If you haven’t already, you need to decide your 2027 marketing strategy by 27 November and remember UK marketing budgets rose by a net 14.3% in the third quarter of 2026. That’s the IPA Bellwether’s highest net revision since the second quarter of 2024.
In our view most owner-managed businesses with no marketing director lose this planning window to Black Friday and the Christmas rush. Black Friday sells but it does not set 2027 direction.
Net balance is the share of businesses that raised budgets minus the share that cut them. In Q3 that meant 25.6% raising against 11.3% cutting. PR rose by a net 15.3%.
IPA Director General Paul Bainsfair warned that marketers should be wary of becoming hooked on short-term activation. Budget for creation as well as promotion.
What a marketing strategy for 2027 needs to decide
A strategy is a set of choices. It names who you want to win, what you want them to do, where you will reach them and how you will know it worked.
Gartner’s 2026 CMO Spend Survey of 401 marketing leaders in North America, the UK and Europe found budgets at 7.8% of company revenue, up from 7.7% in 2025 (Gartner). The press release does not break out small businesses.
Treat the figure as a reference point rather than a target. As an illustration, a business turning over £600,000 would start from £46,800.
Balance demand creation and demand capture
Pay per click and promotions capture demand that already exists. In our view PR, content and creators create it.
Les Binet and Peter Field analysed 996 campaigns in the IPA Effectiveness Databank and found that about 60% on brand building and 40% on activation produced the most very large effects (IPA). We read brand building as creation and activation as capture.
The campaigns were award entries from 1980 to 2010 (Alex Murrell). That makes the data dated and a sample that may favour brands with large budgets. Treat 60:40 as a starting point.
In our view capture is easier to measure because the click and the sale sit close together. Creation takes longer to show. Agree proxies such as share of voice and branded search before you spend, as our board metrics guide suggests.
Five steps to build a marketing strategy for 2027
- Choose one outcome. Pick revenue for a retailer, pipeline for a B2B firm or margin for a D2C brand and let every other goal support it.
- Set the budget before the channels. Start from a share of revenue and adjust for what the outcome needs.
- Split the budget between creation and capture. Start near 60:40 and write the split down so January pressure cannot change it quietly.
- Build the calendar around moments you own. Nifty timed the Doisy & Dam launch to World Wildlife Day. The campaign lifted engagement 654% and earned a feature in Fabulous Magazine (case study).
- Agree the scorecard before January. Our guide to the five metrics your board wants to see links marketing to revenue and what marketing ROI is explains how to measure it.
A timeline for your marketing strategy before January
Black Friday lands on 27 November and the Christmas break follows within weeks.
- By 27 November. Agree the outcome and budget.
- By 11 December. Lock the calendar and scorecard.
- By 18 December. Brief the team before the break.
If time runs out, agree the outcome, budget and scorecard and finish the calendar in the first week of January. Do not wait for January to start it.
What to do when the budget is smaller than the plan
Company financial sentiment rose from -9.6% to -2.7% and the IPA raised its 2026 UK ad spend growth forecast from 2.1% to 2.8% (New Digital Age). The mood is cautious rather than bullish.
Cut channels rather than quality. Keep one or two channels that serve the outcome and drop the rest. Our post on marketing in a recession sets out the case for holding spend steady and investing smarter.
Frequently asked questions
What is a marketing strategy?
It is a set of choices about who you want to win, what you want them to do, where you reach them and how you measure it.
How far ahead should a marketing strategy plan?
Plan the year in outline and the next 90 days in detail. The outline gives budget holders a direction and the detail keeps the team honest.
How much should a small business spend on its marketing strategy?
Gartner’s 7.8% of revenue is a reference point from a survey of marketing leaders that does not break out small businesses. Test it against your margin. Set your own figure by the outcome you need and what a sale is worth.
What goes in a one page marketing strategy?
Outcome, audience, offer, channels, budget split, calendar and scorecard. If it needs more than a page you have not made the choices yet.
Nifty are a PR-led Worcester agency that plans integrated campaigns for FMCG, D2C, B2B and consumer brands. Victoria at Rebel Kitchen sums up the result as ‘Engagement up, awareness up, sales up’.
Email hello@niftycomms.com with your 2027 goal and we will tell you what to decide first. Or use the contact form.
The budget tells you what you can spend. The strategy tells you what to leave out.