Drive growth with a 90-day operating rhythm

31 December 2025

Article Summary:

In 2026, SMEs will win growth by running marketing as a disciplined operating rhythm. This article explains the 90-day Transform Loop, a quarterly cycle of Review, Focus, Implement and Optimise that turns strategy into shipped work and measurable pipeline, even when time, people and budgets are tight. It also shows how to keep the loop aligned to annual direction so you avoid short-term tactics, while still making faster decisions on ICP, offer, proof and execution priorities every 90 days.

Introduction

Only 27% of SMEs set clear objectives even when they use specialist marketing services, which is why growth needs a 90-day operating rhythm, not a prettier annual plan.

January looks tidy.
February gets messy.
March turns into “we’ll review next quarter”.

The core problem is not effort.
It’s cadence.

SME marketing usually fails because it tries to manage growth as a document, not as an operating system.

And when budgets are tight, you don’t get many chances to be wrong. One report on the Gartner CMO Spend Survey noted marketing budgets flatlining at 7.7% of company revenue. Whether you’re above or below that benchmark, the signal is the same: you can’t assume “more budget” will save weak prioritisation.

So here’s a simpler way to run growth.

Where annual planning still matters

Annual and longer-term strategy still matters. It sets direction, constraints and the big bets. The problem is using the annual plan as the operating rhythm.

The 90-day loop is the execution cadence that turns strategy into shipped work and measurable outcomes.

Run the 90-day loop without an annual guide and it becomes too tactical. You end up optimising activity, not building advantage. Run annual planning without a 90-day cadence and you get tidy documents and messy delivery.

The answer is both: strategy sets the “where and why”, the 90-day loop drives the “what and now”.

The 90-day transform loop

It’s a four-stage cycle you repeat every quarter:

1) Review (Week 1)

Goal: make decisions with evidence, not opinions.

What to review:

• pipeline and lead quality (not just traffic)
• which channels created qualified opportunities
• which offers are easiest to sell, and why
• where the funnel leaks (handover, response time, conversion)

Output (one page):

• what worked
• what didn’t
• what we learned

2) Focus (Week 2)

Goal: choose fewer bets and fund them properly.

Make three decisions:

• ICP (Ideal Customer Profile): who are we targeting for the next 90 days?
• Offer: what are we selling them, and what do they get next?
• Proof: what evidence will remove risk for this buyer?

Then pick:

• 1 primary KPI (pipeline created OR qualified leads)
• 3 priorities for the quarter
• 3 things you will stop

And sanity-check these choices against the annual goals and positioning, so the quarter stays directional.

If you don’t stop things, you didn’t prioritise.

3) Implement (Weeks 3–10)

Goal: ship weekly, not “launch eventually”.

Set a weekly cadence:

• 30 minutes: what shipped, what’s next, what’s blocked
• one owner per deliverable
• one definition of “done” before work starts

Most SMEs don’t need more ideas.
They need fewer projects that actually get finished.

4) Optimise (Weeks 6–12, overlapping)

Goal: improve results without increasing workload.

Optimisation rules that keep you honest:

• If it isn’t measured to revenue decisions, it’s a hobby.
• If it can’t be repeated, it’s not a strategy.
• If sales won’t use it, don’t build it.

A simple optimisation list:

• tighten messaging on the money pages
• add conversion tracking where it’s missing
• improve lead response time and handover
• build one reusable proof asset (case study, benchmark, pricing drivers)

Why this works for SMEs

Because it matches how real constraint works:

• limited time
• limited people
• limited budget

And it forces the thing most teams avoid: saying no.

A final note. Marketing Week reported that 67% of SMEs have no marketing action plan. I don’t think the solution is a bigger plan. The solution is a plan you can execute, measure, and repeat every 90 days.

If you want to try this:
Run the 90-day loop once inside your annual plan.
Then decide if you ever want to run growth any other way.

Sources

• Marketing Week: SME marketing plans (stats)
• Gartner: 2025 CMO Spend Survey (budgets)
• MediaPost: Summary coverage of Gartner budget findings
• Epitomise: Take advantage of tech-driven change