Cricuts….
A burning smell….
Smoke coming out of your ears….
A blank stare….
Do any of those things happen to you when you sit down to create your marketing calendar? I’ll be honest, it happens to me all the time. I have great ideas while driving in my car, taking a shower, or cooking dinner. All inadequate times to be brainstorming if you ask me…well except my sister in law reminded me to use the voice to text function of my phone. Now only if I could remember that in the moment.
So, now I sit here to talk to you about creating your marketing calendar….and nothing. So breathe, refresh and let’s think this through. How do I plan out my marketing?
What Do I Use to Create My Marketing Plan?
First things first, I grab a blank calendar. As I am a pencil and paper kind of girl, I tend to print out a 12 month calendar from word and add in all the holidays I wish to recognize. (Here is one found on Google) The major Federal holidays and the funny holidays I want to use.
Planning My Dates
Next, I think back to my retail days and realize that any promotion or sale I am going to have in my online store or a special I want to run in my photography business needs to be marketed out a minimum of 3 months early. Which means start planning it 4-5 months early. I will use the example of graduation photos.
Graduations are usually in May or June.
Start advertising Graduation photos/specials in February to be booked for March/April/May
Start planning these promotions in December/January
Now see what I did there? It is best to always work backwards. Let’s do one more. A retail store planning for the Black Friday Deals/Christmas Season
I write in the major selling days and holidays
Black Friday (are you doing one day, a week, or a whole month?)
Small Business Saturday
Cyber Monday
Giving Tuesday (always like to support/highlight a non profit if I can)
Hanukkah
Christmas
Kwanzaa
Retail holiday purchases have started as early as September and October in recent years - so you want to aim your advertisements to start in these time periods
Start planning out your deals/graphics/blogs/emails/etc in June
Execute from September/October -December
9 Steps to Create the Calendar
To make it simple, here is a list of what to add to your calendar:
Major holidays
Fun holidays that fit your niche
Other fun holidays that you think would be fun engagement for your followers
Your major selling periods
Any vacation time/family time that you need to always schedule for yourself - without having to stress about upcoming marketing promotions (later blogs will help tell you how to put things on automation so you can enjoy your personal time)
When blogs need to go out
When blogs need to be created
Repeat 6 & 7 for emails, social media posts
Any other deadlines that you think are necessary in your business
Conclusion
How does that template sound? You think you can pull it together? I think you can…in fact I have every confidence in you. Remember….#yougotthis! If you have any questions or want to walk through putting together your calendar, shoot me a message!
