The Power of a Mid-Year Marketing Review: Refocus, Recharge, and Reignite Your Growth

As we pass the halfway mark of the calendar year, it’s the perfect moment for channel partners to pause, reflect, and recalibrate their marketing strategies. Whether you’ve crushed your goals in the first half or felt the weight of competing priorities and shifting market dynamics, a mid-year marketing review offers a valuable opportunity to re-focus and realign.

In the fast-paced world of IT services and solutions, staying agile and intentional with your marketing approach is critical—especially when it comes to lead generation and brand awareness. These two pillars drive sustainable growth, and if they’ve been on autopilot, it might be time to take a closer look at what’s working, what’s not, and what needs to change before the year ends.

In this blog, we’ll explore how conducting a mid-year review can re-energize your marketing efforts, strengthen your brand position, and generate more qualified leads for the months ahead.

Why Mid-Year Is the Ideal Time to Reflect

Unlike year-end reviews, which often coincide with holiday slowdowns and fiscal planning, mid-year reviews happen when there’s still runway left. You have six months of data to evaluate and another six to apply your learnings. This gives you the flexibility to pivot and optimize your marketing strategy without the pressure of closing out the year.

Here’s what makes mid-year reviews so valuable:

• Timely course correction: Catch underperforming tactics before they drain more resources.
• Budget optimization: Reallocate marketing dollars to campaigns with higher ROI.
• Goal alignment: Ensure your marketing plan still aligns with your business objectives.
• Team re-engagement: Re-focus your internal resources and reignite motivation around marketing.

For channel resellers, this is also a chance to revisit your partner programs, vendor campaigns, and MDF usage, ensuring you’re maximizing all available support and resources.

Start with the Big Picture: Are You Meeting Your Goals?

The first step in any mid-year review is a high-level assessment. Revisit your original marketing plan and ask:

• What were our primary goals for the year?
• Are we on track to meet them?
• What metrics or KPIs show progress—or lack thereof?

If you set specific lead generation or brand visibility targets, now’s the time to compare projections to actual performance. Look at things like:

• Website traffic trends
• Social media engagement and follower growth
• Email campaign performance
• Conversion rates from landing pages
• Lead volume and lead quality
• Sales pipeline contribution from marketing sources

This isn’t about assigning blame—it’s about gaining clarity. You might discover that one campaign outperformed expectations, while another fell short due to inconsistent execution or unclear messaging. Either way, the data will tell you where to focus next.

Re-Focus on Lead Generation

In today’s competitive channel ecosystem, lead generation is still the lifeblood of growth. But generating leads is only valuable if they’re the right leads—qualified, engaged, and aligned with your service offerings.

Here’s how to use your mid-year review to sharpen your lead generation strategy:

1. Revisit Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Markets evolve, and your ICP might have shifted without you realizing it. Ask yourself:

• Are we targeting the right industries and company sizes?
• Are the pain points we’re addressing still top-of-mind for these buyers?
• Have our buyer personas changed based on new services or partner programs?

Update your messaging and targeting if needed, and make sure your campaigns speak directly to the needs of your ideal audience.

2. Audit Your Campaign Funnel

Review each stage of your current lead generation funnel:

• Top-of-funnel (TOFU): Are your blog posts, social content, and webinars attracting attention?
• Middle-of-funnel (MOFU): Are your landing pages and lead magnets converting?
• Bottom-of-funnel (BOFU): Are you nurturing leads effectively and driving them toward sales conversations?

Look for gaps where leads are stalling, and prioritize improvements—whether that’s clearer CTAs, better content offers, or more timely follow-ups.

3. Refresh Your Campaigns

The middle of the year is an ideal time to launch new campaigns or re-invigorate old ones. Take advantage of seasonal relevance (back-to-school, fiscal Q3/Q4 planning) or vertical-specific pain points.

If you’re a channel partner using N‑able MarketBuilder, explore what’s newly available or under-utilized. These assets often include:

• Pre-written email sequences
• Social media posts
• Landing pages
• Campaign guides and battle cards

Use them to deploy quick, targeted lead gen campaigns without having to start from scratch.

Amplify Your Brand Awareness

While lead generation is often top priority, brand awareness is what keeps you top-of-mind and establishes credibility in the market. A well-known, well-trusted brand generates leads faster, shortens the sales cycle, and creates long-term loyalty.

Here’s how to use your mid-year review to elevate your brand:

1. Audit Your Online Presence

Your website, LinkedIn page, and other digital channels often form the first impression for your prospects. Make sure they reflect your current:

• Offerings and differentiators
• Value proposition
• Visual brand consistency

Outdated messaging or neglected pages can create confusion. Now is the time to refresh visuals, update service descriptions, and refine your brand story. MarketBuilder has a host of resources you can utilize to help you refine and redefine your brand.

2. Evaluate Your Content Strategy

Is your content delivering value? Is it consistent?

• Blog posts: Are you publishing regularly and optimizing for search?
• Thought leadership: Are you positioning your team as experts in cybersecurity, cloud, or managed services?
• Video and short-form content: Are you leveraging formats that align with how your audience consumes information?

A content audit will show you what’s resonating and what needs improvement. Aim to produce high-impact, educational content that builds trust and visibility over time.

3. Double Down on Social

Social media isn’t just about promotion—it’s about engagement. Revisit your social strategy:

• Are you active on the right platforms?
• Are your posts driving conversation or just broadcasting?
• Are you taking part in vendor or partner social campaigns?

Consider adding short-form videos, live Q&As, or customer stories to boost engagement. And don’t forget to celebrate wins—highlight client success, certifications, or internal milestones to humanize your brand.

Revisit Marketing & Sales Alignment

Another key benefit of a mid-year review is the opportunity to check in on marketing and sales alignment.

• Are sales teams following up on leads in a timely manner?
• Are marketing efforts translating into opportunities in the pipeline?
• Is there a feedback loop in place so marketing knows what kind of leads sales wants more of?

Bringing sales and marketing together—even for a short sync—can uncover valuable insights. You might find that:

• Sales needs different enablement materials
• MQL definitions need tightening
• Lead scoring needs refining

When both teams are aligned, you not only generate more leads—you convert more leads.

Optimize for What’s Next

Once you’ve reviewed what’s working and what’s not, the next step is to set your course for the rest of the year.

Build a 6-Month Marketing Action Plan

Your plan doesn’t need to be overly complex. Focus on 3-5 key priorities, such as:

• Launching two targeted lead gen campaigns
• Increasing website traffic by 25%
• Posting three times weekly on LinkedIn
• Refreshing your sales enablement library

Assign owners, define KPIs, and schedule monthly check-ins to track progress.

Get More from Vendor Programs

If you’re a channel partner, chances are your vendors offer ready-to-go marketing assets, co-branded campaigns, or MDF funding—but many partners underutilize them.

Now is a great time to:

• Check for new campaign content
• Request joint webinars or case studies
• Plan Q3/Q4 activities that align with vendor product launches

For example, N‑able MarketBuilder offers new turnkey campaigns focused on cybersecurity, Microsoft 365 protection, and unified endpoint management—all designed to help you generate leads fast and position your brand as a trusted expert.

Reignite Your Team and Your Message

Sometimes the biggest challenge in marketing isn’t strategy—it’s momentum. A mid-year review can re-energize your team by celebrating wins and giving them clarity on what’s next.

Host a short team session to:

• Share campaign performance data
• Celebrate what’s working
• Gather input on what could improve
• Reaffirm goals and next steps

Use this opportunity to tighten your messaging too. Refine your elevator pitch, update client-facing slides, and ensure every team member can clearly articulate:

• Who you help
• What problems you solve
• Why you’re different from competitors

A clear, confident message delivered consistently across all channels is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal.

Final Thoughts: Don’t Let the Second Half Go to Waste

The second half of the year holds tremendous potential—but only if you act on it with purpose. A mid-year marketing review can give you a strategic advantage. It empowers you to:

• Reinforce your strengths
• Fix what’s underperforming
• Re-align your team and goals
• Build momentum for year-end success

If lead generation or brand visibility have fallen behind, this is your time to catch up. And if you’ve already hit your targets? Great—use the next six months to double down and scale your impact.

Ready to Take Action?

Here’s your quick-start checklist for a mid-year marketing review:

• Revisit your goals and metrics
• Audit your campaigns and content
• Refresh your ICP and messaging
• Tighten marketing and sales alignment
• Plan 1-2 high-impact lead gen campaigns
• Engage with your vendor marketing programs – utilize the ready to go content and campaigns in MarketBuilder
• Re-energize your team around the plan

Need help? Reach out to your channel account manager or explore new campaigns and resources in your partner portal or platform like MarketBuilder.

Let’s make the rest of this year your strongest yet.

Tracy Trottier is a marketing manager and heads up the MarketBuilder program at N‑able