An accounting firm's marketing lead sends a twelve-slide deck on the first Monday of every month. The partners open it, scroll to the last slide and close it. By the third month nobody opens it at all, and the one request buried on slide nine never gets an answer.
Why the deck stops getting read
A monthly update fails for a predictable reason. It is written to prove that marketing was busy, so it lists everything that happened. The reader wants something else: to know whether anything changed that affects their work, and whether anyone needs something from them.
A busy list buries both. The fix is to write the update for the reader's two questions and move the activity log somewhere they can find it if they care.
The four parts of a one-page update
Every update I write follows the same order, so readers learn where to look:
- What happened: two or three sentences against what last month's update said would happen.
- What we learned: one finding that changes how the team thinks about customers or channels.
- What changes next month: the one or two moves that follow from that finding.
- What I need from you: a named person, a specific request, a date.
The last part is the one people skip, and it is the reason the update exists. If marketing needs three customer stories from the delivery team, the update is where that request is visible to the whole firm, with a name next to it.
Pick the numbers once, then stop adding
Choose the handful of numbers the team cares about at the start of the quarter and report only those every month. For a service firm that is usually leads by source, the share that became booked calls, and the share that became clients. Adding a new chart each month makes the update longer and makes trends harder to see.
Put each number next to last month's and say in words what moved. A table with no sentence beside it makes the reader do the analysis, and most will not. If a number moved because of something outside marketing, such as a holiday or a price change, say so plainly instead of claiming the result.
Write the finding as a sentence a salesperson could repeat
The learning section works when it changes a conversation. 'Engagement increased on LinkedIn' changes nothing. 'Prospects who came from the payroll guide asked about year-end deadlines on their first call' is something a salesperson can use the same afternoon.
One finding is enough. Three findings read as a list, and lists get skimmed. If you have more, keep them for the quarterly review.
What to leave out
- Every post, email and ad you published. Link the calendar instead.
- Vanity numbers nobody agreed to track, such as follower counts on their own.
- Excuses. If something did not work, state it and say what you will try instead.
- Jargon the partners would have to look up.
Leaving these out feels risky the first month because the update looks thin. By the second month people start replying to it, which is the signal that it is working.
Send it the same way at the same time
Send the update on a fixed day, by email or in the team's chat tool, as text in the message body. Attachments and slide links get opened later, which means never. A consistent day turns it into a habit for the reader, and a consistent structure lets them jump straight to the part about them.
If you are building marketing without a full-time lead, this update is one of the cheapest ways to keep a small team pointed the same way. It is also one of the first habits a fractional CMO puts in place, because it makes every later decision visible to the people who have to act on it.
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