To culminate the “Thrive in 2025” ideas and advice we’ve shared throughout the year, I’m sharing 5 specific actions you can take NOW to set your business up for growth in 2026.
Action #1: Start with strategy.
In today’s tech-driven environment, there seem to be infinite methods, channels, formats, tools, and paths to marketing. How does a company know where to begin? In a word, strategy.
A simple yet solid strategy starts by defining your target audience, goals, key messages, and success metrics.
Carve out time to answer these four questions:
- Who are we trying to reach?
- What problem are we solving for them?
- Which channels are most effective for our audience?
- How will we measure success?
Understanding strategy first helps every marketing decision become purposeful and easier to evaluate. Think of it as your roadmap—without it, even good marketing efforts can go in circles.
Reach out if you’re unclear about your roadmap and could use some help defining your strategy.
Action #2: Clarify your brand identity.
Brand identity is so much more than your logo and company color scheme. It’s your culture, what makes your company unique, and what compels your customers want to do more business with you.
Look with fresh eyes at how your brand is represented to the public – your website, your email communications, your logo, your social media presence. Ask a few employees and colleagues to provide their feedback – and to be fiercely honest with you:
- Does your brand align with who they know your company to be?
- Does it resonate with today’s customers and prospects?
- Does it communicate the same personality and message across all media?
- If not, what’s missing and what is one thing you can focus on to make it better?
In our over-communicated world, and less-than-Nike marketing budgets, we often get one chance to make a good, clear, memorable impression.
What one thing can you do to enable your brand to speak powerfully and positively?
If you’d like to brainstorm ways to get your brand identity on the path to clarity, reach out, and I’ll be happy to be fiercely honest.
Action #3: Prioritize content marketing.
Content builds authority and drives organic growth. For SMBs, it’s the ultimate equalizer—great content can outperform big-budget ads. Approach your content by telling a story that is sincere and relatable and be wary of AI-generated content that comes across as generic filler.
Take these simple steps towards strengthening your content authority:
- Create a list of the content you’re creating and posting on a regular basis.
- Note the frequency that you’re posting each one.
- Determine the gaps in type of content you’re generating or the frequency.
- Create a content calendar for Q1 2026 that includes type of content and frequency.
Examples could include blog posts, social media posts, videos, case studies, or podcasts that solve your customer’s problems. Focus on education, not just sales, and use keyword research to align your content with what your audience is searching for.
Consistency is key—publish regularly, repurpose posts across platforms, and engage in the comments. And, if you don’t have time to do the marketing yourself, reach out to learn how we can take that monkey off your back!
Action #4: Build and cultivate your referral base.
This is a biggie, and one that doesn’t get as much attention as it should. Strong referral partners can become one of your most powerful sales and marketing engines. They are, what I call, your “boots on the ground,” enabling you to be in many places at once! These people need special care and continuous attention.
Take the following actions:
- Write a list of your existing referral partners.
- Note which clients they’ve referred to you in the past.
- Note who you have referred to them.
- Determine one thing you can do with each partner to further-solidify the relationship:
- Have a 1:1 meeting to learn what’s happening in their business.
- Send them a handwritten thank you note for a previous referral.
- Co-host an event.
- Create joint content that benefits your clients and theirs.
- Ask them how you can refer them in the future.
Referral partnerships expand your reach, add credibility, and bring in warm leads—people already pre-qualified by someone they trust. When done right, it’s marketing that multiplies itself.
If you want help building up your own referral network let me know, and I’d be happy to share where we have found and built the best relationships with the most amazing people!
Action #5: Use data to continuously improve.
Marketing isn’t “set it and forget it.” Successful companies measure, learn, and adjust constantly.
What have you learned in 2025 that can help you catapult your results in 2026?
Your assignment is to:
- Review your website visits to notice trends in pageviews and time-on-site.
- Connect the dots between successful email or social campaigns that received a great deal of opens and clicks, and the content that drove those results.
- Set your high-level goals for 2026 and your detailed goals and KPIs for Q1 that can lead you towards achieving them.
Effective marketing outreach focuses on building relationships, credibility, and awareness long before a purchase ever happens. It’s about planting seeds and focusing on consistent, authentic engagement.
If you don’t know what impact your individual tactics are having, give us a call. We employ a unique 90-day sprint approach that is a game changer.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this content. I’d love to hear your feedback on any of these actions and how they helped you catapult your thinking into a growth-oriented mindset for 2026!