if you’re not already planning for q4, you’re behind, bestie
There’s a version out there of a Q4 that feels like a fire drill. A panicked, expensive, reactive one.
Your campaigns get thrown together at the last minute, ads go live with thrown-together copy, and then you remember that you haven’t nurtured your email list through the summer like you’d intended to. It might still work, which rewards your last minute effort (listen, I have Sagittarius placements and procrastinated every school project I ever did, I know how this works), but it’s costly in time, effort, and mental stability.
Brands that traditionally have a strong Q4 start planning in August, sometimes even earlier. I’ve worked at companies before that shot for Black Friday and Christmas in July. This isn’t because they're overachievers (like I used to think people who did this were), but because the window for good decisions closes earlier than most people realize.
what does “planning” for Q4 look like
I think we all know by now what the difference is between having a strategy and having a task list. Strategy encompasses your goal, your budget, target audience, and a sequence of steps that move someone who may have never heard of you before into taking whatever action you want them to take.
Being busy without being intentional about it is where you’re going to fail. If something worked during Q4 and you can’t tell anyone why it worked, what was the point?
Your starting point is this: decide what your Q4 is for. What’s your goal? More revenue? Subscribers? A visibility push? Whatever you answer here is going to change how you move forward into planning.
why august is the window
Q4 is expensive. CPMs across all platforms start to rise as early as September. Paid ad spots are probably already full, and if they aren’t, they cost a premium. Award and speaking applications for 2027 are usually settled by September. Holiday gift guides at major publications close as early as July and August. If you want earned media coverage before the holidays, those pitches need to go out now.
Campaigns stagnate over the summer, even if your product is made for the season. Advertising costs stay relatively stable (spiking for Memorial Day and Father’s Day sales, typically), making it a good time to spend time strategizing and executing before things get pricey. Once you have your campaigns in place, you can spend Q4 optimizing what you’ve already been running instead of scrambling to put something together.
what has to be decided before anything gets done
The biggest execution mistake is skipping to content before the strategy is settled. Brands design beautiful campaigns around a goal they haven't clearly defined, or they drive traffic to a page that isn't ready to convert it. The effort is real, but the sequencing is wrong.
Before a single piece of content gets written or an ad goes into production, these questions need clear answers:
What is the one action you want someone to take?
What is the entry point for someone who finds you for the first time in Q4 and has never heard of you?
Is your email list warm, or has it been quiet for months?
Is your website ready to handle the goal you've set?
Figuring this out in August means your execution in September and October has somewhere to land.
your Q4 planning checklist
These are the decisions that need to be locked before August ends, broken out by category.
✓ Paid media. What’s your current channel mix? What’s performing the best? Set your budgets for those channels now (account for higher costs), and don’t introduce any new channels after mid-September at the very latest.
✓ Content. What is the narrative thread across October, November, and December? Your content should be building toward something, not just filling a calendar. Decide the campaign theme, the key messages, and where each piece is pointing people.
✓ Email. When did you last send? If your list has been cold, start warming it in August with value-focused sends before you ask for anything. Map out the campaign sequence, including how many touches between now and your offer, and what each email is doing in the journey.
✓ PR and partnerships. Editorial calendars are being planned now. If you want press coverage, podcast appearances, or collaborative promotions before the end of the year, those conversations start in August. Holiday gift guide pitches have the earliest deadlines of anything on this list.
✓ Offers and promotions. What, specifically, are you promoting? Is the offer ready? Meaning the landing page exists, the checkout works, and the messaging is tight? Decide the offer before you build the campaign around it.
the one thing that kills Q4 campaigns
Executing before your strategy is locked in. Not your budget, the competition, or the algorithm. Brands spend real money driving traffic to pages that don't convert because no one stopped to check if the path made sense. They run email campaigns to cold lists and wonder why open rates are low. They launch ads on a new platform without a testing period and burn through budget during the most expensive weeks of the year.
The issue is almost always sequence, not effort. A well-sequenced plan with a modest budget will outperform a reactive sprint with a big one.
Q4 is worth doing well. August is when that happens.
— Natalie
LAHO is a PR and marketing agency for professional service firms, emerging brands, and public figures. Think PR with punch, marketing with mood, and the strategy a vision board would hire. We pride ourselves on having creative ideas and being strategy-first, so all the stand-out things we do to build visibility and growth are also backed by experience & data. Need a Q3/Q4 strategy that’s already sequenced? Reach out here.
