Ah, January. The holiday decorations are boxed up, your email inbox is (kind of) under control, and it feels like the perfect time to hit reset. For marketers, it’s more than just a fresh calendar year—it’s an opportunity to take a deep breath, assess high-level priorities, and gear up for a year full of success.
If you like checking off a list as much as I do, this is one you might appreciate: a month’s worth of marketing-specific to-dos!
The first thing on the list is to make time for reflection. Before you dive all the way into 2025, take a moment to reflect on what worked last year—and what didn’t. Celebrate your victories (big and small) and turn your missteps into actionable insights. If you want to get formal with it, schedule a retrospective with your team. Review campaign launches and metrics, discuss standout successes and failures, and identify learnings you want to put to good use this year.
Once you’ve reflected, set some new goals. Vague aspirations like “grow our audience” are fine for vision boards, but they won’t drive action. Instead, set SMART goals—ones that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. That will make progress easy to measure and your path forward simpler to map out.
As you’re setting goals, make sure you take a little time to revisit your buyer personas. Are they still accurate? Have your customers’ needs evolved? Has your product? If you need to, conduct surveys or run A/B tests to make sure your messaging still aligns with your would-be customers’ most pressing desires and challenges.
Another key task for January? Tidying up your tech stack. Be honest. When’s the last time you decluttered your marketing tools? If you’re juggling multiple platforms that barely talk to each other, it’s time to streamline. Audit your subscriptions, eliminate redundancies, and invest in tools that integrate seamlessly. Are you thinking about investing in something new? Great! The first part of the year is often a time to take advantage of post-holiday sales and introductory offers.
This is also a good time to set yourself up for planning. Don’t worry, nothing too wild here. You’re not mapping out your whole year. Just make space for future intentionality. Create a high-level quarterly roadmap with room for experimentation and adjustments. Put some check-ins on the calendar now to keep yourself accountable once things get busy again.
While you’re resetting your strategies, put a little love into your team. January’s slower pace makes it the perfect time for team building and resetting your culture. Host a casual get together to kick off the new year. Share goals, brainstorm ideas, and start the year on a collaborative note. If there are any new habits you want to jumpstart in the office, this is a good time for that too.
Finally, make time to get inspired. Figure out what energizes you professionally. Then, set aside deliberate time for those pursuits. Get in a habit of pairing a commute with a podcast, maybe. Or sign yourself up for half an hour of industry reading. Another idea? Look outside your own professional niche. Sometimes the best ideas come from worlds that aren’t yours. Pick a non-industry book, podcast, or webinar to consume this quarter. You might be surprised at the fresh perspective it brings.
January is your blank slate, your chance to reset, recharge, and rev up for an amazing year. Take the time to lay a strong foundation now and you’ll thank yourself when the hustle of Q2 rolls around.
Is a new marketing strategy in the works for 2025? Maybe we can help. Request a free marketing assessment and we’ll help you understand your beginning-of-year baseline as well as identify key areas of opportunity ahead.
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