Step by Step: Approaching 2025 Marketing Planning

Blue skies have turned to grey, the evenings are getting darker and there’s a definite chill in the air. It can only mean one thing, right? Yes, it’s time to start our annual planning and budgeting cycle. Those few days we set aside every year to review objectives, set priorities and build a stellar plan and forecast that will sail through the internal reviews, ready to hit the ground running in January.

While it rarely works just like that, we always hope for the best! So, as we set up our Miro boards, and forecasting templates and book our off-site planning days, here are a few observations on what I see relevant for 2025 marketing planning.

Perhaps it doesn’t need saying, but the rapid growth we once took for granted in the tech sector has given way to a more complex, competitive environment. Growth is hovering at 2.5-3% and our target buyers are bombarded and fatigued by weak marketing and sales approaches and a sea of sameness.

As marketers we see our old B2B lead generation playbook lying broken, and we haven’t yet embedded the new one. It feels like changing the wheel on a car that’s doing 60MPH. It’s not for the faint-hearted.

If you’re still with me after that gloomy set-up then fear not. There are strategies and tactics which are successfully engaging target audiences, efficiencies to be gained and opportunities to wow your C-suite with brilliance.

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Be the customer champion, no really!

We marketers pride ourselves on being the voice of the customer, but are we really? ?We gather insights, develop messaging, and execute tactics in channels where we know our customers are, but how well do we know the individuals who make the decisions to buy? How invested are we in their personal and professional success?

The best marketers see themselves as essential partners in their customers (or prospective customers) success. Here are some ways you can increase buyer intimacy:

Advanced Account Intelligence: Utilising data insights and advanced AI capability to develop a nuanced understanding of the key individuals within your target accounts, alongside their functional and organisational challenges, and strategic objectives. The ability to deliver 1:1 personalisation with scale has never been more achievable

Tailored Thought Leadership: Fed by your advanced account intelligence you can develop and distribute highly customized content for individuals within strategic accounts. We have achieved a x5 increase in conversion for clients with this scaleable content strategy.

Collaborative Innovation: Working with Product teams, technical Pre-Sales and Sales teams alongside customers to co-develop solutions together. These structured initiatives can become powerful differentiators in your marketing narrative.

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Embed Agility in Your Go-to-Market Approach

To thrive in a rapidly changing environment it’s necessary to build flexibility into your marketing planning and delivery.

The ability to gather always on real-time insights that reflect the immediate priorities and interests of your target accounts and buyers has never been more achievable or scalable. With the right AI tools and processes – think AI agents, rather than prompts, combining these insights with a fast-vertising execution strategy it’s a very effective way to engage hard to reach decision makers.

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Agility sits comfortably alongside a mindset of continuous improvement. As a marketing leader, I found the hyper-inflated growth expectations to be not only unrealistic but effectively driving the wrong behaviours and demoralising entire teams. Sustainable growth comes from pursuing 1% marginal gains across your entire marketing programme, rather than looking for a shiny (read expensive) big idea or a quick win from a short-term tactic. Fostering a culture of ongoing testing and refinement while emphasising rapid learning and adaptation will reap greater rewards, professionally and commercially.

Lastly, I recommend you assess the capabilities of your agencies and delivery partners. Do they share the same mindset and are they structured for agility? Inflexible delivery models and cookie-cutter approaches will stifle pace and agility. Most agencies can deliver great messaging and creativity but, very few will constructively challenge or seek to push boundaries of what’s possible and fill capability gaps which enhance your overall effectiveness.

Planning for 2025: Key Considerations

As you develop your marketing plans for 2025, here are some final thoughts:

Where you have invested in ABM as your leading growth strategy, ensure you define a fully orchestrated ABM strategy. Check that it encompasses the entire customer journey, not only marketing-owned channels. Define and execute cohesive, personalised experiences across marketing and sales touchpoints for key accounts. Bring your sales colleagues with you on the journey and consider how you enable them to execute the ABM strategy through direct communications.

Embrace AI-enhanced segmentation, analytics and personalisation to deliver individually personalised content and experiences to key stakeholders within your target accounts, at scale. There is much more I can say about this, but that’s another article!

Prioritise sustainable growth and commercial outcomes. When the pressure is on to deliver its easy to look to the short term tactics that show action but often poor commercial outcomes. While the need for pace is a given, invest time in the right activities, such as the quality of personalisation and end to end customer journey.

In summary, the coming year will present both challenges and opportunities for B2B marketers. We’re just starting to embrace the power of AI and its scalability. The strategic power of ABM is understood and for those who hold their nerve great results can be achieved. Every successful leader surrounds themselves by likeminded people, aligned behind the same goals and success criteria. People who bring ideas and solutions to the table, not problems. And as a marketing leader, you should expect no less from your agency partners – speaking as a marketing leader and an agency owner.

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Planning season is upon us. Go well my friends!