Creating a calendar of your planned marketing tactics combined with your marketing budget will actually save time and money if planned at the beginning of the year.  So often I hear from people that tell me they don’t know what to write on their blog, don’t know what to post on social media are behind the proverbial eight ball for each thing they promote and all of this is due to lack of planning. 

Plan for Success

You can ensure that expected results happen when you plan your activity.  I advise planning the entire years topics on a large wall calendar.  This way you are always focused at a glance on your monthly topics.  I know this project may feel overwhelming because of the amount of work to complete a years worth of topics but in the long run it saves you time throughout the year.  I typically use the last couple weeks in December because that is a slower time for me and I can focus more attention on getting this done.

Each month create a theme

By creating a theme for each month you can focus your time and attention on this singular theme.  This way your blog posts, social media themes and advertising are all about one central theme.  Even if you curate content to fill in, you will be looking for content around your theme.  I choose my themes based on what my target audience wants to learn from me.  Perhaps you need to gather some intel from you followers about what they want to learn from you by simply asking them.  Send a quick poll with the question, “What would you like to learn more about from me.” You can use a tool like Survey Monkey,

Here are some benefits to creating a calendar;

1.  You communicate your clear marketing message consistently

2.  Your time is more effectively utilized when the plan is already set, you simply follow the map

3.  You are able to focus your content and beef up the value driven aspect when you know the primary theme or topic

4.  Build promotions around holidays and observances.   Here’s a resource site to find those dates and create themes:  http://www.brownielocks.com/

5.  Write blog posts in advance and schedule them out to coincide with your monthly marketing campaign

Action steps to creating a marketing strategy

1. Write a marketing strategy – Remember, a marketing strategy is a clear explanation of how you’re going to get there, not where or what there is. An effective marketing strategy is a concise explanation of your stated plan of execution to reach your objectives.

2. Create your yearly marketing calendar

3.  Create a marketing budget – yes, it takes money to make money!  Where does it make sense to invest?  Facebooks ads, Google Ad words, updating your website, a professional marketing coach?  Whatever that is I encourage you to allocate some budget for these activities.

4. Create the marketing calendar as described above

Are these steps doable?  Will you commit now?  Would love to hear from you in the comments below!