The year is 83% gone. Better said, there is 17% of 2026 still remaining. Most marketers are planning for 2027 during these two months, and rightfully so. But that doesn’t mean we have already moved on from 2026. Here’s what EVERY marketer should work on in November and December:
Tweak your website copy: Your brand has evolved in the last year. You’ve accomplished many things. Maybe introduced a new service, won some awards, made some hires. Maybe a lot more. Your website isn’t perfect and it never will be. But it can be improved. Your marketing has provided you with feedback this year — where people spend time, where they come from and where they drop off. It’s telling you a story about optimizations that you can make to improve your marketing. And it’s pretty easy work that will improve your 2027 results.
Tweak your old content for AI Search: You’ve seen your SEO and paid search efforts decline in click volume this year. Obviously, that’s because of the AI option. Start by summarizing the content. Consider Key Takeaways or similar. Link pages that have related content. Make the point very clearly and concisely. The content may still be very useful to your audience, but how you state it is important to AI.
Produce one more piece of long-form content: AI loves authoritative content. You’re a subject matter expert on your industry, so let’s hear (read) what you've got. You have statistics, case studies and results — otherwise known as facts. Outline it, flesh it out and produce it (using keyword research). Chances are, your AI score is low. This is important and very doable. Start today.
Redefine your brand voice: You should have a consistent style in how you communicate your brand. Your brand has evolved. Your industry has evolved. Your audience has evolved. Society has evolved. Make sure that your brand voice still reflects your personality. Create an official document and train all personnel who speak, write and create on behalf of your brand.
Clean up your database: Yeah, some marketing tasks suck. But people who have opted in to your lists are low-hanging fruit. Only you know how you have them categorized, organized and prioritized. Chances are, you need to address your database in some manner and you’re putting it off. Today, there are a lot of tools that can help do it pretty easily. Start with your preferred AI tool. And while you’re at it, A/B test headlines or content structure of your next mass email. I bet you’ll be surprised by the feedback.
Revise your boilerplate: Your brand has evolved to keep up with your industry trends. So have customers and prospects. So has the media that covers your industry. But your boilerplate on your news releases is stuck in 2021. Update it.
Revise your KPIs: If you’re consistently tracking your marketing KPIs, you realize that some of them don’t really tell much of a story. And, you wish you were tracking something that you’re not. Revise what you’re going to track heading into next year so that your planning supports the most important items.
Don’t leave 17% on the table. Momentum into the new year…
