Plan Your Way to Success in 2013

Forget New Year’s resolutions, it’s time to put together your 2013 marketing calendar. With the new year less than 60 days away, do you have your marketing plans in place for next year?

Many small businesses do not put together a yearly marketing calendar because they know they can’t predict everything that is going to happen, so they figure why try. That’s true, but it’s also a cop out. Just because you put together a plan, it doesn’t mean you can’t change the plan based on new information and real situations as you move through the year.

Taking the time now to think through what you want to do next year will help you better focus on what you need to do to succeed. You can plan for the optimum situation and make sure you’ve thought through the timing. And you can consider what resources it will take to execute on the plan. Then you can fill in the details and update the plan one month at a time as you move throughout the year.

7 Categories to Consider for Your Marketing Plan:

1) Products and Services
– New Product/Service Launches
– New Product/Service End of Life

2) Seasonal Messaging
– Monthly Themes
– Holidays

3) Customer Contact Plan
– Email Schedule
– Direct Mail Schedule
– Newsletter Plan
– Social Media Plan
– Texting/Mobile Plan

4) Sales and Promotions
– In-Store Sales Promotions
– Online Sales Promotions
– Sales Collateral

5) Advertising
– Print Advertising
– Radio Advertising
– TV Advertising
– Outdoor Advertising
– Online Advertising

6) Public Relations
– Press Releases
– Events or Tradeshows

7) Blog
– Blog Editorial Calendar
– Blog Contests
– Guest Blogging

Of course, not every company will use all of these marketing tactics, and some will include others we didn’t include. This list is just to get you thinking about what you want to consider for your 2013 marketing bag of tricks.

You can create your own marketing calendar using Microsoft Excel calendar templates that you adapt to your needs, or use Tables in Microsoft Word. Google’s also has a long list of handy calendars and schedules templates you could adapt for your own purposes. Another company offered a free marketing calendar download, but it was for 2012. Maybe you can adapt it or they’ll post a 2013 template soon.

Have you tried using a marketing calendar in the past? How has or hasn’t it helped. Please, share your expertise by leaving a comment below.