Annual Marketing To Support Your Business Goals

What are the products and services your customers need the most? How will they know your organization is the best resource for them? Beginning the year clarifying digital marketing for business is one of the biggest time-saving tools a small business can adopt. Identify the main topic for each month that is aligned with the services or products your business provides and the ones you want to increase. Think of your digital marketing calendar as a road map to keep you on track throughout the year. In each of the 12 months identify special promotions and events.
Too busy running your business to tackle marketing too? Connect with us for a quick conversation to see if we can outline a plan and strategy for DIY digital marketing. Or, if you prefer, we’ll provide options and budgeting to take marketing off your to-do list completely. Developing copy, digital graphics, website content, and consistent social media posts to reach your audience is what we do. Meanwhile, your time can be spent meeting your business goals.

Benefits of an Annual Digital Marketing Calendar for Business

Starting with a full year content calendar makes digital marketing for businesses less stressful by eliminating last-minute projects and promoting events or campaigns well in advance. It puts annual business goals at the forefront of marketing planning.
Annual content marketing calendars also allow you to work ahead during slow times. Sharing save the date announcements for events months in advance never hurts! Plus, every industry has evergreen content that can be created in advance of posting.
Remember, the calendar offers flexibility to make changes as needed. If campaign results are not as expected or if changes occur midway throughout the year, you can make edits.

Content Tactics for Digital Marketing for Business Include:

• Social media posts
• Blog post
• Pages on your website
• E-mail campaigns
• Webinars
• Digital advertising campaigns
• Website graphics

A Content Calendar Should Not Start With a Blank Sheet

Start with a calendar that includes the main holidays for the year. This is useful if you create holiday promotions. Or avoid holidays if people will be otherwise engaged and not available to participate in your promotion. Get creative and consider how sentimental holidays could humanize your brand story to your audience. Share helpful advice or memories with your customers. Tie advice to your business such as an insurance company reminding people to check their holiday lights.

Do You Need More Digital Marketing Content Ideas?

Reference a calendar that contains additional observances. For instance, January is National Hobby Month in the U.S. It is also International Creativity Month. A flour mill could create posts that encourage people to take up baking as a hobby. Similarly, a wine and canvas studio could offer painting class packages.
These monthly observances offer unlimited ideas for digital marketing for business. You will discover month-long, week-long and special day observances each month throughout the year. Some are serious and some are purely silly and if you can connect them to your industry and make someone laugh or increase awareness your efforts will be memorable.

No Need to Pay for a Monthly Service

Content calendars can be created digitally or as hard copy. Use Google, iCal, Excel, online scheduling platform or print out a full calendar and handwrite the information.  I often start with a handwritten calendar for the outline and then convert to digital and add in details. A digital content calendar allows me to add content in any month easily as it comes up.
If you are a lean team and you don’t have the manpower to get all or any of these solutions in place, connect with us today. The time commitment is not lost on us because we do it for ourselves and our customers. We can work with your content calendar and develop all the elements and get them scheduled to post on time each month. Creating a calendar and turning it over for your content development and management for your monthly management is another option.

Download our annual content marketing calendar template here.

Best Approach for Digital Marketing Content Strategy

Aligning your digital marketing and content strategy with your annual business goals will increase success. For instance, if the top goal is to increase product demonstration views consider everything that can be put in place to drive those numbers. Do you have a digital product demo on your website already? If not, how will it get developed? Who will develop it and by when? Where will it be posted once complete? If you have a digital demo on your website already, how can you drive people to view it? Does the product demo need to be presented in person or in an on-screen presentation with a company representative?

Digital tactics we would recommend driving this goal include:

• Blog entry/distribution channels
• Email Campaigns
• Social Media posts
• Website SEO
• Seeking Guest Blog Posts
• Digital Advertising

On your January calendar add product demonstrations as the main topic/goal. Next, begin identifying the individual digital marketing tactics and assign dates to them. Include as many details as you can. Before assigning dates consider how each can be achieved. (In consideration of time you may only include “Blog on Product Demo” on the content calendar in January. Add as many details as time allows. Remember, the goal is to get the full year of content outlined.
Once the entire 12 month content marketing calendar is complete, circle back to add more details in each month.  Be sure you are always working a month in advance, at the very least.

Using a blog as an example, ask and answer:

• When can the blog post be written?
• What should the blog include?
• Who will write it?
• Do you have a proofreader for grammar and spelling?
• Who will create the blog graphic?
• Can the creator post the blog?
• How will it be distributed?

What will be included in the blog post about the demo? Information to include:

• Product values
• How it addresses customers pain
• Customer testimonials
• Awards/recognition received
• Unique features
• Call to action – link

Next, do the same for the remaining digital marketing tactics you have identified. Are there product benefit snippets that can be used in social media posts? Can you pull snippets from the blog? All the while considering how the call to action (CTA) will be included in each tactic. (View the product demo here… or …complete this form to schedule a product demo.)

Set realistic goals:

• Decide which platforms to post on
• How often will you post?
• What content appeals to your follower base?
• Customize, and personalize content

Creating a road map for annual digital marketing for business aligned with annual goals takes away the guesswork and keeps you in front of your customers consistently. Assisting companies with their annual content marketing is one of our favorite services. Whether you share your company goals and we create an outline or detailed annual content calendar or we do create and post all the content – we always recommend starting with a plan. Contact us if we can help you meet (or exceed) your annual business marketing goals.