Your Annual Plan: Set and Achieve Bold Goals

As the hectic pace of the holidays winds down, we’re shifting our conversations with clients toward goal setting and strategic planning for the year ahead. With Christmas and the end-of-year break just around the corner, our focus is on ensuring that the moment the calendar flips to January 1, 2026, we’re not easing in…we’re hitting the ground running. Having absolute clarity on revenue and growth targets is essential so we don’t find ourselves behind the eight ball as the new year begins.

This conversation is critical for defining what type of media budget allocation will be required to reach those ambitious goals. Our approach is to review how this past year performed, zoom out to analyze trends from the past several years, and identify the key dates such as promotions, product launches and seasonal moments that we can leverage to drive up MER or ROAS and maximize the targets set for us.

In today’s edition of the Growth Collective newsletter, I’ll walk you step-by-step through the exact process we use to map out monthly budget allocations and channel mix so we can confidently project and ultimately achieve next year’s targets.

The first step in determining how we are going to achieve a future revenue target is to thoroughly understand past performance. We begin by breaking down, month by month, how much revenue was generated, how much was spent across Facebook and Google, and how key metrics such as MER, blended ROAS, and new customer acquisition costs have trended over the past several years. Sample below:

Once this data is compiled, we aggregate it to establish historical monthly averages, both in terms of efficiency (MER) and contribution distribution (revenue generated per month). This analysis provides the foundation for accurate planning.

By understanding historical patterns such as what months tend to overperform, what months soften, how efficiency fluctuates, and how spend correlates with revenue, we gain the clarity needed to reverse-engineer realistic monthly targets. Instead of guessing how the annual goal breaks down, we use data to map out precisely what each month must deliver and what level of investment is required to get there.

In the example above, we see:

This ensures that the plan is grounded in performance reality, not optimism, and sets us up to pursue next year’s goals with confidence and intention.

If your brand consistently participates in recurring activations throughout the year, it’s essential to understand how each of these moments has historically performed from an MER perspective. This allows your media team to identify which events truly drive efficiency and which ones may need to be rethought. By reviewing past results, we can determine which key dates should be prioritized or expanded in the upcoming year.

To do this, we review our project management system to pinpoint the start and end dates of each activation. From there, we gather the spend levels across all channels and compare them against total sales generated during that window. This gives us a clear MER for each activation and enables us to make informed, data-backed decisions about where to focus attention and investment moving forward.

In the example above, it’s evident that several activations have consistently outperformed and present strong opportunities to build on:

To be clear, this doesn’t mean we won’t run additional activations throughout the year. However, when we begin assembling the spend calendar, these moments clearly stand out as higher-leverage opportunities compared to the rest of the year. As we move into spend planning, we’ll ensure these peak periods are emphasized and that additional budget is allocated to capitalize on their proven performance.

This year, many of our clients are setting exceptionally ambitious goals. Some are aiming for 50% growth whilst others are pushing toward 100% growth on already thriving seven-figure businesses. To chart a realistic path toward those targets, we rely on the inputs gathered in steps 1, 2, and 3 to build a comprehensive annual calendar.

This calendar establishes monthly revenue targets based on the information gathered in Step 1, where we analyzed historical performance patterns. From there, using the insights collected in Step 2, we reverse-engineer the required media investment for each month based on historic MER benchmarks. Finally, we incorporate the findings from Step 3 by adding a buffer informed by key activation periods. Together, this ensures that budget allocations are strategic, intentional, and fully aligned with the growth objectives set for the year.

The final result looks something like this:

Annual planning isn’t just an exercise in organization, it’s a strategic advantage. A calendar built from real data gives you a month-by-month roadmap that shows exactly where you need to be, where you may fall behind, and where you have opportunities to push ahead.

For a founder, this means three things:

1. You gain clarity.

You’re no longer guessing whether a slow month is actually a problem or simply part of your brand’s natural rhythm. You have data-driven monthly benchmarks that show you what “on track” truly looks like.

2. You stay proactive.

When targets, budgets, and key dates are mapped out in advance, you’re able to make decisions before you feel the pain. If you're behind in March, you can adjust April. If you're ahead in July, you can reinvest strategically.

3. You hold your partners accountable.

A transparent calendar ensures your media team is aligned with your revenue goals and pacing. You have the visibility to ask the right questions:

This structure empowers you to manage your agency relationship from a place of clarity, not guesswork.

Ultimately, this calendar becomes your operating system for growth… a living document that keeps your team focused, your spend intentional, and your goals achievable.

If you’d like help building your own annual plan, or if you’re exploring new partnerships for media buying, creative production, or email/SMS in 2026, my team and I would be happy to support you.

Just reply to this email or reach out directly.

Don’t be shy.

We’re here to help ambitious founders hit ambitious goals.

Wishing you all a happy holiday and fruitful new year!

Catch you in 2026,

Til next time,

Uri & The Growth Collective Team