Planning for Your Best Financial Year Yet

We're already a little into the 26/27 financial year, and if you haven't sat down to properly plan yet, now is absolutely the time. Not next week. Now.

But before we can make any plans for where we're going, we have to look backwards first. What worked last year? What didn't? Where did your best results actually come from? Be honest with yourself here, because the answers are going to shape everything else.

Look backwards before you look forward

From a marketing perspective, we love getting into the detail of this. Which influencers/content creators actually delivered results and which ones just looked good on paper? What content types performed best? Which ads, which hooks, which messages cut through? What did your audience respond to and what did they scroll straight past?

But don't stop at your ads. What emails got the best open rates and click-throughs? Were there sales channels that outperformed others? How is your organic traffic looking, and what's happening on your socials? Have your margins or profit numbers shifted in any meaningful way? Are there numbers you want to improve this year?

And I wouldn't be me if I didn't also ask this. What worked from a lifestyle perspective?

Did you spend enough time with the people that matter to you, or were you checking your Meta ads at 10pm in bed? Is your business actually giving you the life you want it to? Because money is important, absolutely, but so is everything else. That balance is worth reviewing just as seriously as your ROAS.

Work out what you actually want this year

Once you've had a good look at where you've come from, it's time to figure out where you're going. And I want to say this clearly, it is completely okay if the answer isn't growth.

Maybe this is a consolidation year. A clean up year. A reshuffle year. A "let's get our systems sorted before we scale" year. Not every year has to be a growth year, and trying to force growth when the business isn't ready for it can do more harm than good. Work out what your actual goal is, because everything else flows from that.

Map out the year

Now that you know what you're working towards, start mapping it out. Are there seasonal peaks you can plan for and capitalise on? Are there quiet periods you can use to test, reset, or prepare? If growth is the goal, when are the best windows to push harder, and what do you need in place to actually do that?

Planning this out in advance means you're not scrambling when BFCM rolls around in November, or realising in September that you needed to build your email list three months ago.

Get your creative sorted early

This is a big one in the eCommerce space and it's one that catches people out every single year. Good creative takes time. Planning it, producing it, testing it... it doesn't happen overnight. How did your content strategy hold up last year? Were there bottlenecks or gaps? What worked really well that you can do more of?

Get ahead of this now. Work out what you need, when you need it, and how you're going to get it. Your future self will be extremely grateful.

Do a full tech audit

I love a good tech audit at the start of a new financial year. Go through every subscription and tool you're paying for and ask yourself honestly whether it's earning its place. Are there things you could consolidate? Are your systems and structures still working as well for you as they could be, or have you just kept running things the same way because it's easier than changing them?

Even saving a few hundred dollars a month in unused or duplicated tools adds up quickly over a year.

Then do your budget

Some people like to start here, and I get it. But I find that if you don't have all of the above sorted first, building a budget becomes incredibly difficult. You're essentially guessing. Once you know your goals, your marketing plan, your creative needs, and your tech costs, the budget becomes a much more straightforward exercise. You're just putting numbers to decisions you've already made.

Here's to a brilliant 26/27 year.