As you close out another business year, your performance data holds the key to a smarter 2026. By analyzing what worked, what missed the mark, and how your audience’s behavior shifted, you can build a strategy grounded in proven insights.
This review becomes exponentially more powerful when paired with McClatchy’s market expertise, audience intelligence, and full-funnel advertising solutions. Together, we can transform your year-end data into a clear, actionable plan for growth.
Use 2025 Results to Create a Strategy for 2026
Start with a structured review of your 2025 performance. Your goal is to pinpoint high-ROI activities to scale, identify underperforming tactics to replace, and discover new opportunities in your market.
To do this, you'll need a structured process. Begin by organizing your data across key channels, audience segments, and creative campaigns. This approach helps you see exactly where your budget made the biggest impact. McClatchy’s consultative analysis and audience data can provide context, helping you shape a focused and measurable 2026 plan that is directly tied to your goals.
What Year-End Metrics Matter Most When Developing Next Year's Marketing Strategy?
To develop an effective strategy for 2026, it’s important to focus on performance indicators that provide clear and actionable insights into your growth over the last year. By analyzing these metrics, you can pinpoint what’s working, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions for the year ahead. Here are the key areas to evaluate:
Audience Growth and Engagement
Track how your audience is growing and how actively they’re interacting with your brand. This includes metrics such as follower growth on social media, engagement rates (likes, shares, and comments), and email open rates. These trends reveal how well your messaging resonates, and they can help refine your strategy to maintain strong connections with your audience.
Channel Effectiveness
Evaluate the performance of your campaigns across different channels, including search, social media, display ads, video content, and print. For example, you might discover that video ads drive higher engagement or that specific audience segments respond better to social media than search. These insights help you allocate resources to the most effective channels and maximize ROI.
Campaign ROI and Cost Efficiency
Examine the return on ad spend (ROAS) for your campaigns by comparing the revenue generated versus the cost. By identifying which campaigns delivered the best results, you can invest in high-impact efforts while avoiding inefficient spending on underperforming strategies.
Seasonal Patterns
Recognize when demand and engagement peak during the year, such as during holidays or specific times tied to your product or service. These patterns enable you to plan future campaigns more effectively and capitalize on periods of higher engagement.
Learning from 2025 Wins
Your most successful campaigns from 2025 serve as a roadmap for planning your 2026 budget. Analyze what worked well—whether it’s specific platforms, audience segments, or campaign styles—and focus your efforts on proven strategies. Look for patterns like above-average CTR, high conversions, quality lead placements, or engagement-driving formats like video.
When you identify your best-performing tactics, McClatchy can help you scale them across an omnichannel network of print, digital, and social platforms with precision targeting.
Identifying Gaps and Missed Opportunities From 2025
A thorough review of your 2025 performance should also highlight areas where you can improve. Look specifically for:
- Underserved Audiences: Were there segments you failed to reach?
- Creative Fatigue or Weak Messaging: Did engagement decline on long-running campaigns?
- Underfunded but High-Potential Channels: Did a channel show promise without significant investment?
- Slow Response to Shifting Trends: Did competitors capitalize on market changes faster than you did?
Identifying these gaps is the first step. The next step is understanding the "why" behind them. McClatchy’s advertising experts provide guidance grounded in real-time consumer signals and local market behavior.
How Can Audience Behavior Influence 2026 Creative?
Your customers’ priorities are rarely static—they are always evolving in response to the world around them. To keep your messaging relevant, your creative strategy needs to be flexible enough to adapt alongside them. Instead of relying on past assumptions, you need to actively tune into these shifts. Think about things like:
- Shifts in Consumer Priorities: How have motivations changed in key verticals like finance, wellness, or travel?
- Changes in Search Intent: What new questions are your customers asking?
- Local Market Trends: What unique behaviors are emerging in your community?
McClatchy’s creative teams utilize this audience intelligence to refine their messaging, pacing, and frequency of content. These extra details help ensure your 2026 campaigns align with updated motivations and deliver better results.
How to Build Your 2026 Plan with Confidence
Using your 2025 data to inform your 2026 strategy is the most effective way to enter the new year with momentum. Let your performance analytics guide decisions on what to keep, what to evolve, and where to invest for maximum impact.
McClatchy provides the audience insights, market context, and omnichannel expertise needed to build a high-confidence plan. Connect with a McClatchy advertising expert today to turn your year-end review into a ready-to-execute 2026 strategy.
