New Year's resolutions for 2026? Here is how marketers can actually make them happen this year

Has the New Year's reception already come and gone? Was it bubbling over with champagne and good intentions? Intentions to grow in a challenging economic climate. Or at least to sharpen your positioning and make your marketing perform better. In short: getting more out of your brand, your content, and your channels. For more satisfied customers. And more profit. Bravo!

Seeing what others don't

But once the confetti has been swept away, the real questions emerge. What are you, as a marketer, going to focus on this year? And more importantly: how will you approach it and what will you base your decisions on? Do you have the right decision-making data to actually turn your intentions into reality? After all, many companies today still rely too much on gut feeling and experience. Understandable, but insufficient and short-sighted. Check the numbers:

• Companies miss 1 to 3 growth opportunities because they define their market too narrowly.
• Only 70% of large companies actively monitor the competition. The rest only notice new threats once their market share is already under pressure.
• 6 out of 10 market disruptions come from players no one saw coming.
• While there is massive digital communication, it turns out that 70% of content has hardly any impact.
• 69% of marketing budgets are used suboptimally due to poor channel choices.
• And 2 out of 3 CEOs overestimate how satisfied their customers truly are.

If you want to move forward, you have to (dare to) look further and bring the full context of your brand into sharp focus. What is happening in your market? Who is investing where? Which propositions are gaining relevance, and which are losing ground? How is the perception of your brand evolving among customers, and does it differ from what you think internally? And are you actually reaching your target audience at the right moments, through the right channels, and with the right story?
‍

Understand first, act second

Those kinds of questions require a different type of insight, fueled by big data, AI technology, and strategic interpretation. Think of data scraping of markets and competitors, sentiment analysis regarding brands and themes, buyer intent mapping to see where purchase intent arises, and channel and media performance across various players. This allows you to quickly recognize patterns you would miss with the naked eye. For example, you can see where competitors are accelerating even before they gain market share. Which channels contribute disproportionately to growth and which ones are primarily just absorbing budget. Or where your brand is visible, but fails to inspire trust.

Once you have (and understand) those insights, you can get to work. They act as a valuable lever to make better decisions and position yourself more sharply in your market, potentially reallocate media budgets, focus your content on what really works, and adjust campaigns faster when signals change. In short: to turn your good intentions into resounding success. Ready for the new year?

In summary:

Or would you like to dive deeper into this topic? Let us know. At D’M&S Insights, we would be happy to look at how we can give your marketing extra power this year with an audit and/or the right strategy.

D'M&S insights

‍