Adopt these 5 tactics in Q4 to jumpstart success in Q1

The end of the year always feels like a mad dash to some invisible finish line. You’re hustling to meet targets before the year wraps.

But when you think about it, there isn’t a finish line — invisible or otherwise. 2025 goals may be in your sights today, but Q1 and a new year are fresh on the horizon.

So, with annual planning coming to a close and year-end objectives top-of-mind, is there anything your marketing organization can do in Q4 to influence the start of 2026? Absolutely. 

We sat down with a few martech experts to get their advice on practical steps you can take now to ensure you hit the ground running in Q1.

1. Launch a pilot around a core business challenge or goal

Anthony Rotio, Chief Data Strategy Officer, GrowthLoop

Most organizations today are racing to find ways to incorporate AI into their business workflows and marketing campaigns. But what can you do before the end of the year to implement those AI tools? GrowthLoop Chief Data Strategy Officer Anthony Rotio recommends a three-step approach:

1. Identify your top business challenges or OKRs for 2026

2. Find a market opportunity you’re not capturing today that could address those challenges and OKRs

3. Launch software vendor pilots this quarter to test solutions for these challenges and opportunities

“Try to do a couple of pilots before the year’s out and see if there’s an opportunity to get started with something new that could be a real core value driver for your business in 2026,” Anthony suggests. 

Hear it straight from Anthony:

2. Assess (and challenge) your data foundation

Suresh Susarla, Director of Engineering Martech, AT&T

If AI is a priority for your organization in 2026, your data strategy should be a priority now.

AI will bring its most value to your marketing organization when it runs on the first-party data in your enterprise cloud. After all, your data is one asset your competitors don’t have; your data is your differentiator. So if you don’t have a solid data strategy going into 2026, the results from your new AI tools will fall flat.

When Suresh Susarla joined us on a recent webinar, he shared this advice for marketing leaders as they head into 2026: “Start with your data foundation today.”

“If you think you have it, challenge it, revisit it. Is it nimble enough? Is it accurate enough? Is it really ready to support your transformation?” Suresh says. “That foundation is going to ensure that your AI is effective, accurate, and complete.” 

Suresh explains more below:

3. Refresh your segmentation and personalization strategies

Mary Kheedo, VP of Sales, GrowthLoop

With holidays and the rush to the end of the year, customer behavior in Q4 always looks a little different. But instead of viewing these seasonal trends as challenges, GrowthLoop VP of Sales Mary Kheedo recommends using them to fuel your strategy for Q1.

That could mean analyzing engagement patterns to look for high-value and high-intent customer segments, or lapsed customers who recently re-engaged. You could also use the time to refine lifecycle segments to update definitions for active customers, at-risk customers, etc. 

“It’s a good opportunity to analyze patterns and behaviors in Q4 and do a bit of a segmentation and personalization refresh going into Q2, so you’re not having to do that planning at the beginning of the year,” Mary explains.

Get Mary’s take on segmentation and personalization strategies:

4. Build buy-in and alignment among the C-suite 

Murat Genc, President, Chief Information & Digital Officer, McLane Company, Inc.

Most marketing leaders are facing top-down pressure from executives and boards to embrace AI. But when you talk to martech leader Murat Genc, he says the AI strategy needs to start with the C-suite. 

“One of my favorite sayings is: ‘if it’s to be, it’s up to me’,” Murat says. “The board of directors and the executive leaders — that’s where things start. You have to make it a business strategy and business problem and hold the executive team accountable.”

• Hear more from Murat in our recent webinar, The agentic marketing organization: Building a foundation for your AI future.

Spend Q4 ensuring that your executive team and board have complete alignment on your organization’s AI strategy. Then, use the C-suite to get everyone else on board and ready to hit the ground running in 2026.

“It’s really important for the CIOs and CDOs to almost be like the chief education officers to help the company embark on the (AI) journey,” he adds. 

Murat explains more below:

5. Invest in relationship building

Rebecca Corliss, VP of Marketing, GrowthLoop

Marketing leaders: if you’re not yet BFFs with the data leaders at your organization, Q4 should be your time to book some coffee dates and get to know them. 

When GrowthLoop VP of Marketing Rebecca Corliss thinks about Q1 prep, she thinks about building relationships between marketing and data teams. The rise of the data cloud, the increased value of first-party data, and the rapid advancement of AI mean that marketing organizations are evolving to be more data-savvy, and the marketing and data roles are becoming more intertwined.

By coming together to discuss 2026 objectives, marketing and data leaders can share different viewpoints and determine whether their existing tech stack and data are enough to meet their organizational goals. 

“The outcome isn’t just a list of technologies they might want to evolve or data investments they want to make,” Rebecca says. “They’ve also done this process together, which means they’ll be aligned with the changes they want to make in 2026 and be even more successful.” 

Rebecca explains below:

Are you ready for 2026?

If 2026 planning has felt a bit different than previous years, you’re not alone — many marketers we talk with feel it, too. Leaders are being asked to do more with less, but at the same time, show value from AI investments. Meanwhile, AI is maturing rapidly, and organizations are struggling to keep up.

But you can avoid feeling frantic amidst the AI frenzy if you follow these five tactical steps:

• Launch pilots to find fast solutions for your business goals

• Revisit your segmentation and personalization

• Build AI alignment among the C-suite

• Collaborate closely with your partners in marketing and data

• And above all else: Ensure you have a solid data foundation

Taking these actions now will pay off big come 2026. 

Looking for an AI partner to help you reach your 2026 goals? Get in touch with our team to learn about our pilot program and see how our composable Compound Marketing Engine can help your marketing team execute smarter.