Your 2026 Marketing Playbook: Essential Planning for Builders and Remodelers

Is your 2026 business plan taking shape? Specifically, are you thinking ahead about where your marketing efforts need to go next?

Now is the ideal time to take a critical look at your current strategy and lock down your plan. Getting the essential groundwork done before the end of the year means you'll launch into January 1st with momentum and clarity. We understand the struggle—running a busy contracting or building business makes it tough to carve out time for high-level organization and planning.

My strongest advice? Make your marketing plan a priority right now. To help you structure that crucial time, I've updated our six-step framework that we use for planning with our building, remodeling, and showroom clients.

To start strong, block out a dedicated few hours—or even an entire morning—on your calendar. Bring in any key team members who can offer valuable perspective (a few heads are definitely better than one!) and dive in with focus.

Six-Step 2026 to Creating a Marketing Strategy

1. Review 2025: What Was the ROI?

Start by reviewing your 2025 marketing activities. What delivered a solid Return on Investment (ROI), and what fell short? Compile all your data. This should include:

Website Analytics: Traffic sources, bounce rates, and conversion paths.

Lead Data: Where did your highest-quality leads come from?

Digital Metrics: Email open/click rates, social media engagement, and ad performance.

Offline Tracking: Success of local events, networking, and direct mail campaigns.

2. Establish Your 2026 Marketing Objectives

Using your overarching business goals as your guide (e.g., increase revenue by 15%, enter the luxury custom home market), define clear, measurable marketing goals. These could focus on lead volume, lead quality, or brand awareness in a new area. Simultaneously, review and adjust your budget allocation to ensure resources are going toward the highest-impact areas identified in Step 1.

3. Brainstorm Marketing Initiatives

Now, work backward from your new goals. What specific tactics and campaigns will you use to hit those targets? Make a comprehensive list of ideas. Be sure to cover the marketing basics before adding more ambitious, spontaneous campaigns (like a new podcast or a major community sponsorship).

4. Create the Annual Content Calendar

Organize your list of initiatives into a simple, yet robust calendar (a shared Google Sheet or specialized project management tool works great). Map out when and how often each task will be executed: Is it a weekly blog post, a monthly client newsletter, a quarterly lead-nurturing webinar, or an annual trade show appearance? A well-built calendar is the blueprint for consistent execution.

5. Align Budget with Schedule and Optimize

Next, assign specific dollar amounts to every item on your schedule. How much does that software subscription cost? What's the retainer for your social media consultant? What's the cost of one set of professional project photos? Tally the final budget. If it exceeds your allocation, you must prioritize and make strategic cuts. Focus your spending on the initiatives that have the clearest link back to your revenue goals.

6. Delegate and Define Ownership

The final, crucial step is assigning clear ownership for every task. Determine who will execute what. Your execution team will likely be a mix of internal resources (you, an office manager, a sales rep) and outsourced specialists (a marketing firm, a freelance writer, a media buyer). Be honest about internal strengths and delegate the rest to trustworthy, capable partners. Execution only happens when someone is accountable for the A in task A.