How to Plan Your Marketing Calendar for the Whole Year (in 30 Minutes)
If you've been following me for a while, you know I absolutely LOVE planning!
Nothing makes me happier (well... at least in my business) than sitting down and mapping out my month, my week, my day.
And I'm equally OBSESSED with building systems that make my business run more efficiently.
But here's the deal... for the longest time, the ONE thing I could never figure out was my marketing calendar. As in... what am I actually promoting each month? Or, as my business coach would say, how are you planning to bring in new leads + sales this month?
Because when we get down to the nitty gritty... if you don't talk about what you have to offer, do you even have a business? And if you're not making the money you want, well... maybe it's time to start promoting more often (or better. take your pick).
Every single week, I'd sit down to write an email to my list with NO idea what to talk about.
Don't get me wrong... I love, love, LOVE giving you tips + hacks on productivity and time management. But sometimes I'd just feel stuck.
And email is my absolute FAVORITE way to connect with you. Social media is great (and a big part of my business), but I'm a long-form, storytelling kind of girl... so email is where I really shine.
But it was sucking my soul to sit down and write one when I had NO clue what the point of it even was.
So one afternoon, I made the executive decision to sit down and map out my entire marketing calendar... when I'd open the doors to my SYS Support membership, when I'd run sales on the SYS Planner, and exactly what I'd be talking about for the rest of the year.
And let me tell you... it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders.
When I hopped on my next monthly call with my business coach, it felt SO good to say, "Yup, my next launch is {this date} and I'm running this sale on {this date}."
No more guessing what I'm selling. No more scrambling to figure out how I'm bringing in traffic, leads, + sales.
Ready to do the same and have the rest of your year (or a whole 12 months) mapped out? Here are the 3 steps I took to build my marketing calendar... and it doesn't take more than 30 minutes.
How to plan your marketing calendar in 3 simple steps
ONE || Block off your personal + family dates FIRST
Ok, I actually forgot to do this the first time I mapped out my launch calendar... and I scheduled a whole launch for a week I'd be in Sedona on a mastermind retreat. WHOOPS.
So I had to start over and make sure I got these dates in FIRST.
Here's what I put in before anything else:
The days my kids are off school (because hello... launching while your kids are home is NOT fun)
Any weeks I'm out of town or have big things going on during the day
Anything else I felt was important to remember
Get your real life on the calendar before you try to build your business around it. Not the other way around.
TWO || Decide when + how often you’ll launch
While I don't LOVE launching... I've learned it's pretty essential if I ever want to make sales and, you know, have a business.
I only open the doors to my SYS Support membership a few times a year, so I decided exactly when those enrollment windows would be for the rest of the year.
And because I already had my important dates written in (the second time around)... I knew the dates I COULDN'T launch and could schedule around them.
I also have a pretty structured launch at this point, so it was easy to map out when I'd send my emails, when I'd start any ads, and my cart open + cart close dates.
And let me tell you... it was FREEING.
THREE || Fill in the rest of your sales, promos, + emails
One of the things I'm known for in my business is CONSISTENCY.
There is rarely a week where I miss sending an email... because I know exactly when they go out. I have theme days + a rhythm in place so it's easily scheduled into my work week.
But knowing WHAT to send? That was always the issue.
Because I had my launch dates locked in, I could now figure out when I'd run smaller sales + promos on the SYS Planner... and then I filled in my nurture emails (like the one that sent you to this very blog post) for the rest of the open dates I had left.
So every Tuesday email now has a job. Some sell. Some nurture. But none of them leave me staring at a blinking cursor wondering what to write.
A few things I want you to keep in mind when you decide to do this:
Be flexible with yourself.
I made a big mistake the first time and had to start completely over... and it was NOT the end of the world. Things WILL come up and you'll have to move things around (I keep mine somewhere I can erase + rearrange easily for this exact reason).
Put it somewhere you can see the whole thing at once.
My Google Calendar just wasn't cutting it for the big picture. I always have my marketing plan inside my SYS Planner, but I also have a wall calendar that I can easily glance at when I need to see a date on a call.
But here's the reality... a marketing calendar isn't about being rigid or "corporate." It's about making ONE decision now so you're not making it over and over again every single week.
That's one less thing pulling on your brain during your work day. And I truly believe it'll do the same for you.
Want the exact planner I use to map out my marketing calendar, my launches, and my week around what actually makes money (not just busywork)?
