Agency business planning is something we at Second Wind talk about every year and for good reason. Some agencies have this discipline down to a science. But many smaller shops still get swept into the daily whirlwind of deadlines, client needs, staffing questions, and the constant pressure to keep work moving. In that mode, planning easily becomes the thing you will get to when things slow down, which rarely happens.
Yet despite the shifting tides, including new tools, tighter budgets, and evolving platforms, one truth remains: your agency business plan is the single most important document you will write all year. It helps you move from reactive production to thoughtful leadership. It creates direction. It strengthens culture. It allows you to steer the agency intentionally instead of letting circumstances steer it for you.
As we enter 2026, here is an eight-step planning process to move your agency up to a new level.
1. Review
Begin with a thorough recap of the year behind you. Look at achievements, unexpected challenges, client wins and losses, financial performance, operational bottlenecks, and how your competitive landscape has shifted. Consider how new tools or workflows influenced your teams, positively or negatively, and note where your agency spent the most energy. This review is not just history. It is insight.
2. Analyze
Bring your key managers together, the people you rely on most and trust to push the agency forward. Share the recap and talk honestly about what the year taught you. What trends emerged? Where did you adapt well? Where did you stay stuck? These conversations create alignment and reveal what your agency is truly poised to do next.
3. List Agency Goals
Ask each leader to create three clear, concrete goals for the coming year. Goals like “Win three dream clients,” “Boost AGI by 20 percent,” or “Build a stronger niche position in X vertical.” When gathered together, these lists form a collective snapshot of your agency’s aspirations and the common priorities that matter most.
4. Set Agency Goals
From the combined lists, choose a small set of big-picture goals to anchor your 2026 plan. They should align with your positioning, reflect your core strengths, and push your agency toward meaningful growth. Three well-chosen goals are enough. These become the North Star you will use to filter decisions, priorities, and investments throughout the year.
5. Identify Needs
Once the goals are defined, clarify what the agency needs in order to reach them. That might mean adjusting responsibilities, making strategic hires, upgrading software or hardware, refining your service mix, packaging new offerings, or committing to a specific vertical. Do not limit this to tools or tactics. Sometimes the biggest need is better process, more focus, or clearer internal communication.
6. Involve Employees
Share the big-picture plan with your full team. Let them see where the agency is heading and invite them to set short-term goals of their own that support the larger plan. Employees often set higher, more ambitious goals for themselves than leadership would. Keep these goals to manageable time frames, usually one to three months, and schedule regular check-ins to revisit progress, adjust, and set new targets.
7. Write the Plan
Pull everything into a single, clear document. Make it visible. Post it. Share it. Email it. A plan loses its power when it is hidden in a folder. The more your team sees it, the more they treat it as a shared commitment.
8. Pursue the Plan Religiously
When you revisit this process every year and follow through, you build a culture of clarity, accountability, and shared momentum. Your agency becomes more cohesive, more strategic, and far better positioned to grow with intention.
2026 will reward agencies that plan deliberately, communicate clearly, and stay open to evolving how they work. Start the year with purpose, and you will give your agency the clarity and confidence to make the most of the opportunities ahead.
