If you miss semis / finals you should be able to put your energy towards the next season by using all of it for promoting or fund raising or have it done automatically so they can have a head start so they can catch up to the groups ahead of them. You would just be able to start fund raising for two days (even though it's at 400 energy).

The problem with that is the entire thing resets again for the new season.

Money doesn't.

Your staff and money carries over to the next season. So what Cinman2 said is probably the best strategy for those who are not going to be in Finals

Money technically does, if you want to go there. You get the money you earned.

i really agree with this because the groups w/less money and etc. tend to do not as good as the groups that do.... so why not let the people who didnt make it use their energy for other things?

The reason groups with less money tend not to do as well is because the director didn't make the right choices while playing the game. It all comes down to skill, why would you reward the players with the least skill?

Well this already happens to an extend, you just can't use all 400 energy. The groups that are in finals are using most of their energy to improve their scores, while everyone else allows their campaigns to run at maximum.