Introduction

Planning your year feels huge. This guide shows how to choose big bets, set budget, and test bold targets fast.

What's the problem it solves?

Most teams get asked the same three scary questions each year:

• What will marketing do to grow the business
• How much money does marketing need
• Can marketing hit the revenue target

People often answer with guesses, random ideas, or huge messy spreadsheets. This piece gives you simple steps and tools so you can answer with clear numbers, clear plans, and real tradeoffs.

Quick Summary

The article breaks annual planning into three main questions and gives you a light process to answer each one. First, you choose 3-5 big bets for how marketing will drive growth. You do this by writing a one page Marketing Decision Dashboard and simple GACCS briefs, so every big bet has clear goals, audience, message, channels, and owners. The point is to avoid random little tasks and focus on a few moves that can change your growth curve.

Next, you figure out a budget range instead of guessing or copying last year. You use basic GTM money metrics like CAC ratio, payback period, and LTV to see how much you can spend while still being healthy as a business. You also decide what share of total go to market spend goes to marketing.

Last, you check if the top down revenue target from finance and sales is even realistic. You build a simple bottom up forecast from accounts or leads, their conversion rates, and average deal size. This shows what is actually possible, the gap vs the target, and which levers you would need to pull harder. From there, you can refine the plan into deeper budgets, monthly pacing, and a living model you update during the year.

Key Takeaways

• Do not start planning with a blank page or random ideas. Start with 3-5 big bets.
• Use a simple Marketing Decision Dashboard to write down ICPs, narratives, revenue levers, and goals on one page.
• Turn each big bet into a GACCS brief so everyone is clear on goals, audience, creative, channels, and owners.
• Your budget should come from GTM money math, not vibes or last year plus 10 percent.
• Use CAC ratio, payback period, and LTV to set a healthy budget range.
• Decide what share of total sales plus marketing cost goes to marketing so you do not fight sales on every dollar.
• A bottom up forecast starts from accounts or leads, not from the dream target.
• Use real past data on conversion rates and average deal size, then add only realistic lifts.
• Expect a gap between top down and bottom up numbers. Use that gap to have a serious talk with finance and sales.
• A good plan becomes a living model you update as you learn, not a document you file away.

What to do

• Write a rough one page Marketing Decision Dashboard for next year.
• List 5 to 10 possible big bets, then cut down to the 3 to 5 that are bold but realistic.
• For each big bet, draft a short GACCS brief that covers goal, audience, message, channels, and owners.
• Gather core numbers: new revenue target, total CAC, current CAC ratio or payback, and LTV.
• Use those numbers to estimate a budget range for marketing instead of picking a single random number.
• Ask or decide what percent of total sales plus marketing spend should go to marketing and check if it fits your range.
• Choose your forecast type: account based for mid market or enterprise motion, lead based for PLG or inbound heavy motion.
• Map your basic funnel stages and add last year’s average deal size and conversion rates at each step.
• Model simple, realistic improvements in volume, conversion, and deal size, then see how much revenue that gives you.
• Compare your bottom up revenue number with the top down target, write down the gap, and the key reasons why.
• Turn all of this into a short plan you can walk through with your CEO, finance, and sales in one meeting.
• Later, break the budget and forecast into months, hire dates, and big campaigns so you can track pacing during the year.

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