Why Your 2025 Marketing Didn't Work (And How to Fix It This Year)

If you're sitting here in early 2026 thinking "My marketing just didn't work in 2025," you're not alone. Maybe you posted consistently but saw little engagement. Maybe you tried multiple strategies but nothing stuck. Maybe you're wondering why other businesses make marketing look easy while yours felt like pushing a boulder uphill.

This episode is an honest, no-BS post-mortem on why most marketing fails—and more importantly, exactly how to fix it so 2026 is different.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: if your marketing didn't work last year, it's probably not because marketing doesn't work. It's because one or more critical elements were missing. The businesses that succeeded in 2025 faced the same algorithms, the same time constraints, the same saturated markets. They just did something differently.

Every issue we cover is fixable. You just need to know which ones are holding you back. This episode shows you exactly that.

Links mentioned: 

• Marketing Momentum Membership
• The AI Powered Lead Magnet Guide (free)
• MailerLite

Assessment:
For each reason I shared, rate yourself honestly: 
1 = This was definitely a problem for me in 2025 
5 = I actually did this pretty well in 2025

1. Strategy vs. Tactics: __/5
2. Consistency: __/5
3. Clear Messaging: __/5
4. Email List Strategy: __/5
5. Asking for Sales: __/5
6. Giving It Time: __/5
7. Focused Approach: __/5
8. Tracking Data: __/5
9. Strong Offer: __/5
10. Right Metrics: __/5

Your lowest scores are your priorities for 2026. Don't try to fix all ten. Pick your bottom 2-3 and focus on those first.

Transcript

Hey. Welcome to the New School of Marketing podcast. I'm Bianca McKenzie and this is the place where we break down marketing strategies that actually work without the overwhelm.

Before we dive in, I want to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land I live and work on, the palawa people of lutruwita. I pay my respects to eldest, past and present and acknowledge the deep connection they have to this land, culture and community.

Now let's dive in and make marketing work for you.

If you're listening to this in early 2026, there's a good chance that you're reflecting on last year and thinking, my marketing just didn't work in 2025.

Maybe you posted consistently but saw little engagement.

Maybe you tried multiple strategies but nothing stuck.

Maybe you're sitting here wondering why other businesses seem to make marketing look easy, or yours felt like pushing a boulder uphill.

Today we're going to do an honest post mortem on the most common reasons marketing doesn't work, and more importantly, how to fix it so that 2026 is going to be different.

Because here's the thing.

If your marketing didn't work last year, it's probably not because marketing doesn't work.

It's because one or more critical elements were missing. And the good news?

Every single one of them is fixable.

Before we dive into specific reasons, let's get something out of the way.

If your marketing didn't work in 2025, you need to own that honestly before you can fix it.

I know it's tempting to blame the algorithm or your industry being different, not having enough time or money, or your audience being difficult, the market being saturated, the economy.

And look, those factors can make things harder, but they're rarely the actual reason that your marketing failed.

The businesses that succeeded in 2025 faced the same algorithms, the same time constraints, the same saturated markets.

They just did something differently.

So for the next 30 minutes,

I need you to drop the excuses and get honest about what actually didn't work and why.

That's the only way we can fix it for 2026.

Reason number one, you had no strategy, just tactics.

This is the number one reason marketing fails, and I see it constantly.

You were posting on social media because you know you should.

Air quotes, should.

You tried email marketing because someone said it's important.

You created a lead magnet because that's what everyone else does.

You experimented with reels because they're popular, but you had no overarching strategy connecting any of these activities.

You couldn't explain how posting on Instagram was supposed to lead to sales.

You had no clear customer journey. You were just doing marketing activities, hoping something would work.

And here's why this doesn't work.

Random tactics without strategy is just busy work.

You might stay visible, but visibility without direction doesn't generate revenue.

Your audience experiences your scattered approach as confusing.

They can't figure out what you actually do or why they should care.

And you can't improve what you don't understand.

So when tactics aren't working, you don't know if it's the platform, the content, the offer, the targeting.

It's because nothing was intentionally connected in the first place.

So how can you fix this in 2026?

Stop all of your marketing for one week. Just stop it.

And use that time to create a simple one page strategy document that is going to answer the following questions.

Who exactly am I trying to reach?

And you need to get really specific on this.

What specific problem do I solve for them?

What journey do I want them to take from stranger to consumer? And I know a lot of us just want to go. I just want to put up one post and I want people to buy.

That is not going to work. You need to think about the customer journey and what does it take for them to get to know you, to like you, to trust you, to then actually give you money?

Also, why should they choose me over alternatives?

What is better about you or your product or your service?

And what is your primary offer that everything should lead to?

Then every marketing tactic you consider needs to be filtered through this strategy.

If it doesn't serve the strategy, you don't do it.

Even if it's trendy.

Everything needs to speak to your ideal client, talk about a specific problem that you solve.

Look at the journey that they take.

So in 2026, your commitment should be no more random tactics.

Everything that you do has to connect to a clear strategic goal.

Reason number two, why your marketing didn't work is that you weren't consistent enough.

Let me guess what 2025 looked like.

You started strong in January, posted regularly for a few weeks. Then life got busy.

You fell off for a bit, you got motivated again in March, posted for another few weeks.

Then you know you got inconsistent again, then another burst of activity in September, and then, you know, a little bit here and there.

And here's why it doesn't work.

Marketing compounds through consistency.

People need to see you repeatedly before they trust you enough to buy.

If you disappear for weeks at a time, people forget about you.

You kind of actually do disappear under the algorithm. If you're really heavily relying on social media algorithms, they favor consistent accounts.

So when you post sporadically,the platforms are going to stop showing your content to as many people because they don't trust that you'll keep showing up.

And if you do that, you're never going to build momentum.

Just when you start to get traction, you stop. And then you have to start building awareness all over again.

So how can you fix it?

You need to choose a posting frequency that you can actually maintain during your busiest months.

If that's twice a week, great.

Twice a week consistently is going to be daily for two weeks and then nothing for a month.

Also, batch your content creation. Set aside three to four hours twice a month to create multiple pieces of content at once, because that's going to remove the daily decision fatigue.

People who have to come up with posts every single day.

It's just exhausting. You're going to get exhausted. One, you're going to feel this pressure constantly and at some point you will stop doing it because there is no kind of rhythm.

And once you stop, you tend to stop for longer.

So really think about.

There's a whole thing to be said about task switching and all of that as well. Anyway, think about batching and you can use scheduling tools.

I just use like Meta's native scheduler, but you can use tools like Buffer or Later or Metricool or whatever platform you choose for your scheduling.

Create your content when you have the energy and schedule it to post consistently.

This is literally the easiest way. I sometimes schedule content for like weeks in advance.

I don't want to have to be online all the time.

I am popping in and out to just check, but I don't have to think every day about what to post.

Also build accountability.

Tell someone your posting schedule and have them check in with you monthly.

I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes we need that. You know, the whole, did you do this kind of thing? Don't ask your spouse, by the way, not a good idea.

Okay, your 2026 commitment. I want you to choose your frequency.

I want you to schedule it. Show up every single week, even when you don't feel like it.

But try to work with your energy levels.

You Know, if you know that in the morning, you do better, start batching your content in the morning and you can outsource the scheduling, you can create it and then get someone else to just put it all in the scheduler.

All right. Reason number three that your marketing didn't work is your messaging was unclear or generic.

When I look at businesses whose marketing isn't working, I often see messaging like this.

People saying, I help businesses grow through strategic marketing or empowering entrepreneurs to achieve their dreams or results driven solutions for modern businesses.

It means nothing.

It's so generic it could apply to thousands of businesses.

Nobody reading these things, you, yes, that's exactly what I need. I mean, what does it even mean? Results driven solutions for modern businesses, blah, blah.

Why doesn't it work?

Generic messaging doesn't stand out in a sea of content.

Unclear messages get scrolled past.

People are not going to buy generic solutions. They buy specific solutions to specific problems.

You're not attracting anyone because you're trying to appeal to everyone.

And in result, you appeal to no one.

So how are you going to fix it?

You need to get uncomfortably specific about who you serve and what problem you solve.

So a bad example is I help businesses with their marketing. A better example is I help course creators who are getting great engagement but zero sales convert their followers into paying students.

Or another bad example, business coaching for entrepreneurs. A better example is I help service providers who are maxed out on hours scale their revenue without working more.

I want you to test your messaging on real people. If they can't immediately tell you who it's for and what problem it solves, it's not clear enough.

So your 2026 commitment is to rewrite your call. Core messaging to be specific enough that your ideal client thinks that me, like that's exactly me, while others are going to think that's not for me.

Both reactions are good.

It helps weed out the people that it's not for.

And you get really specific on the people who like that really kind of go, oh, yep, that's me all right. Reason number four, you had no email list. Strategy, maybe no list at all.

So how many times did you post on social media in 2025?

Probably hundreds of times.

How many times did you email your list?

Maybe monthly, maybe never.

Or worse.

You still don't have an email list because you've been, you know, meaning to start one.

Okay, here's why it doesn't work.

Social media is rented land.

The algorithm controls who sees your content.

Email is owned real estate.

When you email your list it reaches the inbox.

I feel almost bad for saying this again, because I talk about this so much that I feel like if there's anyone listening to this podcast who hasn't already gotten an email list, I am not doing my job very well. Like, honestly, you need an email list.

Most purchases happen after multiple touch points.

If people only see you when the algorithm shows them your post, you're not getting enough exposure to trust you.

Social media scrolls quickly.

Email is going to sit in an inbox until they're ready to engage with it. They might save it for a little bit. They might read it again and again and go back to it later.

So what I want you to do this year is if you don't have an email list, set one up.

Like as soon as possible.

You can use my favorite Mailerlite. I use Mailerlite or Convertkit. It doesn't matter.

Pick one and start.

You have to have one.

You need to create a valuable lead magnet. Not a generic checklist, but something genuinely helpful that solves a specific problem for your ideal customer.

I will pop my lead magnet guide in the show notes, so if you're stuck on ideas or you don't know where to start, you can start with that.

I want you to set up a welcome sequence so a minimum three to five emails that deliver value and introduce your offers.

I want you to email your list every week.

Like a minimum every week. I want you to send something valuable.

Mix educational content, personal stories, and occasional promotions. But I want you to send something every single week if you want to. You can do two educational emails a week, a month, one personal and one promotional.

And I also want you to mention your lead magnet in your socials and wherever you show up.

At least two to three times a week, I want you to share your lead magnet.

So Your commitment for 2026 is to build your email list like it's your most important marketing asset.

Because it is.

All right, reason number five.

You never actually asked for the sale.

Let me guess. You created lots of valuable free content in 2025.

You helped people in comments and DMs. You showed up. You provided value consistently, but you rarely, if ever, actually invited people to work with you or buy from you.

Here's why it doesn't work.

People are busy. They're distracted. Even if they love your content and want to work with you, they might not take action unless you create a clear invitation.

Being helpful is not going to pay the bills. And at some point, you need to convert free value into paid clients or customers.

People need permission to invest. I know this is ridiculous, it's crazy, but people need permission to invest and sometimes a clear ask is what helps them to commit.

It's crazy, but this is how it works.

So how can you fix it?

I want you to create a content ratio, so 70% value, 30% promotional.

For every seven posts that teach something, include three that mention your offers or invite people to work with you and make asking for the sale feel natural.

Things like, you know, if this resonates with you and you want help implementing it, here's how we can work together.

Like it doesn't have to all be pure promotional posts. You can teach and ask.

Include calls to action in your emails.

Not like aggressive or like pushy, but just clear.

You know, things like if you're ready to solve this problem, my insert your course program servers, whatever helps you do exactly that.

And I want you to have regular promotion periods. So once a quarter, run a focused campaign where you actively promote your offer. It's kind of like a launch, right?

So this year, commit to asking for the sale regularly.

Not apologetically, not aggressively.

Clearly and confidently.

Not every post has to be a sale post.

But. But if you're teaching something, you need to say something like, you know, if this was helpful and you want more, you know, here's how we can work together.

All right, the next one. Reason number six, you gave up too soon.

How long did you consistently execute your marketing strategy in 2025 before deciding it wasn't working?

And if the answer is less than 90 days, you quit too early.

Marketing takes time to compound.

Most strategies need at least 60 to 90 days to show whether they're actually working. And if you know you want to know more about the whole 90 day strategy, check in with last week's episode.

I talk all about the 90 day sprint.

Building trust takes multiple touch points.

Someone might need to see your content 10 to 15 times before they actually trust you enough to buy.

And if you give up really soon, you left just as the momentum was building.

Often the breakthrough comes right after the point where most people quit.

So what I want you to do this year, I want you to commit to your strategy for at least 90 days before evaluating.

That is one full quarter,

three months of consistent execution.

And I want you to track leading indicators, not just sales.

Are people engaging more? Is your email list growing? Are you getting more dms?

These signal that it's working even if sales haven't hit yet.

I want you to understand the lag time someone might follow you in January.

Consume content for like months, and then buy in June.

If you quit in March, you'll never see that sale.

So your commitment is to give your strategy a fair chance.

90 days, minimum of consistent execution before you judge whether it's working.

Reason number seven that your marketing didn't work is you try to do everything.

Maybe in 2025, you posted on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, started a YouTube channel, launched a podcast, blogged, send emails, network in person, you run ads, you create courses, you do webinars.

And you burnt out about April because it's literally impossible to do all of that well.

Trust me, I have experience in this.

Here's why it doesn't work. Doing everything poorly gets worse results than doing one thing excellently.

You spread your limited time and energy too thin.

And when you do that, nothing gets your full attention.

Your audience is going to experience you as scattered, and they just. They can't figure out where to follow you or what you're about.

So what I want you to do, I want you to choose one primary platform.

Just one.

Where does your ideal customer actually spend time? Figure out what that platform is, and then pick two to three core marketing activities maximum. So, for example, Instagram, email, and a monthly webinar. And that's it.

Do those three things excellently, say no to everything else for at least quarter one.

And once you've mastered your core activities, then you can consider adding more, but really focus on one platform and three marketing activities.

So focus beats scattered effort. Do less, but do it better.

That's my tip for you.

Reason number eight is that you ignored the data.

Did you track where your leads came from in 2025?

Do you know which content performed best?

Can you tell me your conversion rates?

If the answer is no, you were flying blind.

And it doesn't work because you can't improve what you don't measure. Without data, you're just guessing about what works.

You might be spending time on activities that generate zero results and you're neglecting the things that actually work.

So make decisions based on facts, not feelings.

That's what I want you to do. Set up simple tracking, just like a spreadsheet with, you know, date, lead or sale, the source, the value. That's it.

Ask every new lead or customer, how did you first hear about me?

Track the answers and then review your data monthly. What's working, what's not. And then make decisions based on patterns and not, like, isolated incidents.

Like, if one of your social media posts went viral, look at whether or not that actually brought in leads, customers, all of those Kind of things, but don't kind of go, oh, that went viral, I'm going to create more of that.

But if it did nothing else except for going viral, is there a point? Whereas, you know, a post that got less views and all of that interactions, but I actually resulted into leads and sales.

That's where you need to put your focus.

So track your numbers religiously and then make data driven decisions.

Reason number one is your offer wasn't right.

Sometimes the marketing isn't a problem. The offer is not very often, but sometimes.

Maybe your pricing was wrong, maybe your offer didn't actually solve the problem people have.

Maybe the gap between what you charge and the value delivered was off.

And no amount of great marketing will sell a mediocre offer.

If the offer isn't compelling, people won't buy no matter how many times they see it. Now, before you go off and change your offer, this is often one of the last things.

Most of the times it's messaging and all of that that's wrong before the offer is, you know, decided to not be right.

So don't run off and go and change your offer.

So talk to people who didn't buy. Ask them honestly, what held you back? Was it the price? Was it the timing?

Like, were you not convinced that it would work? Did you understand what it included?

And talk to people who did buy. Ask them, you know, what made you say yes? What outcome were you hoping for? Is the product delivering that?

I know this is really confronting and it's kind of nerve wracking to do that, but this is how you get answers.

Also test your pricing. If you're getting lots of interest but no sales, maybe you're priced too high.

And if you're getting easy yeses from everyone, maybe you're priced too low.

I want you to really ensure that your offer has a clear, specific outcome. And this comes back to messaging. So for example, this 12 week program helps service providers book five additional clients.

That is much clearer than this program. Help you grow your business.

So this comes back to messaging.

So your commitment for 2026, make sure that your offer is actually compelling before you spend another year marketing it.

A lot of the time it's messaging, but sometimes you need to dig a bit deeper.

All right, reason number 10, you focused on vanity metrics. In 2025, you probably celebrated when you hit, you know, a thousand followers. You felt good when a post got 100 likes.

You tracked your engagement rate obsessively.

But did any of that translate into revenue?

Vanity metrics, they feel good, but they don't pay the bills.

You can have 10,000 followers and make zero sales.

So when you focus on the wrong metrics, it means that you optimize for the wrong things. You create content to get likes instead of content that converts.

So how can you fix this? Well, firstly, track your metrics and track the metrics that matter.

I want you to track email list growth, lead sources, conversion rates and your revenue by channel.

I want you to ask yourself, does this metric directly connect to business outcomes? And if not, just stop obsessing over it. It's not important.

I want you to celebrate revenue milestones, not follower milestones.

So you know, I signed three clients this month. That matters.

I got 200 new followers. That's not going to matter.

So in 2026, measure what matters. And what matters are leads, conversions, revenue, if you're running a business. Otherwise you're not running a business.

You're just running a unpaid entertainment company anyway.

Now, before we do the wrap up, I want you to do this exercise with me.

For each reason I shared, I want you to rate yourself honestly.

And the ratings go from number one is this was definitely a problem to number five.

Actually I did this pretty well.

So it's like, you know, one out of five.

So five out of five if you did it well, one out of five if you didn't do it so well and obviously everything in between.

So here's how you're going to rate it. Well, here's what you're going to rate.

Number one, strategy versus tactics.

How did you, how well did you do that?

Did you have a strategy? Did you not have a strategy? If you did, how well was it?

If you didn't, it's one out of five you didn't do as well.

So that's number one. Number two is consistency.

How well?

And I want you to rate yourself. What's consistency for you?

Number three, clear messaging. I'll pop this in the show notes as well so you can have a look and score yourself. Clear messaging. Were you a five out of five or did you not do so well?

Number four, email list strategy.

Number five, asking for sales. Did you actually ask for sales? How often did you do it Regularly, clearly.

Number six, giving it time.

Did you pivot after four weeks or did you actually stick to at least 90 days?

Number seven is focused approach.

Were you focused? Were you five out of five for focus?

Number eight, tracking your data.

Did you track, did you not track?

Number nine is a strong offer.

Like if you have people who have bought it, it's validated It's a strong offer.

Number 10 is the right metrics.

Your lowest scores are your priorities for 2026 and don't try to fix all 10 of them. Pick your bottom two to three and focus on those.

First, I'll pop this in the show notes so you can actually see if you want to see what you need to rate yourself on.

All right, there you have it. The 10 most common reasons your 2025 marketing didn't work and how to fix each one of them in 2026.

Now the good news.

Every single one of these is completely within your control to change.

Here's your action step for this week.

Review your honest assessment scores, identify your bottom three areas and then choose one to fix this month. One.

Only one.

Maybe it's finally starting that email list.

Maybe it's committing to consistency.

Maybe it's getting clear on your messaging. Pick one, Make a plan and execute it this month.

And listen back to the last episode about 90 day sprints.

Because I want you to not just do one thing for a month, I want you to do something for 90 days.

And if you're still sitting here thinking I need help fixing multiple areas and I don't want to do it alone,

my Marketing Momentum membership is designed exactly for this.

You get frameworks, monthly coaching, a community, and accountability to follow through.

It's perfect for people who know that 2025 marketing didn't work and are committed to making 2026 completely different.

I will pop the link in the show notes. It's newschoolofmarketing.com membership. I'll pop the link in the show note. You can find everything about it now. If you found this episode helpful, even if it was uncomfortably honest, I have two favours to ask. First, make sure you subscribe to the new School of Marketing podcast.

I have practical strategies for you every single week.

Second, if it helped you identify what went wrong last year, would you please leave me a review?

Tell me which reason resonated most or what you're committing to fixing this year.

I read every single review and I want to say thank you. So if you leave a review and send me a screenshot via email or dm,

I will send you my Marketing Momentum playbook for free.

It gives you lots of helpful worksheets.

It will help you with clarity getting on track, your metrics, all of the things.

Just take a screenshot of your review, send it to me at hello@biancamckenzie.com or DM me on Instagram Bianca_McKenzie and I'll get the playbook over to you right away.

Remember, if your 2025 marketing didn't work, it doesn't mean you're bad at marketing.

It means something in your approach needs to change.

And now you know exactly what to fix.

All right, thank you so, so much for tuning into the new School of Marketing podcast. Remember, honest assessment is the first step to real improvement. I'm Bianca McKenzie, and I'll catch you next week. Until then, keep making marketing work for you