5 Things DTC Marketers Should Be Doing Now to Win Q4

Q4 carries weight. It’s where a strong finish can create momentum into the next year, and where performance can either validate your strategy or expose its weak points. The stakes are high, but the opportunity is there for brands that prepare with discipline.
What we see at Cannella, working with performance-focused DTC teams, is that the best Q4 results come from the groundwork laid well before the calendar flips to November. Below are five areas we’re advising our partners to focus on now, while there’s still time to shape the outcome.
1. Refresh Creative That Reflects How People Actually Buy in Q4
Consumer behavior shifts heading into the holidays. People respond more to urgency, deadlines, bundles, and gifting-related offers. Creative that feels clear and timely tends to outperform branding spots that were built for evergreen use.
This doesn’t mean starting over. For many brands, a few thoughtful adjustments go a long way: messaging that highlights seasonal promotions, edits that move with more energy, or visuals that cue limited-time value. If you have modular assets, you’re already ahead. Use them to create variations that speak to what people care about in this part of the year.
2. Make Attribution Useful Before the Pace Picks Up
Media mix complexity tends to increase in Q4. With more channels in play and shorter decision windows, it gets more important to understand what’s working and what isn’t. Waiting until peak weeks to hone the attribution puts you in a reactive position.
This is a good time to step back and assess how your measurement systems are performing. Can you tie CTV impressions to visitors and purchasers in site traffic? Do you understand how top-of-funnel campaigns are influencing conversions, even if they’re not the last click? Are you set up to measure incrementality, or just looking at what the platform dashboards report?
Getting your attribution setup dialed in now gives your team a clearer read on what’s driving performance and where to focus. It’s a critical step in making faster, more informed decisions when it matters most.
3. Keep Media Plans Flexible Enough to Adjust
Q4 always brings changes – CPMs rise, competition intensifies, and audience behavior shifts. Pre-booking everything far in advance may feel like control, but it can lock you into placements that stop delivering.
We’ve found that a structured but flexible approach tends to perform better. Build the plan with intent, but leave space to respond. That might mean reserving media but holding back part of your budget. It might mean developing creative variations in advance so you can pivot quickly if something hits.
The brands that navigate Q4 well aren’t the ones who got everything right from the start. They’re the ones with room to adapt and a team that knows how to make changes without slowing down.
4. Model Multiple Scenarios, Not Just a Single Forecast
A revenue target is helpful, but without scenarios to back it up, it can leave teams guessing under pressure. Media costs can shift. Offers can overperform or underdeliver. Inventory can run out early. All of those variables affect how and where you should invest as the quarter unfolds.
Scenario planning helps reduce that uncertainty. Mapping out different media mixes, spend levels, and expected CPAs allows you to react with more confidence. You can identify early where you’ll see diminishing returns and where incremental spend might still drive profitable growth.
This also helps bring other teams – like finance and operations – into alignment, so that what’s happening in media doesn’t outpace what the rest of the organization can support.
5. Make Sure Everyone Is Operating from the Same Playbook
Misalignment can be subtle, but it shows up when things get busy. If creative is chasing polish, media is chasing scale, and analytics is chasing attribution clarity, the campaign can feel disconnected. That becomes more of a risk when there’s less time to course-correct.
The teams that work well through Q4 tend to align early around a few clear goals. Whether that’s new customer acquisition at a target ROAS, volume at a sustainable CPA, or a blended return across the entire funnel, everyone should be building toward the same outcome.
It’s also worth checking in on cadence. Weekly performance reviews, shared dashboards, and short creative feedback loops help teams stay on the same page when the pace picks up.
Planning Ahead Creates the Space to Perform Later
Q4 is demanding, but it doesn’t have to feel chaotic. Most of what drives success happens before the first campaign launches: testing creative, refining tracking, setting up flexible media buys, and modeling outcomes with clarity.
For teams focused on profitable growth, this preparation allows you to stay responsive, keep your margins healthy, and scale what’s working while others scramble to react.
At Cannella, this is how we help our partners approach Q4. We focus on execution that’s measurable, creative that sells, and plans that leave room to move. If you’re aiming for accountable growth this quarter, let’s talk.