It's January—Do You Know How Last Year Performed?

2024 is officially in the rearview mirror, and if you’re a CMO, Digital Marketing Director, or Growth Marketer, now’s the time to assess how your marketing strategy performed. The year-end analysis is an especially important and often overlooked step, not only to see what went well, but to identify what should be optimized or even overhauled as you plan your 2025 marketing efforts.
 

We've compiled a practical, step-by-step guide to conducting a thorough year-end analysis. From evaluating your marketing metrics to refining your tech stack, we’ll cover leveraging last year’s data to build a strategy that drives results for this year.

1. Look Beyond Revenue Metrics to Measure Sustainable Growth

Revenue growth alone doesn’t tell the full story of your marketing success. In 2025, B2B marketers are increasingly measured by customer value and retention, not just by how many leads they drive. The following metrics can help you understand the quality of your growth:

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Has your cost per customer increased or decreased? Drill down by channel to see which platforms are most efficient.
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): If you’ve succeeded in attracting high-value customers, CLV should be trending upward. CLV tells you if your marketing is focused on customers who bring long-term value, rather than just quick wins.
• Lead-to-Customer Conversion Rate: Instead of just looking at lead volume, examine conversion rates. How many of your leads actually turned into customers? This is critical for understanding the quality of your funnel.
• Churn Rate: Did churn increase in 2024? This metric reflects the customer experience and indicates whether you’re attracting the right type of clients.

(un)Common Tip: Create custom dashboards in your CRM to keep an eye on these metrics in real-time throughout 2025. Align with sales and customer success teams to get a holistic picture, especially when it comes to CLV and churn.

2. Evaluate Channel Performance to Refine Budget Allocation

Each marketing channel plays a unique role in your strategy, so assessing them individually is essential. By analyzing the performance of each channel in 2024, you can identify which ones deserve more budget and which might need to be scaled back.

• Paid Media: Look at key performance indicators beyond CTR, like cost per lead (CPL) and cost per acquisition (CPA). According to a 2024 study by HubSpot, B2B paid ad costs increased by about 13% last year—did you see a similar rise, and was it justified by results?
• SEO and Organic Traffic: Organic channels remain vital for long-term growth. Evaluate which keywords drove the most traffic and conversions. If you’re investing in SEO, you should see growth in organic traffic and lower-cost customer acquisition over time.
• Email Marketing: Examine open and click-through rates, as well as unsubscribe rates. According to Campaign Monitor's 2024 benchmarks, the average B2B email open rate was around 20%. Compare this to your own results to see if you’re lagging or leading.
• Social Media: Engagement metrics are useful, but prioritize channels that drive qualified traffic and leads. Some B2B brands saw strong performance on LinkedIn in 2024, as the platform introduced new targeting features—did you see any benefit here?

Make budget shifts based on these insights to focus on channels that delivered ROI in 2024, while reallocating or reevaluating underperforming ones.

3. Update Your Buyer Personas to Reflect Changing Market Dynamics

Are your buyer personas still accurate representations of your ideal customers? The business landscape changed significantly in 2024, with economic uncertainties prompting many companies to prioritize efficiency and ROI. For B2B marketers, this means a potential shift in your customers’ needs, priorities, and purchasing behaviors.

• New Industry Challenges: Consider how industry-specific challenges impacted your target personas last year. For example, in SaaS, many companies focused on AI integrations in 2024—did your messaging reflect that trend?
• Updated Job Titles and Responsibilities: Buyer personas often need tweaking as job functions evolve. If your target audience includes tech leadership, consider that roles like “Head of AI” or “Chief Automation Officer” may be emerging personas worth targeting.
• Content Consumption Patterns: Last year, B2B buyers increasingly preferred short-form content like LinkedIn posts or video snippets (Source: LinkedIn B2B Content Insights 2024). Did you see a similar shift in your engagement data?

Refining your personas based on last year’s performance data will allow you to create more targeted messaging and content in 2025.

4. Assess Content Performance and Optimize for 2025 Trends

Content is the core of most B2B marketing strategies, and a year-end analysis of your content performance will highlight what’s resonating and what isn’t. Look at engagement metrics, lead generation, and conversion data to understand where you’re delivering value.

Consider the following:

• Top-Performing Topics and Formats: What themes resonated most with your audience according to data? If case studies drove significant engagement, consider doubling down on them in 2025. Alternatively, if blog performance lagged, it may be time to invest in video or interactive content, & assess your content calendar.
• Buyer’s Journey Alignment: Did your content effectively cover the entire buyer’s journey? Identify any gaps where content didn’t convert. For instance, if top-of-funnel content is strong but bottom-of-funnel materials are lacking, create more decision-focused resources.
• Channel-Specific Content: Certain types of content work better on specific channels. For example, LinkedIn may be ideal for thought leadership, while your blog could focus on SEO-optimized, evergreen content. Optimize based on where your target personas engage.

Use content insights to build a 2025 content plan that aligns with what your audience is actively consuming and responding to. Consider all metrics like time on page, shares, and secondary and primary conversions by page.

5. Reevaluate Your Tech Stack’s ROI and Efficiency

Your marketing tech stack is vital, but every tool should justify its expense and prove its value. Heading into 2025, take time to evaluate the ROI of each tool you’re using. Are you leveraging it fully, or could you consolidate it?

• Platform Usage: According to Gartner’s 2024 Marketing Technology Report, B2B companies typically use only 58% of their marketing tech stack’s capabilities. If you’re not using all the features of a tool, explore whether a simpler or more cost-effective alternative would suffice.
• Cost and Value Alignment: Calculate the revenue or efficiency each tool has brought your team. If certain tools underperformed in 2024, consider either renegotiating your contract or switching to a more robust solution.
• Integration Efficiency: If your CRM, email marketing, and analytics tools don’t “talk” to each other smoothly, you’re likely wasting time and resources. Ensure your tools are well-integrated for data consistency and easier reporting.

An optimized tech stack saves money and streamlines operations, allowing your team to focus more on strategy and less on manual tasks.

6. Set New Benchmarks for 2025

Once you’ve assessed last year’s performance, it’s time to set data-driven goals for 2025. A big reason marketing plans can feel chaotic is because teams move away from their goals or don't take the time to set them. These benchmarks should be ambitious but realistic, based on your 2024 data and any new initiatives you’re planning.

• Break Down Goals by Quarter: Setting annual goals can sometimes feel daunting or abstract. Instead, break down benchmarks by quarter, allowing you to measure progress and make adjustments throughout the year.
• Prioritize Based on Last Year’s Wins: If you know which campaigns and channels worked best, use them as benchmarks for 2025. For example, if you reduced CAC by 15% on LinkedIn ads last year, target a similar or slightly improved figure.
• Factor in Industry Trends: With generative AI, data privacy laws, and economic shifts shaping the 2025 landscape, stay agile and ready to adapt your benchmarks if necessary.

Setting benchmarks isn’t just about tracking success—it’s about ensuring every member of your team is aligned on what “winning” looks like this year.

Talk to an Expert at (un)Common Logic

A comprehensive year-end analysis provides the insights needed to make smarter, data-backed decisions in 2025. But diving deep into data and adjusting your strategy based on nuanced insights takes time, expertise, and experience. (un)Common Logic has helped B2B marketing leaders across industries maximize ROI by transforming data into action.

Ready to make 2025 your best year yet? Talk to one of our digital marketing experts today to start your custom strategy session. Or, explore our B2B marketing services to see how we can support you in everything from SEO and PPC to analytics and social media.

FAQs for Year-End Performance Analysis

1. How often should I perform a year-end performance analysis?

   Ideally, once a year with quarterly check-ins to ensure ongoing alignment and adaptability.
   
   

2. What’s the best way to present year-end findings to my team?

   Use a combination of visual reports (charts, dashboards) and narrative insights, focusing on KPIs that are most relevant to your business goals.
   
   

3. How do I measure the success of each channel?

   Evaluate each channel’s ROI by looking at lead quality, conversion rate, and cost per conversion. Some channels may also drive engagement or brand awareness.
   
   

4. How can I tell if my tech stack is worth the investment?

   Calculate ROI by comparing each tool’s cost to the revenue it helps generate, or the efficiency it brings to your team. Look for redundancies and underutilized features.

This year, let data be the foundation of your decisions. With insights from 2024 in hand, you can build a strategy for 2025 that’s ambitious and achievable. And if you need expert guidance to turn analysis into action, (un)Common Logic is here to help.