determine the offer
• build the landing page
• create the content
• prepare the ads
• train sales
• set up tracking
• review the messaging
• schedule follow-up

The alternative is familiar:

Someone realizes the season starts next week.
A graphic gets rushed together.
An ad launches.
The website isn’t ready.
Sales doesn’t know about it.
Nobody knows where the leads are going.

Let’s not do that.

Planning ahead isn’t about making marketing slower. It makes execution faster.

Without a marketing budget, decisions tend to happen one at a time.

A sponsorship comes up.
Then an event.
Then someone wants video.
Then paid search.
Then the website needs work.
Each request may be reasonable.

Together, they can create a very unreasonable year.

A clear budget lets you make choices intentionally.

Your Budget Doesn’t Need to Be Divided Perfectly in October

You don’t need to know every dollar.

But you should understand the broad allocations.

For example:

• foundational improvements
• ongoing content
• paid media
• events and sponsorships
• sales support
• campaign development
• photography or video
• contingency

Leave some flexibility.

Opportunities will come up.

The purpose is not to lock the plan in concrete. It’s to stop treating every marketing decision as a surprise.

A budget creates permission to say yes to the right opportunities—and no to the wrong ones.

A marketing plan without ownership becomes a wish list.

Who is responsible for:

• approving content?
• providing project information?
• supplying photos?
• responding to leads?
• coordinating with sales?
• updating the website?
• reviewing results?
• approving advertising?
• managing events?
• following up after campaigns?

This matters even when an outside marketing partner is involved. They still need access to people inside the business.

Be Realistic About Internal Time

If the plan requires your operations manager to send three project stories every week and the operations manager barely has time to eat lunch, the plan has a problem.

Build around reality. Not good intentions.

The best marketing plan is one the business can actually execute.

You don’t need to track everything.

You do need to know whether the plan is moving the business in the right direction.

Possible measures include:

• qualified leads
• sales opportunities
• proposal volume
• close rate
• revenue by service line
• customer acquisition
• website conversions
• organic search growth
• campaign performance
• customer retention
• referrals
• engagement from target audiences

The right metrics depend on the objective.

Review Progress During the Year

An annual plan should not be opened in January and reviewed again next December.

Build in regular reviews.
Monthly for active campaigns.
Quarterly for overall strategy.

Ask:
What’s working?
What isn’t?
What’s changed?
Where is the business getting traction?
Where should we adjust?

A plan gives you direction. Measurement tells you when the direction needs to change.

This is especially important for established B2B companies.

Commercial buyers often plan well ahead.
Property managers know when contracts renew.
Operations teams know when capital projects are coming.
Companies start budgeting before the calendar year ends.
Committees may review suppliers months before a purchase is made.

That means your marketing may need to be working long before someone is ready to contact you.

Don’t Only Plan Around the Sale

Plan around the period before the sale.

When does the customer start researching?
When do budgets get built?
When do tenders come out?
When do renewal conversations happen?
When do industry events occur?
When does your salesperson need to begin building the relationship?

Those answers should shape your annual marketing calendar.

If the customer starts thinking in October, advertising to them in January may be three months late.

For many Manitoba businesses, September and October are natural planning months.

Summer schedules settle down.
Industry events start picking up.
Budget conversations begin.
Organizations start preparing for the following year.

This makes fall a particularly useful time for B2B marketing planning.

And in Winnipeg, relationships need to be part of that plan.

Local Marketing Is More Than Ads

Your 2027 plan may include:

• Chamber events
• BOMA
• PPMA
• BNI
• industry associations
• local sponsorships
• customer events
• community involvement
• direct sales activity
• local publications

Those activities may not fit neatly into a digital marketing dashboard.

That doesn’t make them unimportant.

In Manitoba, the person who sees your LinkedIn post may be the same person you meet at an event three weeks later and the same person who asks a colleague about your company six months after that.

Marketing and relationships reinforce each other.

In a smaller business market, consistency matters because people actually remember who keeps showing up.

One of the easiest annual marketing plans is:

“Do what we did last year, plus 5%.”

Sometimes that’s appropriate.

But before copying the plan, ask whether the business is the same.

Has your target market changed?
Has your sales team changed?
Have new competitors entered?
Has customer behaviour shifted?
Are different services becoming more important?
Is the website still doing its job?
Did last year’s campaigns actually perform?

Annual planning should include some healthy questioning.

Last year’s plan earned the right to be reviewed—not automatically renewed.

You don’t need the entire 2027 marketing plan completed this afternoon.

Start with these five steps.

1. Agree on the Business Priorities
Identify the two or three most important growth objectives for 2027.

2. Review What Worked This Year
Look at leads, sales, campaigns, content, events, referrals and customer feedback.
Keep what worked.
Question what didn’t.

3. Map the Customer’s Buying Calendar
Identify when customers research, budget, review suppliers and make decisions.

4. Build the Major Marketing Calendar
Add campaigns, events, launches, content priorities and important deadlines.

5. Establish Budget and Ownership
Decide what the business is prepared to invest and who is responsible for getting the work done.

January Should Feel Like a Starting Gun, Not a Planning Meeting

There is nothing wrong with adjusting your marketing plan in January.

You should. Things change. Opportunities appear. Priorities shift.

But January shouldn’t begin with everyone staring at a blank page. By then, you should already know:
what the business is trying to accomplish,
who you’re trying to reach,
what needs to be created,
where the budget is going,
who owns what,
and how you’ll know whether it’s working.

Then January becomes about execution. Which is a much better way to start the year.

At Cheeky Chimp Marketing, our planning conversations start with the business first and the marketing second.

If you’re starting to think about 2027 and want another set of eyes on what you have, what you’re missing and what probably doesn’t need another dollar, a Free Marketing Check-Up is a good place to begin.

No 47-page plan required. Just a useful conversation before January gets here.

When should a business start planning its annual marketing plan?
Most established businesses should begin annual marketing planning in September or October. This allows marketing priorities to be considered alongside revenue targets, budgets, staffing and operational plans before the new year begins.

What should be included in an annual marketing plan?
An annual marketing plan should include business objectives, target audiences, revenue priorities, major campaigns, content, website requirements, media, events, budget, responsibilities and measurement.

How far in advance should B2B marketing campaigns be planned?
Major B2B campaigns should often be planned several months in advance, particularly when they require website changes, video, sales materials, advertising or event coordination. Planning early also helps align marketing with longer commercial buying cycles.

How do you create a marketing budget for the year?

Start with the business objectives and determine which marketing activities are required to support them. Review existing spending, expected campaigns, media, website needs, content, events and sales support. Leave some contingency for opportunities that arise during the year.

Should a marketing plan change during the year?

Yes. An annual marketing plan provides direction, but it should be reviewed regularly. Businesses should adjust based on sales results, market changes, customer behaviour and campaign performance rather than following the original plan blindly.

Why should marketing and sales plan together?

Marketing creates awareness and opportunities, while sales turns those opportunities into customers. Planning together helps ensure campaigns target the right prospects, sales understands what marketing is promoting and customer feedback is used to improve future marketing.