Yearly Marketing Strategy

Sad but true, many small business owners never really plan their marketing strategy for the coming year. But if they knew the benefits it would bring, guaranteed they'd do it.

Yearly Schedules

Every October I open up the previous year’s "Yearly Marketing Schedule" and revise it for the coming year. So what's on this document? Great question.

Monthly Topics

For Oostas it's simple. We decided years ago to have one topic each month where we provide our contacts with educational resources. For example, in the end of 2019 we decided our topic for October 2020 would be 'Yearly Marketing Plans.' And now, 11 months later I'm sitting in my favorite coffee shop to write this blog post. Having a monthly topic keeps it simple, plus we have time throughout the year to plan the resources that we provide each month.

* Important:  Keep it educational or entertaining. Make sure your communication with your contact list is either educating or entertaining them. If not, they'll lose interest fast.

Calls To Action

A critical part of any marketing is your Call To Action (CTA). Any time you communicate with potential customers there needs to be a clear action you want them to take and that action needs to be enticing enough for them to take action. An example of a great CTA would be a sale or a free resource.

Example Yearly Schedule

If you're visual like I am you need to see something to understand it. Below is a link to download an example yearly schedule for you to use. It's simple, but shows how we plan our our monthly topics for the year. Download an example Yearly Marketing Schedule.

* Important: How often should I be communicating with my contacts? The answer is simple: Communicate as often as you can provide value. If you can only provide valuable content once a month; that's your answer. If you've got a legit stockpile of resources and can provide valuable content every week, then go for it.

Monthly Schedules

Once you have your yearly schedule and broken it down into monthly topics, it's time to figure out how to put it all into action. Lining up your marketing "channels" is a critical part. Channels are the avenue you'll use to communicate, typically being email, social media, blog posts, print media etc.

Scheduling Posts On Social Media

If you haven't already started using a scheduling tool for your social media posts, don't wait. It's an incredible time saver and helps you actually be consistent. Some free scheduling tools include Hootsuite, Loomly, Later and others. Take a few hours each month to sit down and plan your social media posts for the coming month. Remember to educate, entertain and provide value. After your short planning schedule you can breathe easy, knowing your social media posts are all done for the coming month.

Monthly Blog Writing

Anytime you need to write content for your business I recommend getting away from your normal work place and either go to your favorite coffee shop of a quite park and give yourself some time away. If you're going to write a monthly blog, having the topic planned ahead of time makes it so much easier. Here is a recent blog post with tips on writing content.

Hope all that is helpful. As always, if you have any questions or need any input in marketing your business, reach out today. We love to chat and are here to answer your questions.