A marketing schedule is different from a marketing plan. A marketing plan is everything you plan to do to marketing yourself, the schedule is how you allot the time to do it.
Most people who do their own marketing will tell you that they have everything under control. The truth is, what they perceive and what is real are two different things. I handle the majority of my marketing and will tell you that I was once in the same situation. That is, until I was turned on to the idea of having a marketing schedule.
Quite simply, a marketing schedule is an organization tool that plans how you spend your time marketing. It is similar to any other schedule and its purpose is to keep you on task with your marketing efforts. After starting out with a simple marketing schedule, I quickly realized that I had nothing under control.
Why did I begin using a marketing schedule?
Early on in my career I was able to get any content ranked on page 1 of Google. I had a steady stream of clients and everything was great. It was after my first year of business that I noticed fewer leads coming in and had no clue why. I ultimately discovered that the reason was I no longer had time to post my own content.
The marketing schedule was created.
I sat down and carved out time for creating content. Initially, I made it four hours per week (two on Monday and two on Friday). I began by setting up these times to do content creation for my blog as well as guest posts on other websites.
I realized that a marketing schedule was one of the best tools in my arsenal.
Within a few months, I began seeing traffic numbers pick up. Seeing a benefit to setting aside time to create content, I also realized that I was no longer doing email marketing or using social media effectively. These were added to my marketing calendar as were other online marketing techniques.
Where did it all go wrong?
When we have a steady stream of leads, we often forget that we got them through marketing.
Everything from email marketing to asking for referrals drive these leads. When we are satisfied with the leads we have, our marketing efforts often dwindle and we become complacent. When we become complacent, we stop marketing. When we stop marketing………well, you get the rest of what I mean.
How a marketing schedule brings me leads.
I will not give you a copy of my schedule as you will need to use what works for you, not me. However, I will tell you that having a marketing schedule will help develop your customer base.
You need to carve out time to create emails newsletters, chat on social media, and follow up with former clients.
Creating content and commenting on the posts of thought leaders should also be added. I do all of these things and it brings in leads on a regular basis. After all, this article brought you here (which was written during a time allotted on my marketing calendar). My comments on posts of thought leaders usually causes others to check out my blog which leads to emails for quotes, etc.
Since I started using a marketing schedule, I not only obtained back all the original traffic I was losing, but my leads have grown year after year. Create a marketing schedule by setting aside time throughout your week in order to make yourself known. After all, burying yourself in current projects will not generate fresh leads, which is something you will need if you plan on your business surviving.