Your Marketing Plan Needs a Reality Check

Your plan might look solid on paper, but there is a problem most teams will feel by spring. Not because of budget. Not because of headcount. Because the content you are counting on will not move deals.

Most B2B teams are sitting on a library that feels productive but performs poorly. Forrester reports that 60% to 70% of content goes unused. That means money spent, momentum lost and sales teams left without what they need.

The issue is not volume. It is alignment. Too many assets are outdated, buried or disconnected from the conversations buyers want to have. Before building another campaign, teams should take inventory, refresh what works and connect those pieces to current goals.

In this article, Access Marketing Company breaks down how to audit your content, activate what still has value, and amplify it across campaigns, sales plays and social so your 2026 plan drives real outcomes.

If your content is collecting dust or your team keeps asking for “something better,” this is worth a read.

House Members Express Concern with Broadband Labels NPRM

Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA) and 30 other House members sent a letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to express concern about the FCC’s vote to remove several broadband label requirements and solicit comment on proposals that would eliminate even more.

They said weakening these protections undermines the purpose of broadband labels and makes it harder for consumers to understand and compare service options. They urged the FCC to maintain the current requirement that broadband labels be provided in English and any additional languages in which a provider markets its services, and urged the FCC to actively monitor and enforce compliance with this requirement.

House Holds Hearing on Cyber and Security Threats to the Grid

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy held an oversight hearing titled Securing America’s Energy Infrastructure: Addressing Cyber and Physical Threats to the Grid. The hearing focused on growing cyber and physical threats to the U.S. electric grid, with particular focus on nation-state adversaries (especially China), AI-enabled operations, supply-chain risks, and the readiness of utilities and federal agencies.

Chair Bob Latta (R-OH) and Full Committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY) framed grid security as a core national-security and reliability issue, while Ranking Member Kathy Castor (D-FL) and Democrats emphasized that secure grid modernization and clean-energy deployment must move forward together. Witnesses urged Congress to sustain Department of Energy-led cyber programs, strengthen public–private collaboratives such as E-ISAC, support smaller utilities and co-ops, and address supply-chain and workforce constraints so security can keep pace with rapidly rising demand.

Senate Subcommittee Holds Cybersecurity Hearing

The Senate Commerce, Science and Technology Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Media held a hearing titled Signal Under Siege: Defending America’s Communications Networks. The hearing revealed a sharp divide over how to secure U.S. communications networks amid escalating cyber threats from China and other adversaries.

Chair Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Republicans emphasized foreign infiltration, particularly the Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon campaigns, evidence that network operators and federal agencies must prioritize deterrence, information sharing, and flexible, innovation-driven cybersecurity approaches. Sens. Fischer, Ted Cruz (R-TX), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Todd Young (R-IN) warned that rigid FCC mandates risk creating a “checklist culture” that diverts resources from real-time defensive operations. Democrats, led by Ranking Member Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), argued that the Trump Administration’s rollback of FCC cybersecurity rules left the telecom ecosystem dangerously exposed and that enforceable baselines, not voluntary commitments, essential after Salt Typhoon compromised nine major telecom carriers and sensitive law-enforcement wiretap systems. They maintained that real competitiveness against China requires strong federal oversight, stable cyber institutions, and accountability from providers, particularly where basic cyber hygiene is still inconsistent.

Senate Foreign Relations Holds International Cyber Policy Hearing

The Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy held a hearing titled Countering China’s Challenges to American AI Leadership. The hearing revealed a strong bipartisan consensus that AI leadership is a core national-security imperative while exposing sharp disagreements over how aggressively the United States should structure export controls, regulate cloud access, rebuild domestic capacity, and lead global AI governance.

Chair Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Republicans framed the AI race as a strategic contest on par with the Cold War space race, warning that Beijing’s civil-military fusion, aggressive chip smuggling and rapid AI diffusion pose an existential threat requiring strict red lines on semiconductor exports and firm restrictions on Chinese access to U.S. compute. Democrats, led by Ranking Member Chris Coons (D-DE), agreed that U.S. primacy in compute power and semiconductor design is the nation’s decisive advantage, but stressed the need for sustained investment in domestic capacity, coordinated multilateral enforcement, and guardrails on foreign AI partnerships – particularly following the Trump Administration’s suspension of the AI diffusion rule and delays in enforcing export-control measures. Both parties acknowledged that the stakes are “profound,” with members uniformly warning that losing the AI race to China would reshape global governance, military balance and economic power.

Natural Resources Committee Holds Energy Dominance Hearing

The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing titled Unleashing American Energy Dominance and Exploring New Frontiers. The hearing revealed sharp partisan divides over the path to domestic mineral security.

Chair Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Republicans framed the moment as an opportunity to “unleash American energy dominance,” repeatedly highlighting delays driven by federal permitting, foreign reliance, especially on China, and the need to accelerate mine development through regulatory reform and technological innovation. Members such as Reps. Bruce Westerman (R-AR), Pete Stauber (R-MN), Nick Begich (R-AK) and Troy Downing (R-MT) portrayed the U.S. as mineral-rich but hamstrung by federal inaction, citing 29-year mine timelines and China’s processing monopoly as unacceptable national-security risks. Democrats, led by Ranking Member Delia Ramirez (D-IL), agreed on the importance of minerals and technological advancement but asserted that Republicans were using innovation as a pretext to weaken environmental and community protections. They warned that real competitiveness requires “responsible” mining, stable policy signals, and investment continuity, not deregulation or the dismantling of renewable projects by the Trump Administration.

Reps. Express Concerns with BEAD Program

Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.), Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) and Yvette D. Clarke (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth expressing concerns with NTIA’s implementation of the BEAD Program and requesting her response to questions by December 12.

They asserted NTIA's implementation of BEAD violates the letter of the bipartisan infrastructure law and ignores the intent of Congress. They said that:

• Neither NTIA nor any administration official has the authority to ignore the plain language of the statute and congressional intent
• The Trump BEAD Program now resembles the RDOF Program
• Neither the law nor a directive from the president through an executive order empowers NTIA to impound billions of dollars Congress authorized and appropriated in full to achieve specific policy outcomes

Congressional Wi-Fi Caucus Relaunched

Reps. Bob Latta (R-OH) and Troy Carter (D-LA) and Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-IL) and Pete Ricketts (R-NE) announced the relaunch of the bipartisan, bicameral Wi-Fi Caucus, which they will chair.

Initially founded in 2018, the Wi-Fi Caucus is dedicated to assisting members of Congress in better understanding how Wi-Fi benefits the American public, consumers, economy and the larger geopolitical standing of the United States.