The new year has arrived, which means it’s time to pull together your end-of-year (EOY) PPC report. But an EOY report isn’t just an expanded version of your usual monthly performance recap. It’s often intended for a different audience – typically senior leadership who don’t review your ongoing reports – and it needs to communicate a different kind of story. When done well, your year-end report shapes the agenda for 2026, secures buy-in for your strategy, and positions you as a strategic partner instead of simply a campaign executor. When done poorly, it leads to confusion and can erode confidence in your work.
Here’s how to create an EOY PPC report that resonates with leadership and sets your programs up for success in the coming year.
1. Clarify your audience and what they care about
You’d never launch a new campaign without defined goals and target audiences. Apply the same discipline to your EOY report. Different stakeholders judge performance through very different perspectives. For instance, among the clients I’m building reports for this year are:
- A leadership team I’ve never met (even though I’ve worked with this client for eight years) that wants a concise, high-level report capped at five pages.
- A data-obsessed CEO who expects a tight narrative linking PPC investment, strategic decisions, and business outcomes.
- A newly hired director who needs background on the competitive landscape, current performance, and concrete opportunities for the coming year.
If I tried to use a single, one-size-fits-all EOY template for all three, I’d end up with, at best, one satisfied leadership group and two confused or dissatisfied ones. I…