New Year, New Marketing Strategy: What to Focus on in 2026

Happy New Year! If you're listening to this in early January 2026, you're probably feeling that familiar mix of excitement and overwhelm that comes with a fresh year. You've got big goals, you know marketing needs to be part of achieving them, and you're wondering what you should actually focus on this year.

The problem? That same New Year energy that makes you feel like you can conquer the world also tempts you to commit to way too much. And by February, you'll be exhausted and ready to quit.

In this episode, I'm breaking down what to prioritise in your 2026 marketing strategy—not a laundry list of everything you could possibly do, but the strategic focuses that will actually move your business forward this year. Because here's the truth: the businesses that succeed in 2026 won't be the ones trying to do everything. They'll be the ones who choose the right few things and do them consistently well.

Stop spreading yourself thin. This episode helps you channel your New Year energy into strategic focus that will carry you through the entire year.

Links mentioned:

Stop Doing List

Marketing Momentum Membership

Transcript

Welcome to the new School of Marketing podcast. I'm Bianca McKenzie and this is the place where we break down marketing strategies that actually work without the overwhelm.

Before we dive in, I want to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land I live and work on, the Palawa people of Lutruita. I pay my respects to elders past and present and I acknowledge the deep connection they have to this land, culture and community.

Now let's dive in and make marketing work for you.

Well,

firstly, I want to say happy New Year.

I am recording this podcast on the 5th of January,

and I don't know, I feel like I'm still in that in between space.

Still haven't really quite found my bearings. The kids are home.

Well, one of them is back at daycare,

the other one's still home. And it's all a little bit challenging, really. I'm not really enjoying this out of routine kind of experience, but we just roll with it. Right now.

If you're listening to this in early January 2026,

you're probably feeling, you know, that mix of excitement and a little bit of overwhelm as we start a new year. At least that's how I'm feeling.

Big goals.

And you know that marketing needs to be part of achieving your big goals.

You might kind of have that, ooh, feeling your tummy.

And I don't know about you, but when I sit down with all my planning things and my calendars and the schedules and all of those things,

you might be wondering, what do I need to focus on this year?

Like, we often have this big picture in mind,

but the baby steps to get there might be a little bit fuzzy.

So I want to talk about what to prioritize in your 2026 marketing strategy.

I'm not going to give you like a laundry list of everything that you could possibly do,

but really the strategic focuses that are going to help you move your business forward this year.

Because here's the truth.

The businesses that are going to succeed in 2026,

they're not the ones that are going to be doing everything.

They'll be the ones who choose the right few things and do them consistently. Well,

let's Just start by acknowledging something.

There's real power.

A new year. Even if it's literally just a date on the calendar,

January brings fresh energy,

renewed motivation,

and really a genuine willingness to make changes. It's funny, isn't it? Like, really,

it's not a big difference between the 30th or 31st December to the 1st of January, but it feels like it is.

People are more open to trying new approaches right now than they actually will be in March or in July.

So if you've been meaning to get serious about your marketing, there's no better time than now. Not because January is magical,

but because you're already in the mindset of fresh starts and new commitments.

But there's also a trap.

That same fresh start energy can lead you to.

To commit to way too much.

I know you're motivated right now,

so you probably think that you can post daily on three platforms, send weekly emails, launch a podcast, start a YouTube channel, run, you know, monthly webinars.

By February,

you'll be exhausted and ready to quit.

So let's just step back.

My goal today is to help you channel that new year energy into strategic focus,

not, you know, scattered over commitment.

Before we dive into what to focus on in 2026,

let's quickly acknowledge what we learned in 2025.

Because it informs your 2026 strategy, or at least it should inform your 2026 strategy.

Lesson number one is algorithm dependency is risky.

Businesses that relied entirely on one platform's algorithm had rough moments in 2025. Whether it was like meta changes, Google updates, LinkedIn adjustments,

platforms are unpredictable.

So what does this mean for 2026?

It means that diversification matters.

You need owned assets,

things like an email list,

website,

and not just rented audiences like social media followers.

Lesson number two,

authenticity beats production value.

Polished, perfect content didn't necessarily perform better than authentic, helpful content.

In fact,

overly produced content sometimes feels less trustworthy.

So what does that mean for 2026?

Focus on being genuinely helpful.

Over looking perfect.

Your personality and your expertise matter more than your production budget.

Lesson number three,

community and connection drive sales.

The businesses that built real relationships and communities converted way better than those that are just broadcasting content.

So what does it mean for 2026?

Engagement and conversation matter as much as content creation.

Don't just post and ghost.

You need to engage and have conversations.

Lesson number four,

email still delivers the best roi.

No surprise, right?

So despite everyone talking about, you know, new platforms and trends and blah, blah, blah,

email marketing continued to deliver the highest return on investment.

And this has been the case since,

like forever,

pretty much.

So what does it mean for 2026?

If you're not building and nurturing an email list, you're leaving money on the table,

literally.

Plus, it is also quite risky and dangerous.

Lesson number five, sustainability beats hustle.

Businesses that burnt out trying to keep up with constant content demands, they struggled,

but people that had sustainable systems, they thrived.

So what does that mean for 2026?

Build marketing that you can maintain long term,

not just what you can do when you're motivated.

It needs to be sustainable, it needs to be systemized, it needs to be structured.

So the lessons from 2025 should inform your 2026 strategy.

So now let's get specific on what to focus on.

Instead of giving you a massive list of tactics,

I'm going to give you three core focuses.

If you get these three things right,

everything else becomes easier.

So focus number one is building your owned audience.

This is an absolute non negotiable in 2026. If you have not done this, and obviously I have talked about this like before, if you've been tuning into podcasts, I talked about this a lot.

So you need to own your audience,

not just rent space on someone else's platform.

So what does that mean?

Your email list is your primary asset.

If you don't have one, start one this month.

If you do have one,

make growing and nurturing your list your top priority.

So your goal is to grow your email list by at least 500 to 1,000 subscribers in 2026.

At least, I'm saying,

and that might sound modest,

but a thousand engaged subscribers are worth More than 10,000 passive social media followers.

So how do you do this?

You need to create one genuinely valuable lead magnet. Like not a generic checklist, but something that solves a real problem.

You need to mention your lead magnet in your content consistently.

So at least weekly.

Set up a simple welcome sequence that delivers value and introduces your offers.

And then you need to send regular emails,

I would say weekly at a minimum,

so that your list doesn't forget that you exist.

And you might feel really uncomfortable about this,

but you are running a business,

not a fan club.

When you have 1,000 people on your email list who've opted in to hear from you,

you have a direct line to your potential customers that no algorithm can touch.

So if you launch a course, run a promotion, or release a new offer,

you can reach these people immediately.

And yes, some people will unsubscribe. And that is okay.

If you need to put that on a T shirt that is okay too.

It's going to happen.

Focus number two is mastering one platform. And notice that I said one platform not being everywhere in 2026,

depth beats breadth.

It's better to be excellent on one platform than mediocre on five.

So choose your primary platform based on where your ideal customers actually spend time, not where you wish they spent time. You need to actually dive in and figure out who your ideal customers are and where they do spend time.

It's really interesting because I know a lot of clients love Instagram and then they find out that their clients are actually more on Facebook. So figure that out.

You also choose a primary platform based on what format suits your natural communication style. Do you like writing,

video,

audio?

And also what you can realistically maintain if video drains. You don't choose YouTube because that's like full on production kind of thing.

And another thing that's important is to choose where you've seen traction already.

So double down on what's working because most of you will have already tried something.

Now double down on one like one platform, one primary platform.

Here's what mastering a platform actually means.

It means understanding how your audience uses that platform.

It means posting consistently,

might not be daily, but regularly, on a schedule that you can maintain.

It means engaging meaningfully with your audience, like comments, DMs, conversations.

It means testing different content types and optimizing based on what works.

And it means building genuine relationships, not just broadcasting.

It's a two way stream.

So your goal for 2026 is to become known on your chosen platform.

When people in your niche think of your topic, they think of you.

And here's why it matters.

Specialists beat generalists.

The business that's excellent on LinkedIn will outperform the one that's mediocre on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter combined.

But if you are the expert and you spend all of your time on that platform,

you will be known there.

All right, focus number three is creating systems that scale.

The difference between businesses that can grow consistently and those that struggle isn't effort.

IT's systems in 2026 focus on building marketing systems that work without you having to reinvent everything constantly.

So here's some systems that I want you to focus on this year.

First one is content creation system.

So it's how you plan, create and schedule content.

And this includes content buckets, templates,

batching processes, scheduling tools.

You may even be setting this up so that someone can take over your content scheduling and you know part of this.

Another system to build is your email marketing system which includes your welcome sequence,

a regular newsletter structure,

promotional email templates and a sending schedule.

Don't be reinventing the wheel all the time. You need to have a template. All of my emails look the same because I have a template and I just copy that and then put new text in it.

Another system is a lead generation system and this is how you consistently attract new potential customers.

This includes your lead magnet, your landing page, your social media strategy, and any other traffic sources.

So you know you need to have all the infrastructure and then how are you going to drive traffic to it? Another system is your sales conversation system and it's how you move people from being interested to buying.

And this includes your sales process,

how you handle inquiries, your follow up routine.

As you can see, all of these systems,

they will help you, but they also help you down the track when you're ready to hire someone.

Another system is your tracking and measurement system.

How do you know what's working? How are you going to track that?

So you can set up like simple spreadsheets to track leads, to track sources, to track conversions,

revenue, all of that.

So Your goal for 2026 is, is to have documented,

repeatable processes for each of these five systems by the end of quarter one.

So like we're January now,

I'm giving you 90 days to have all of this.

So your content creation system, your email marketing system, your lead generation system, and your,

your sales conversation system and your tracking and measurement system systems are going to free you from constant decision making and starting from scratch,

when you have systems, you can execute even on low energy.

So if you have one of those days where you're like, oh, I'm not feeling it, I don't want to do anything. If you have systems,

the whole thing just makes it easier and you can delegate tasks when you're ready.

So when you are ready to hire a VA or someone to help you out and you have a system,

you, you can easily show them. This is exactly the exact process of how to do this. It just makes it a lot easier.

And then you can improve systematically instead of randomly.

If you just literally every week kind of start from scratch,

it just gets chaotic.

All right, I also want to talk about what not to focus on in 2026, because it's just as important as what to focus on.

I need you to know what to ignore.

So here's what you have permission to skip in 2026.

Skip being on every platform. You don't need to be on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter,

Pinterest threads,

all of them.

Pick one or two max.

One or two max. That's it.

Also skip chasing every trend.

There'll be new features, new platforms, new, you know, must do tactics. Every month that I'm sitting here air quoting as in must do most of them don't matter. For your business,

you need to stay focused on your strategy.

And this is where I think a lot of people,

they start the year fresh,

super excited and they just get sidetracked down a rabbit hole with all these other things.

So set your strategy and obviously you need to review it because if things aren't working, you need to figure out why and what you can do about it.

But just changing for the sake of, you know, changing is not,

it's not going to help you grow your business.

If you focus on something and you do it long enough,

that's when you start reaping the results. So skip chasing every trend. Also skip creating content just to fit the algorithm.

Don't post daily just because someone said you should.

Post as often as you can. Create genuinely valuable content,

whether that is daily,

twice a week, three times a week or weekly.

Ideally a little bit more.

But really you don't want to just feed the algorithm.

I want you to skip complicated funnels and automations.

Unless you're already successful with simple marketing, you don't need a 17 step funnel with Tripwise and upsells and all, all the things.

Keep it simple, especially at the start.

Also skip trying to look like big brands.

You are not Nike.

You don't need their budget, their team or their tactics.

Small business marketing should look like small business marketing. It needs to be authentic and it needs to be personal.

And in fact it's actually quite interesting. A lot of the big brands are trying to look like small, small people now.

They have ambassadors and actually like people who represent them because a lot of them are like faceless corporations and they're trying to now put a human face to it.

Also skip perfectionism.

Done is better than perfect.

Stick that right in front of you so you remind yourself of this in 2026.

Done is better than perfect.

Published is better than polished.

Consistent is better than occasional brilliance.

You need to skip the perfectionism.

Do it, publish it, be consistent.

Also skip anyone else's definition of success.

Your marketing needs to serve your business goals and your life.

Your don't adopt someone else's strategy just because it worked for them. It needs to work for you and your energy and your time.

All of it.

Obviously if you are scared to do certain things and you don't do them because you're scared. That's a whole different thing. That's a whole different question.

But otherwise,

you need to define your success.

All right, let's break down what to tackle when,

because trying to do everything in January is how you burn out by March.

So I'm going to look at your marketing priorities by quarter.

So quarter one,

January to March.

So the next 90 days is your foundation.

So this month, I want you to choose your primary platform to create or to update your lead magnet,

to set up or audit your email welcome sequence. And I actually started doing this today, too,

auditing my welcome sequence.

I want you to document your content creation process so that you can then systemize it. That's the things I want you to do this month.

February, I want you to start posting consistently on your primary platform.

I want you to begin growing your email list, actively create your content templates if you don't already have them.

And I want you to set up your tracking system.

How are you going to track all the pieces that you need to track?

And it could be just a simple spreadsheet.

You know, how many followers I do this for my clients. How many followers did we get? How much engagement, how many?

Look at your social stats on your primary platform, your email list. You know, how many subscribers did you get this month, next month, all of that.

Then in March,

you need to review what's working from January and February,

refine your approach based on your data.

So look at what those two months are telling you,

and then double down on what's working and don't fully ditch what's not working, because I feel like it's not quite enough data. But you gotta start somewhere.

I want you to establish your engagement routine. So when are you going to respond to people? Is it like the first 15 minutes of your day? In the last 15 minutes, like, you know, around dinner time,

you figure out what your engagement routine is and make sure that all systems are documented. And you can keep refining your systems. But you have to start somewhere.

So the goal by the end of quarter one is consistent execution of your core marketing activities,

to have some functional systems and to have a growing email list.

And you might be able to do a little bit more than this. But like I said,

I don't want you to burn out by March because you're trying to do all of the things.

And I'm talking to myself right there as well, because I tend to do that.

All right, quarter two, I want you to focus on optimization.

So in April,

analyze your Quarter one, data deeply.

Like this is why we started those tracking sheets.

Look at all of the data and if you have data to go back on from last year, look at that as well.

Now I want you to identify your highest performing content types.

Is it video,

is it written, is it, you know, something else? Look at that.

Double down on what's working and then start batching content more efficiently.

So rather than, you know,

coming up with a new post every day or every few days,

can you batch it?

Can you say, oh, my audience is really responding to this type of content.

How can I create that,

you know, a week in advance and how can I create multiple in advance? I do this with my podcast. I record multiple podcast episodes in advance most of the time.

Not all the time, but most of the time.

Then in May,

test improvements to underperforming areas.

So if there's pieces that are not working as well,

make some improvements, but only change one variable and then, you know, you can test that.

Also explore one new traffic source.

So if you're on socials a lot at the moment,

find a different traffic source.

So it could be networking in a networking events, it could be speaking or being a guest on a podcast, you know, different traffic sources.

I want you to increase your email frequency if you've been inconsistent.

So if you're not consistently sending emails,

turn that up a notch and maybe think about your first product launch or promotion. I know we're in to quarter two right now and obviously this depends on your business.

If you already have some of this in place,

juggle it around,

but just make sure that you're not going to burn out.

And then in June you need to do your mid year marketing audit.

So look at whether your primary platform is still right.

You've been doing it for like six months now.

Is it actually right? Is it doing something like if you've been doing it consistently, and that's the key, you have to be doing it consistently,

otherwise there's nothing to assess.

But look at whether it is still right and then plan any, you know, strategic shifts for the second half of the year and refine your system based on what you've learned.

If your systems, if there's, you know, clunkiness in it or something's missing,

add to it, refine it.

So the goal by the end of quarter two is to have improved conversion rates.

And I'm not just saying sales conversion, like people signing up for your lead magnet and things like that,

to have a clear understanding of what works for your business and to have a sustainable Marketing rhythm,

like should just feel like something that you do all the time and you're just getting into the groove.

Then we get into quarter three. So July to September is when we focus on growth.

So for July,

implement your insights from your midday audit,

those changes and if ready,

add a secondary platform or traffic source.

This is when you can go, oh, okay, I'm now going to do Facebook and Instagram or Instagram and TikTok,

whatever.

Then you need to create or improve your signature offer.

So if you don't already have a signature offer,

start creating that.

If you do have one,

improve on it based on what you learned.

What is your audience telling you?

All of those things.

And maybe you want to explore some partnership opportunities to expand who you talk to and your traffic sources.

All right, then in August, I want you to focus on engagement and a community building.

Really this is the key.

And I know we are in quarter three, but there's so many pieces that we constantly have to juggle in business.

Like we need to focus at a time.

I also want you to test higher value offers if you've been selling low ticket. So if you're only selling low ticket because one, you're afraid of the bigger commitment,

two,

there might be some money mindset issues,

but also lower ticket office are not going to be able to sustain you in the long term. They are often seen and treated as kind of a lead magnet, but a higher value one.

So test some higher value offers.

I want you to improve your sales conversation process and this could be your sales pages,

but also the whole process of getting the lead in talking to them, like potentially webinars, that kind of thing,

and create case studies or collect testimonials with people that you have worked with.

Then in September, I want you to plan your quarter four strategy. Cause you know, we're nearly out of this this quarter and you might want to prepare any holiday or year end offers.

I know September seems early, but really there's a lot of opportunity to sell at the end of the year and evaluate whether you need any other help.

So this is the time where you look at, you know, oh, do I need someone else in my business to help me?

And then ensure that your systems can handle increased volume. Because this is, you know, we're,

we're gross, we're growing, things are getting bigger. So can your systems actually handle the volume?

So the goal by the end of quarter three is to have business growth potential, revenue increase,

a stronger community,

and then obviously you need to get ready for quarter four.

So in quarter three the focus is really on growth in both, you know,

leads,

community,

revenue, all of that quarter four. We're going to be focusing on momentum and planning.

Can you see how fast the year goes? It's crazy, isn't it? So we're in October now.

You need to focus on your quarter four strategy with focus.

I know, focus, focus, focus.

Also maximize your year end sales opportunities.

This is the time where you get Black Friday sales, then you get your Christmas period, your Boxing Day. And I know this doesn't necessarily mean anything for us course creators,

although it depends if you help businesses or things like that or you help people feel better in their lives. It depends on what you do. But there are a lot of end of year sales opportunities.

Document everything that's working to write down what is working. Look at your numbers, look at, you know, ooh, that post got a lot of engagement. Write it down. Because I know a lot of us kind of go, oh yeah, I had this post that did really well and they have to then go and look for it.

So document everything that's working, even with links in it and everything.

And then you need to start thinking about 2027. I know this is crazy. I'm talking about like October.

October, like, like that's like 10 months from now, right? So,

but the year goes so fast.

So then in November, I want you to push for year end revenue goals.

So if you have any revenue goals,

push,

push for those. Capitalize on the holiday buying mindset. People do tend to get into that space of ooh, okay, Yep, I need, I need this and this. Now I want you to engage heavily with your audience because again, Christmas is coming up.

There's this whole period where I don't know, I feel like we actually talk more to each other. So engage with your audience and then maintain consistency. Even though it's a busy season,

it's sometimes really hard because if you're a mum like me, all of the end of year things happen as well. Like, you know, concerts or parties and a few school,

like all these things, it just gets really busy. So focus on consistency.

And then we hit December and I want you to celebrate your wins.

Analyze your full year data. So look at everything from the start. You know, how, how much each month did your list grow? What were you at?

Like from right now till the 31st of December, like did you actually grow by 500 or a thousand or more?

And then it's time to do it all again. Plan your 2027 marketing strategy. So, you know,

we'll, we'll do that next year, but then you can set up systems for a strong January start. So the, the goal, buddy, in the quarter four is basically to finish the year strong,

have clear data on what worked.

Because if I think about 2025 now,

I don't know what I did in January 2025. So, like, I have to look back at my data to see, oh, what did I do? What. What worked? I do this every quarter,

but really look at what worked. And then you have a, like, you know, a foundation for an even better 2027.

It's crazy how fast the year goes. As you can see, we just did that in a few minutes. So.

All right,

so let's get even more specific about what to do in the next three months, because that's what actually matters right now.

So this week,

and you know, like I said, it's early January, first week of January,

this week, we need to focus on your primary platform for 2026.

Audit your current lead magnet, or, you know,

create one if you haven't got one.

Set up a simple tracking spreadsheet,

and then block time in your calendar for weekly content creation.

This is super important.

By the end of this month,

I want you to have a lead magnet created or updated.

So have it ready.

I want you to have a welcome sequence written,

like a minimum of three to four emails, ideally a few more, but you know, and it goes a lot faster now with AI. So you can feed AI a lot of info about your business, about who you help, all of those things, and then get it to write an email welcome sequence for you.

I want you to have a content plan for February so you're ready.

And then I want you to have a first month of consistent posting.

So this month, by the end of this month, I want you to have consistently posted two to three times a week. If you don't, if you're not doing that,

all right,

by the end of February,

I want you to have established a consistent posting rhythm. So I do this once a week. I just schedule all of my content.

You do what works for you.

Sometimes there is like an ad hoc post in between, but I try to keep very consistent posting,

like scheduling things up front.

By the end of February, I also want you to have email list growth by 50 to 100 new subscribers.

And this means you have to talk about your lead magnet a lot. If you're not running ads on meta, on Facebook or Instagram, you need to talk a lot about your lead magnet.

Tell people how you can help them.

See if there are any groups that you can post it in, hey, I've got this thing really helps people. It's free.

Those kind of things,

content templates, I want you to have those.

So if you do stuff in Canva, which I highly recommend,

create content templates so that you can use them. Same with like emails and things like that.

And really figure out your engagement routine.

So you want to do 20 to 30 minutes daily to respond to comments,

things like that, and even like post on other people's comments. Just be helpful.

And then by the end of March,

you want to have 2, 200 to 300 new email subscribers. I know that sounds crazy, but really you need to start focusing on this. So 200 to 300 new email subscribers.

And I want you to have clear data on what content performs best.

So what topics do people kind of really react to, what type of content? Like, is it video, is it post? That kind of thing.

I also want you to have all core systems documented.

So really start document things on your email, tracking all of those things and then be ready to optimize for quarter two based on your quarter one learnings.

And if you only do these things in quarter one,

you'll be ahead of 90% of businesses.

A lot of businesses, especially starting,

they kind of just do things on an ad hoc basis.

They don't really focus on the consistency and the systems and that kind of thing.

Okay, now you can't improve what you don't measure.

So here are the only metrics that you really need to track in 2026, because I'm sure you're like, yeah, cool, you keep talking about tracking, but what do I actually do in this space?

Spreadsheets. So you need to set up some spreadsheets now. You need to track,

and this is essential, you need to track your email list size and growth rate. So how many new subscribers do you get monthly?

So set that up.

Make like a spreadsheet that has, you know, your email subscribers starting and then how many new ones in January and then how many new ones in February? All of that.

I need you to track your email open rates. So are people actually reading your emails? And somewhat somewhere between 25 and 40% is usually what people get to. Unless sometimes you have like, you know, this unicorn email that a lot of people will read,

but look ideally over 30%. But if you're over 25%,

you're doing okay in your emails. Try some different subjects and things like that to, to see what actually gets people to open traffic sources is another thing. Where do new people find you?

So you need to get familiar with your Google Analytics and figure out where new people find. You also lead sources. You need to find out where buyers come from. A lot of times you can figure this out through actually talking to them, get them to do a little survey,

you know,

how did you find out about me?

Conversion rate.

So what percentage of the audience actually buys? So if you send a thousand people to a sales page, how many people actually buy?

Ideally you'll be tracking,

you know, a lot of different stats because you know, you have your audience and all that kind of thing. But see how your systems or what you're using,

how you can find out how many people actually went to the offer versus how many bought.

And then you want to look at your revenue by source.

So which marketing actually generates actual money?

A lot of the time for us, this is email.

This is why it's like the highest return on investment.

But you need to find out because for you it might be, you know, DMs or something like that. So revenue by source.

There's also some nice to know metrics, and those are things like social media engagement rate.

And I'm talking about saves and shares, not just likes.

Likes are not really that important. You know how many people saved and shared your content.

Content performance. So which topics resonate most?

It's harder to track in a spreadsheet, but see if you can also track that email click rates. So what content actually drives action?

Again, it's not a conversion rate in terms of purchases,

it is some sort of conversion rate.

Also website traffic. So if you have a website, which I think you really should,

it'd be good how many people actually went there.

And then there's some vanity metrics that I want you to ignore.

Ignore follow account,

unless it actually correlates with business growth.

Ignore post likes unless they lead to, you know, deeper engagement.

A lot of times they don't. Page views is another one. Unless they lead to list growth or sales.

So some metrics, they're not really important unless the next action gets taken.

Your goal is to track your essential metrics every month and then you review them quarterly to see if there's any like sort of patterns and things like that.

And I want you to make decisions based on trends, not just individual data points.

This is why the more data you have,

the better you can actually look at things.

Now, finally,

we're getting there.

Let's talk about the mindset shifts that you will need to make in 2026 so that your marketing actually works.

Because I know that a lot of us feel Uncomfortable marketing.

So the first shift is from I should to I will stop saying I should probably start an email list or I should post more consistently.

Either commit to doing it or consciously decide not to.

Half hearted shoulds. They're going to waste your energy.

So you either will or you won't.

But yeah, just ditch the should.

Shift number two is from more is better to better is better.

You don't need more content,

more platforms, more tactics.

You need better execution of fewer things.

Quality and consistency beat quantity.

Every time.

I'm going to put in a link to my stop doing list.

It's free.

I'm going to put that in the show notes because yes, you do know. You don't need more more more. You need better.

All right, shift number three from perfection to progress.

Your first email won't be perfect,

your first posts won't be brilliant. And that's fine.

So published and improving beats perfect and never starting.

I know a lot of us have a whole content bank sitting there that we never actually do anything with because we're too scared to post it.

Do it,

publish it. If you're scared, too scared to do it, get someone else to do it. Hire a VA to do it for you.

Shift number four is from hoping to knowing.

Stop hoping that your marketing works and start tracking so that you actually know what works.

Not a you know. Oh, I guess. Or maybe that worked because I got a lot of, you know, likes. No,

start tracking. Make decisions based on data,

not on feelings.

Alright.

Shift number five is from someday to this month.

If something's been on your marketing to do list for six months,

either do it this month or take it off the list because someday never comes. We know that. So do it or just get rid of it.

Shift number six is from copying others to creating yours.

Stop trying to do marketing like the big names in your industry.

They have different resources, different audiences, different business models.

Create marketing that fits your actual business,

your energy levels, your strengths.

Copying does not work because you are different people with different resources and all the things.

Shift number seven is from motivation to systems.

Motivation is unreliable, at least in my case. Motivation is very unreliable.

Systems work whether you feel like it or not.

Plus with systems, someone else can take over.

So build systems now while you're motivated so that they can carry you through the unmotivated periods and even into outsourcing.

Okay, before we wrap up,

I want you to make a commitment. Not to me, but to yourself and to your business.

You can tell me what your commitment is if you want to,

if that helps you and I can check in with you to see you know, how you're doing every quarter.

But yes, I want you to make a commitment.

So here's your commitment and I want you to write this down. Actually I'll put it in the show notes, but I want you to actually write this down too. Because when you write it down,

something happens. So I want you to write down I commit to and some bullet points that we're going to write down. So I commit to choosing one primary platform and showing up there consistently.

I commit to building and nurturing my email list every single month.

I commit to creating simple systems instead of complicated strategies.

I commit to tracking what actually works instead of guessing.

I commit to giving my strategy at least 90 days before changing course.

I commit to being authentic over perfect.

I commit to making marketing decisions based on my business goals,

not others advice.

I commit to asking for help when I need it instead of struggling alone.

This commitment isn't about being perfect.

It's about being strategic and consistent enough that your marketing actually generates results in 2026.

So there you have it. What to focus on in your 2026 marketing strategy.

Not everything you could possibly do,

but the strategic focuses that will actually move your business forward.

Building your own audience,

mastering one platform and creating systems that scale.

Here's your action step for this week.

Choose your three focuses for 2026.

Write them down.

Then identify the one thing you'll do this month to make progress on each focus.

Not 10 things, just one per focus.

So for example,

building your own audience.

Your one focus could be to create your lead magnet this month or to, you know, mastering one platform.

Commit to LinkedIn and post three times a week starting next week or whatever platform you choose.

Systems document your content creation process by the end of January.

Or you could, if you have some spare time now, you could, you know, say in in the next two weeks,

write these down somewhere where you'll see them regularly.

Because these three focuses and these three actions,

they're going to be your marketing strategy for starting 2026 strong.

And if you want help building your Marketing foundation in 2026 with Strategy Systems and support so that you're not figuring it out all alone.

My Marketing Momentum membership opens in just a few weeks.

If you want to get early access,

send me a DM on Instagram or email me.

I'll pop everything in the show notes inside of the Marketing Momentum membership. You'll get frameworks, templates to build your marketing foundation properly. You get monthly group coaching to keep you on track and to answer your questions as you implement,

you get a community of other course creators and business owners that are also building their marketing in 2026 accountability.

And for a limited time and a limited number, you also get the option of weekly one on one calls with me.

So if you're one of the first few to join, you get weekly one on one calls.

It's really specifically designed for business owners who know they need to get serious about marketing, but they don't want to do it alone.

So I'll pop the details in the show notes so you can actually get in touch with me about the Marketing Momentum membership.

And if you found this episode helpful and want more strategic marketing advice in 2026, I have two favors to ask. First, make sure that you're subscribed to the new School of Marketing podcast.

I'm here every week with practical strategic content to help you build marketing that actually works.

Second,

if this episode helped you get clear on your 2026 marketing focus,

would you please leave a review for me?

Tell me what you're committing to this year or what clicked for you. Your review helps other business owners find a show right when they need it most.

At the start of a new year full of possibility.

I read every single review and I want to say thank you. So if you leave a review and send me a screenshot via email or DM on Instagram,

I will send you my Marketing Momentum Playbook for free.

It's not just another template, it's actually the complete strategic framework that I use with my clients to build their entire marketing foundation from scratch.

It's the perfect companion for implementing everything we just talked about and to actually start 2026 with absolute clarity.

Just take a screenshot of your review,

send it to me@hello biancamckenzie.com or DM me on Instagram biancamackenzie and I'll get the Playbook over to you straight away.

Here's to making 2026 the year your marketing finally works for you instead of against you. You've got this.

Thank you so much for tuning in to the new School of Marketing podcast and welcome to 2026. All right, remember, the businesses that succeed this year won't be the ones trying to do everything.

They'll be the ones who choose the right few things and do them consistently. Well.

I'm Bianca McKenzie and I'll catch you next week.

Until then, keep making marketing work for you.