The Top 3 Priorities Marketers Should Lock In Before Year-End
The final stretch of the year always hits fast. You’re juggling planning, reporting, budget conversations, and a tech stack that changes faster than your coffee cools. But the marketers who finish the year strong aren’t doing more . . . they’re prioritizing smarter.
Here are the three priorities every marketer should focus on from now through year-end to set up a cleaner, clearer, more predictable 2026.
1. Clean Up Your Data Before It Follows You Into Next Year
If your database is messy in December, it will be messier in January. And the ripple effect is real: poor segmentation, inaccurate reporting, deliverability issues, and wasted spend.
Where to focus:
Remove invalid, duplicate, and unengaged records
Standardize field values and naming
Revisit opt-in and consent logic
Tighten scoring and lifecycle statuses
Fix tech-debt you’ve postponed (we all do it)
Why it matters: Better data creates better decisions. It reduces campaign friction and gives you more predictable outcomes, especially as AI models rely on quality inputs to stay accurate.
2. Benchmark Your Performance With Real Numbers (Not Vanity Metrics)
Year-end reporting shouldn’t feel like a scramble. Marketers often find out too late that they don’t have the metrics they need, because they never established a consistent performance framework earlier in the year.
This is your moment to:
Audit what you can truly measure today
Identify missing metrics (attribution, channel influence, funnel performance)
Document performance gaps now rather than discovering them mid-Q1
Build a simple, repeatable reporting framework that ties activity to business goals
Think of it this way: Clear reporting is the currency that earns you budget, buy-in, and trust. The more you can show, the more you can grow.
3. Simplify Your Tech Stack Before It Wastes More of Your Time
Most teams don’t need more tools. They need more clarity on the tools they already have. Tool sprawl has increased for almost every marketing org in the last 2 years, but consolidation and smarter utilization are the real unlocks.
Ask yourself:
Do we actually use what we’ve purchased?
Is our team trained well enough to maximize our MAP?
Do our tools talk to each other the way they should?
Are workflows automated or still relying on manual steps?
Does our current setup help or hinder our reporting accuracy?
A simplified stack leads to faster execution, cleaner data, and less waste. It also puts you in a stronger position to advocate for smart investments next year – backed by the right story and foundation.
Final Thought
The rest of the year doesn’t need to be chaotic. When you focus on data clarity, reporting accuracy, and tech stack simplicity, you gain something marketers rarely feel in Q4: control.
And control creates confidence . . . for you, your team, and your leadership.
If you want help building a stronger, cleaner, future-proof foundation, Leadous is here with a white-glove approach that meets you exactly where you are.
