Building Your FY26 Marketing Plan
How to Build a Model That Works (Even When Budgets are Flat)
Hey friends,
In one of our last newsletters, we talked about making the case for your FY26 marketing budget.
Today, we’re going deeper: how to develop the actual plan to hit that budget.
Because as you may already be seeing, for many budgets are flat (or worse) and expectations haven’t moved. So what now?
Here’s how I recommend approaching your FY26 plan - from the financial model to the funnel strategy, and all the planning in between.
🔎 1. Set the Table
Before you build any plan, sit down with your CFO and unpack what’s baked into your budget.
At a minimum, you need to know:
✅ Total spend allocated
✅ Revenue and net new enrollment expectations
Then go deeper:
Is the budget broken out by month?
Are units taught modeled by program or level?
Can you pull forward or reallocate spend by season?
What % of spend is fixed vs. variable?
Understanding the structure behind your budget is non-negotiable.
Management is resource allocation. And every decision is a trade.
🧮 2. Build the Model
Before you jump into tactics, map out how your FY26 plan will mathematically hit your targets.
Keep it simple:
Use a high-level funnel like this:
Inquiry → Lead → App Start → App Complete → Admit → Enroll
Then build three versions of your model:
Model 1: Actuals
Pull in your historical data. If anything’s missing, mark it clearly.
Model 2: Actuals + Assumptions
Estimate the missing data points with your best-guess assumptions.
This is your baseline - what happens if nothing improves.
Model 3: Actuals, Assumptions + Improvements
Now layer in anticipated improvements:
Lower cost per inquiry
Better conversion rates
Stronger admit-to-enroll
This is where you align your team around realistic, high-leverage goals.
Examples:
📉 Decrease CPI from $185 to $160
📈 Improve app start-to-complete by 10%
🧲 Increase admit-to-enroll yield by 3 points
📋 3. Develop the Plan
Once the model is built, shift from what needs to happen to how you’ll make it happen.
Start with a brainstorm:
Gather your team and generate a comprehensive list of performance improvement ideas by funnel stage. Capture them all in a master doc (we call it a "Comprehensive Opportunities Document").
Then score each idea using a T-shirt sizing exercise:
🔧 Input Effort: How hard is this to pull off? (S → XL)
🎯 Impact Potential: How big of a result could it drive? (S → XL)
Prioritize the list based on highest impact and most achievable.
Your final plan should include:
🎯 The goal (Total Revenue & Net New Starts)
⚙️ The objectives (Funnel-Specific Targets)
👥 Owners (Who’s Responsible for What Objective)
📈 Strategies (What You’re Focusing On)
✅ Tactics (How You’ll Get There)
Now you have a strategic, defensible, and actionable plan to socialize with leadership and align your team.
It may still feel optimistic, but at least you have a concrete plan for how you just might pull it off.
🧠 Key Takeaways
Know your constraints.
Know what’s fixed vs. flexible.
Translate big goals into funnel-specific objectives.
Align your team around realistic, high-leverage changes.
Build from budget → to model → to plan → to execution.
🔜 Coming Next Week…
If this process has you feeling like your model still doesn’t work, don’t panic.
Next week’s newsletter will dive into the highest-impact levers you can pull to boost performance fast - even when your back’s against the wall.
Let’s keep building.
- Seth
About The Author
Seth is the founder and CEO of Kanahoma, a San Diego-based performance marketing agency on a mission to build a better agency for organizations building a better world.
You can learn more about who we are and what we do at www.Kanahoma.com.