By January 16th, 4% of the Year Is Gone - Still No Marketing Plan?
- Brightrose
- Jan 16
- 4 min read
By January 16th, more than 4% of the year is already gone.
When a clear marketing plan doesn’t exist, the problem isn’t inactivity - it’s misalignment.
Marketing teams are in place but not aligned around priorities. Subscriptions and tools are being paid for but underutilized. Agencies or contractors are producing output without a unifying strategy. Product launches stall. Sales teams wait for what’s coming. What should be an investment quietly becomes a cost.
Meanwhile, leadership discussions continue. Plans are debated. Scenarios are refined. Activation slips further into the quarter.
By mid-January, continued discussion doesn’t create clarity.
It delays execution. And delayed execution leads to delayed pipeline, delayed learning, and delayed outcomes.
The encouraging reality is this: it’s not too late to reset.
But time is now the constraint.
The January Reality for CEOs and Investors
At this point in the year, most leadership teams are not choosing between radically different approaches to define the right marketing plan for 2026. In most cases, they already know the available options.
What’s missing is the decision to establish the plan and activate it.
The result is drift - and by January, drift is costly.
Option One: Re-align and Activate the Existing Team
This is the option most companies are already pursuing - often by default.
Leadership continues to rely on the current team, hoping that with enough discussion, prioritization meetings, or incremental adjustments, clarity will emerge. In many cases, this is precisely why the organization finds itself mid-January without a plan.
This option can work, but only under specific conditions.
It is most viable when:
Core talent is strong, but priorities are unclear
The GTM strategy is directionally sound but not operationalized
Execution has slowed due to misalignment, not lack of experience
Typical actions under this approach include:
Narrowing focus to a small number of revenue-linked initiatives
Resetting messaging and ICP definition
Reallocating spend away from low-impact tools and subscriptions
Adding short-term coaching or operating support for the marketing leader
The risk is not the option itself, but how long it remains unresolved. When alignment isn’t established quickly, spend continues, effort fragments, and outcomes remain stalled - often extending the same conditions that caused the delay in the first place.
Option Two: Add Experienced GTM Leadership for Clarity
When the core issue is strategic clarity rather than effort or intent, leadership teams often bring in experienced GTM leadership.
This can take several forms:
A fractional or interim CMO
A GTM or growth advisor
A board-level operating partner
A firm providing GTM assessment and road-mapping
The value of this option lies in pattern recognition. Leaders who have operated in similar industries and stages can quickly identify what matters, what doesn’t, and what must change.
Brightrose supports companies in this capacity, as do other independent operators and firms. The objective is not ownership of execution, but alignment, confidence, and a clear path forward.
The primary risk with advisory-only approaches is timing. Without a defined activation plan, recommendations can linger, and execution may slide into the next quarter.
Option Three: Add Immediate Execution Capacity
When speed and outcomes are critical, some organizations choose to supplement or replace internal capacity with integrated execution support.
This may include:
Fractional GTM teams
Interim leadership paired with execution resources
Specialized agencies with deep industry focus
Hybrid models that combine strategy and delivery
This path is often chosen when:
Near-term capacity is lacking
Internal teams are stretched or incomplete
Leadership wants accountability tied directly to execution
Brightrose operates in this model as well. What matters most is that ownership is clear, timelines are tight, and execution is directly connected to revenue goals.
Why Experience and Context Matter More Than Structure
Regardless of the option selected, success consistently depends on relevant experience.
GTM is not interchangeable across industries or stages. Teams without context spend months learning how buyers evaluate solutions, where deals stall, and how marketing, sales, and product must align.
The fastest progress comes from reducing learning curves - whether through internal hires, advisors, or external partners who already understand the landscape.
What Decisive Action Enables
In 2025, a B2B technology company emerging from a corporate carve-out faced prolonged underperformance and a stalled GTM engine. Leadership chose to act rather than continue refining plans.
By introducing an experienced Brightrose Growth Services GTM leadership and integrated execution team, the company reset positioning, rebuilt its demand engine, and re-established momentum. Pipeline and revenue grew materially, and the business returned to profitability within the year.
The takeaway was not about the specific model used. It was about decisiveness.
Why January Still Matters
Even when meaningful change begins later in the year, focused GTM action can materially improve outcomes. Starting earlier simply expands the surface area for impact as companies prepare for 2026.
Investors and boards care less about how the work gets done and more about whether it produces:
Predictable pipeline
Repeatable growth
Capital efficiency
A credible path to profitability
Those outcomes are driven by timely alignment and execution.
A Final Thought for CEOs and Investors
You can’t reclaim the weeks already gone.
But you can still decide how the rest of the year unfolds.
January doesn’t demand perfection. It demands commitment.
The companies that act now don’t spend the rest of the year explaining delays. They spend it explaining results.
