How to Run a Quick 2025 Marketing Audit Before Planning 2026
- Conan Venus
- Dec 22, 2025
- 3 min read
Build your 2026 strategy on clarity, not guesswork.
You can’t build a bold strategy without confronting what actually happened in 2025. Too many teams skip this part. They roll over vague metrics, slap on new OKRs, and call it a plan.
Let’s fix that.
This is your 5-step 2025 marketing audit. Sharp questions, fast reflection, and the clarity you need to make 2026 a breakthrough year.
Step 1: Define What “Success” Means for Your 2025 Marketing Strategy
Before you score your performance, define what winning looks like:
Were you driving revenue? Leads? Influence?
Did your team align on that definition early, or did it shift mid-year?
Were your metrics tracking real business outcomes, or just activities?
If “success” was fuzzy from day one, your strategy probably was too.
This step is your anchor. Get honest about your original intent, and whether your execution actually served it.
Step 2: Score Each Channel in Your 2025 Marketing Plan
To make smarter 2026 decisions, you need to know what actually performed in 2025.
Use a simple Red / Yellow / Green framework to score each core marketing channel on:
Performance (Did it deliver on its goal?)
ROI (Was the outcome worth the spend?)
Effort (Did the time and resources match the impact?)
Example Channel Audit Table:
Channel | Performance | ROI | Effort | Final Score |
Paid Media | Yellow | Red | Green | 🟨 Yellow |
Organic Social | Green | Yellow | Yellow | 🟩 Green |
Email Marketing | Green | Green | Green | 🟩 Green |
Events | Red | Red | Red | 🟥 Red |
Ask:
Where did we spend the most time and budget?
What channels actually moved the needle?
What felt productive but delivered little?
If your team spent 30% of its year optimizing a channel that drove 2% of your pipeline, that’s a strategic leak; fix it.
Step 3: Audit for Strategic Drift
One of the biggest threats to good marketing? Drift. It’s when your execution subtly detaches from your original strategy.
Did your tactics still align with your 2025 marketing goals?
Where did you pivot (or panic)?
Were those shifts smart responses… or just reactive?
Use this part of your marketing audit to identify when and why the team went off track. Find the friction so you don’t repeat it in 2026.
Drift often stems from poor cross-functional alignment or the "shiny-object syndrome." Both are solvable.
Step 4: Compare Capacity vs. Output
Now ask the question most teams avoid:
Did our best work produce our best results?
What initiatives drained the team but produced little ROI?
Which efforts punched above their weight?
Are your marketers actually working in their zone of genius?
Busy does not mean effective.
2026 is the year of smart resourcing, fewer bottlenecks, and sharper prioritization.
A great marketing audit should reveal what worked and what work was worth doing.
Step 5: Pull 3 Lessons and Make 1 Bold Bet for 2026
The final step is what makes your audit more than a reflection. This step turns your audit into a launchpad.
Use a Start / Stop / Continue format to distill your key takeaways.
Here’s an example:
Start Doing | Stop Doing | Continue Doing |
Sales-aligned content briefs | Untracked social content | Video case studies |
Weekly marketing standups | Launching campaigns without distribution mapped | Creative-led ad strategy |
Then, choose one big bet.
What’s the most strategic risk you’re ready to take in 2026 based on everything you’ve just learned?
Your answer here becomes your North Star.
Write it down. Design for it. Protect it.
Download the CVAC 2025 Marketing Audit Worksheet
To make this easy and actionable, we've built a tool for you.
It’s the same mini-audit we use inside client strategy sessions.
✅ Built-in channel scorecard
✅ Reflective prompts
✅ Fillable Start/Stop/Continue grid
✅ Room for your One Big Bet
Final Word
Before you map out Q1 goals or hire an agency or revamp your website… audit what worked.
Let it inform your direction, your team structure, and your voice in the market.
Want help walking through it?
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