Plan next year’s marketing strategy before the chaos hits.

Are you feeling it already…the impending holiday marketing doom?

The final quarter of the year usually brings a hectic combination of holiday campaigns, rushed deliverables, and strategic planning. Instead of getting caught in last-minute scrambling, now is the time to reflect on 2024 and position yourself for a thoughtful start to 2025.

Here are some suggestions, heavily sprinkled with insights from the excellent State of (Dis)Content report that just dropped courtesy of the Content Studio.

Reflect on what worked (and didn’t) this year.

Data alone won’t tell the full story of your 2024 marketing efforts. While it’s essential to review KPIs, it’s equally important to reflect on processes and workflow bottlenecks. According to the State of (Dis)Content report, many teams find themselves trapped in reactive execution modes, sacrificing strategy for speed. That tracks with my own experience, too — at companies of every size.

• Now’s the time to identify which campaigns aligned well with business goals and where workflows caused delays. Document these learnings to inform a more agile content strategy in 2024.

Consider your founder brand.

Positioning company leaders as trusted voices is more effective than corporate messaging. Founder brands, a term coined by Exit Five founder Dave Gerhardt, emphasize that people engage with leaders, not logos. A founder or executive with a visible personal brand boosts trust, drives engagement, and adds authenticity to the company’s story.

• Who’s on your executive bench? Develop a content roadmap for a key executive, focusing on LinkedIn posts, podcasts, and/or guest blogs that align with company goals. Personal reflections and industry insights differentiate your thought leadership from generic content.

Use AI — thoughtfully.

AI is undeniably changing marketing workflows and content, for better or worse. Over-reliance on AI to generate marketing ideas and content risks blurring your brand messaging into a generic slurry that bores your audience, instead of a differentiated powerhouse that attracts them.

As Seek Argus founder Tim Donovan points out in his recent rundown of AI tools for agencies, the value of AI lies in enabling efficiency, not replacing creativity. Use AI tools for repetitive tasks and initial research, but keep the final creative decisions and storytelling in the hands of humans. And for god’s sake don’t forget to fact check your AI generated outputs.

• Automate where it makes sense, but reserve strategic and creative efforts—like executive ghostwriting or storytelling—for your team’s expertise. Balance speed with meaningful content that stands out from AI-generated noise.

Align early to avoid bottlenecks.

Many teams feel stretched thin as the year winds down, juggling brand campaigns, lead generation, and sales alignment. Without clear priorities, content efforts can feel fragmented.

You can get ahead of this. Schedule planning meetings across marketing, product, and sales teams before the year-end to set priorities and streamline approval workflows. According to the State of (Dis)Content report, even organizations with “mostly bought-in” leadership teams experience operational friction when it comes to bringing their initiatives to fruition. Teams with full leadership support for content appear to benefit from smoother processes and stronger strategic alignment.

• Map out Q1 campaigns now, ensuring content aligns with broader product launches and business objectives. Do everything you can to educate internally and secure leadership support for your campaign initiatives. Early alignment reduces last-minute pivots and keeps your calendar running smoothly while making it much easier for you to secure needed resources later on.

Start the year with strategy and precision.

The companies that succeed next year will be those that plan early, align cross-functionally, and balance AI-supported efficiency with human creativity. Don’t wait for January to get organized—use this time to wrap up this year thoughtfully and launch next year with purpose.

Need help crafting a smarter strategy or building thought leadership? Let’s connect and explore how we can elevate your brand in the year ahead.

Have you already started your 2025 planning? Do these thoughts resonate with you?