STEAL MY STRATEGY: PLANNING YOUR BUSINESS PROMOTIONAL CALENDAR
ARE YOU READY TO MAKE 2023 THE YEAR WHERE YOU GET MORE DONE, ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS, AND STILL HAVE TIME FOR YOUR FAMILY? LET ME HELP YOU GET YOUR TIME BACK WITH MY FREE PRODUCTIVITY PLANNER!
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I absolutely LOVE planning! Nothing makes me happier (well, at least in my business) than sitting down and planning out my month, my week, my day.
In addition, I am OBSESSED with creating systems to make things run more efficiently in my business.
And one thing I was really struggling with was knowing exactly what I was going to be promoting each month. Or, as my coach would say, how are you planning on bringing in new leads and sales this month?
Because when we get down to the nitty gritty in your business, if you don’t talk about what you have to offer, do you actually have a business? And if you’re not making the income you want, well, maybe it’s time to start promoting more often (or better, take your pick).
Each week, I would sit down to write an email to my list and I’d have no idea what I was going to talk about. I love, love love giving you tips + hacks on productivity and time management, but sometimes it feels stuck on what to talk about.
Email marketing is my absolute FAVORITE way to connect with my followers and audience. Yes, social media is great and a big part of my business, but I love myself some long-form content and storytelling, so email is where I really tend to shine. But, it was sucking my soul to actually sit down and write an email because I had NO IDEA what to talk about.
So, a few weeks ago I made the executive decision that I was going to sit down and plan out exactly when I would be launching Control Your Calendar, when I would have sales, and exactly what I was going to talk about for the rest of the year.
And let me tell you, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. When I sat down with my coach a few weeks ago for our monthly 1:1 call, it was so nice to be able to say, “Yup, my next launch is {this date} and I’ll be talking about this sale on {this date}.”
No more figuring out what I’m selling or how I’m going to bring in traffic, leads, and sales.
Ready to do it for yourself and have the rest of the year (or an entire year) planned out for your business? Here are the 3 steps I took to make that happen (and it doesn’t take more than 30 minutes):
STEP ONE || CALENDAR IN ALL YOUR PERSONAL AND FAMILY IMPORTANT DATES AND HOLIDAYS
OK, I actually forgot to do this the first time I mapped out my launch calendar and scheduled my launch for when I would be in Sedona on a mastermind retreat. WHOOPS. So, I had to start over and made sure I had these dates in first.
I wrote down the days my kids were off school (because hello, launching when your kids are at home is NOT FUN). I wrote down when I would be out of town or had specific things during the day that would make it harder for me to launch. And I put in anything I felt that was important to remember.
STEP TWO || DECIDE WHEN AND HOW OFTEN YOU PLAN TO LAUNCH
While I don’t love launching, I’ve learned that it’s pretty essential if I ever want to make sales and have a business. I only open the doors on Control Your Calendar a few months a year and decided I wanted to launch 2 more times before the end of 2023.
Because I already had the important dates written in (the second time around), I knew the dates I couldn’t launch and was able to schedule around them. I also have a pretty structured launch at this point, so it was easy for me to know when my Productivity Bootcamp would be, when I needed to send out emails, when I need to start my ads, and the dates for cart open and cart close.
And let me tell you – it was FREEING.
STEP THREE || SCHEDULE IN THE REST OF YOUR SALES, PROMOS, +/OR EMAILS
One of the things I am known for in my business is CONSISTENCY. There is rarely a week where I miss sending out an email because I know exactly when I send them. I have the system in place so it’s easily scheduled into my work day.
But, knowing WHAT to send was the issue. Because I had my launch dates all scheduled in, I could now figure out when I would send out sales emails for my Time Blocking 101, 1:1 coaching, and Schedule Audits – and then I scheduled in my nurture emails (like the one that went out sharing this blog post) for the rest of the dates (Tuesdays) I had left.
Here’s what this ended up looking like for me for the rest of the year:
A few things I want you to keep in mind when/if you decide to do this for yourself:
Be flexible with yourself. I made a major mistake the first time I mapped this all out and had to start over, but it was NOT the end of the world. Things are going to come up and I’m going to have to move things around (and I’m in search of some dry erase calendars so it makes it easier).
I found that I wanted to be able to see it all at one time in one place, and my Google Calendar just wasn’t the place I wanted to have it. I ended up putting it in my bullet journal/planner to start with, but ended up printing out some blank calendars on Canva, putting everything on those, and taping them to the wall next to my desk. It’s so nice to just look over and see everything without having to worry.
I am so excited going into the last quarter of the year because this is one less decision I have to make that will take time out of my day – and I believe it will do the same for you too!
Struggling with what to talk about in your own emails? I know content can be a struggle for many business owners – you stare at a blank screen with no idea what to post. What if you could have all your emails done for you where all you needed to do was fill in the blanks?! That’s exactly what we give you in The Content Club!
