Hard to believe, but it’s almost 2025… and with the new year fast approaching, many marketers are facing a familiar dilemma: How to make the most of your end-of-year marketing budget. We all know how it goes — use it strategically now, or risk a smaller budget next year.

Making the most of this remaining spend is about more than just meeting this year’s goals — it’s an opportunity to lay the groundwork for an even better 2025. 

Here, we explore seven high-impact ways to leverage your remaining budget — from quick wins to foundational projects — and wrap up the year with purpose and momentum.

1. Strategic planning

With the year drawing to a close, now’s the time to establish a proactive, comprehensive strategy for 2025. A well-rounded plan for marketing, PR, communications, media outreach and event participation ensures brand visibility and supports growth in the months ahead.

Additionally, developing a content and social calendar in advance helps keep your messaging aligned with upcoming campaigns, long-term company goals, industry trends and audience needs. Not to mention how challenging it can be to build and research a calendar once you’re in the swing of things. 

For example, mapping out an editorial calendar with themes for quarterly financial outlooks or insurance industry trend reports ensures that each piece of content serves a purpose — whether to educate, build trust or inspire action.

Beyond content, consider your conference and media strategy. Look beyond simply attending events and instead think strategically about where your team can add value through speaking engagements, sponsorships or targeted media outreach. A well-planned approach to conferences enables your brand to make an impact that resonates long after the event.

Actionable Tips: 

• Consider allocating budget to developing an editorial calendar that aligns with your 2025 goals and roadmap. 
• For brands looking to elevate their presence at conferences and in the media, a targeted outreach strategy provides a framework for identifying and pursuing the right opportunities. 
• Pre-planning key campaigns helps ensure your brand is positioned to maintain visibility and relevance.

2. Short-term engagements for immediate impact

If boosting visibility in the near term is a priority, you might consider planning one-off PR or media outreach projects to launch early next year. Preparing announcements — such as product launches, key hires or partnership news — now enables you to hit the ground running once the noise of the holiday season is over.

Other short-term projects could include media training for executives or developing (or refreshing) a crisis communications plan to ensure your team is ready to respond to unexpected events and protect your brand’s reputation. 

You might also consider commissioning a high-impact industry research study and developing a comprehensive promotion strategy. One investment study we worked on, for example, garnered more than 500 million impressions via widespread media coverage including top-tier publications, bringing both credibility and visibility to that brand.

Actionable Tip: Tap remaining budget to work with a PR agency to help you tell the story behind your latest news, develop a foundational crisis plan or coach your executive team on how best to represent your brand in interviews, pitches and presentations.

3. Website and SEO enhancements

Investing in your website’s performance and search engine optimization is a practical way to drive both immediate engagement and long-term growth. Nearly half of all desktop search clicks go to organic results, reflecting users’ greater trust in unpaid links over ads. By optimizing your site, you can capture more of this valuable traffic and build a stronger, more credible digital presence.

A comprehensive site audit can identify opportunities to improve load speed, enhance mobile accessibility and refine your keyword strategy. However, even small technical adjustments, like compressing images or streamlining your site structure, can make a noticeable difference in user engagement and search rankings.

Actionable Tip: Consider putting end-of-year budget toward a comprehensive site audit or bringing in an SEO specialist to address technical issues, make optimizations or refresh outdated content. These targeted investments can improve user experience and boost your site’s domain authority.

4. Digital ad testing and campaigns

As the year wraps up, consider testing a variety of digital ad strategies to gather insights on what resonates with your audience. From A/B testing ad copy and visuals to exploring targeted campaigns on Google, LinkedIn or Facebook, these experiments can help you fine-tune your messaging, identify high-performing formats and find out where your target audience is best reached.

Additionally, promoting or boosting existing content — such as blog posts, eBooks and industry reports — can extend the reach of valuable resources, attracting more qualified leads and driving engagement.

Examples of potential year-end ad tests:

• A/B testing different visuals, headlines and calls to action
• Promoting high-value content like educational content and downloadable guides
• Testing campaigns across different search and social media platforms
• Exploring lookalike audiences to reach new segments similar to existing customers

Actionable Tip: Use a portion of your remaining budget to test different audience segments, creative formats or targeting options. These insights will help you identify the most effective strategies moving forward, ensuring your ad spend reaches (and resonates with) the right audiences.

5. Creative refresh

Depending on your product or business, the end of year can be the perfect time for a brand refresh. Updating visual assets helps maintain consistency across channels, ensuring your brand is presented in the best light. According to research by Marq, companies can grow their revenue by 10-20% simply by making their brand more consistent.

Keep in mind this doesn’t have to be a complete overhaul. Small adjustments can make a surprisingly big difference.

Consider refreshing assets like:

• Social media templates
• Email headers and footers
• Sales enablement collateral
• Presentation decks
• Brand videos
• Website banners and graphics
• Digital ad creatives
• Case studies and whitepaper designs
• Event signage and booth graphics

Actionable Tip: Engage a designer or agency to create a brand refresh kit with updated templates, new assets (like that one-sheet sales has been asking for since last year) and fresh photography to enhance your brand’s look.

6. Testing new channels or formats

Now can also be a good time to explore new content formats or channels that could help broaden your reach. Small-scale experiments, like short-term campaigns or interactive tools, can provide early indicators of what resonates with your audience and where there’s potential for further engagement.

Actionable Tip: Use remaining budget to test one or two new content formats or platforms, such as a new social media channel or an interactive feature. These quick tests can reveal audience preferences, helping you refine your 2025 content strategy.

7. Audience and market research

The end of the year is an ideal time to invest in audience and market research to better inform your messaging and outreach. Understanding customer preferences, industry trends and competitive dynamics can be invaluable for fine-tuning your approach.

Actionable Tip: Use remaining budget to conduct surveys, focus groups or data analysis that uncover customer behaviors, pain points and emerging trends. This data helps ensure your upcoming campaigns resonate with target segments and reflect the latest market insights.

Make the most of your end-of-year marketing budget

These seven strategies offer high-impact ways to maximize your end-of-year marketing budget, creating value now and setting the stage for future success. Whether you’re developing a communications plan, building a content calendar, testing new channels or enhancing your website, each of these options represents a valuable opportunity to strengthen your brand and drive results.

Of course, it’s essential to consider which of these investments align best with your goals. If you’re not sure what makes the most sense for your brand, we can help. As a leading PR, marketing and communications agency focused exclusively on fintech, financial services and insurtech, we can help you craft high-impact strategies that speak to the needs of your unique audience.

Contact us today to discuss the best ways to leverage your unused marketing spend.