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255: Planning for 2024: Setting Up Your Marketing Calendar with Host Kendra Corman · Imperfect Marketing

• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Hey there and welcome back to the Imperfect Marketing Podcast.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, kendra Corman, and today we're diving into a topic that might make some of you break out into a cold sweat planning your marketing calendar for 2025.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Didn't we think we're going to have like flying cars by now?
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: But anyway, before you hit the panic button, take a deep breath.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I'll give you a second here.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: I promise you, by the end of this episode, you'll not only feel ready to tackle your 2025 marketing plan, but you'll also learn a time-saving strategy that'll make you wonder why you ever stressed about marketing in the first place.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: So why is a marketing calendar essential for solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants?
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Well, let me count the ways.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Number one it keeps you consistent.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: In the world of marketing, consistency is king, or maybe queen, to content.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: That is king, not sure, but they're both really, really important.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Two is it helps you manage your time and, let's face it, time is our most precious resource.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Three, it aligns your marketing efforts with your business goals, because random acts of marketing just don't cut it.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Four, it saves you from those last minute.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Oh no, what am I going to post today?
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Scrambles, but here's the kicker it's not about working harder, it's about working smarter.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: And that brings me to the secret sauce.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: I promised you the power of content repurposing.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Now lean in close, because I'm about to share a strategy that saved me hours upon hours of work.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: It's called base content approach.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: So here's how it works.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: You choose one primary form of content.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: For me, it sort of alternates between my podcast and my email newsletter, depending on my news and how much I feel like writing.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: That becomes your base content.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: From there, you repurpose and reshape that content for all of your other platforms.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Let me break it down for you.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Let's say I record a podcast episode like this one.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: I'll take the key points from this episode and turn them into a series of social media posts.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: I could write a blog article on it, well, which I call the show notes, but maybe an infographic or two.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Maybe even use some snippets for my next email newsletter, or build my entire email newsletter off of it letter.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Or build my entire email newsletter off of it.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Boom.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: One piece of content, multiple uses.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: It's like an entrepreneur's version of reduce, reuse, recycle, but for your brilliant ideas.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Now, why is this so powerful?
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, first, it's massive time saver, right, instead of coming up with fresh content for every single platform, every single day.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: You're working from a solid base.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Second, it ensures consistency across your platforms.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Your audience gets a cohesive message, no matter where they encounter you.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: And third, it reinforces your core message.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Back in the day, there was a marketing rule of seven, right?
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: That said, people need to hear your message about seven times before they take action.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Now it's like over 13 or something insane, because the amount of content we're hit with on a regular basis.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: So if you're not repurposing content, then people aren't taking action on your messages, right?
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: So you should be repurposing.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: People don't remember what you post.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Now I'll let you on a little secret.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: This strategy saves me probably five to 10 hours a week.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Five to 10 hours a week that's time I can spend on client work, business development or actually taking a break, right?
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: So now that you're armed with this repurposing superpower, let's talk about the key components of your 2025 marketing calendar.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: First, up your base content schedule.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Whether that's podcasts, youtube videos or newsletters, you want to have a schedule.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: It might not be every week, it might be every other week, it might be once a month, but whatever that is, you need to come up with what your base content schedule is going to be, then, your repurposed content plan.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: How are you going to slice and dice that base content?
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: So I have a list of what I do with every podcast episode, every solo episode and every interview episode.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: That's what makes a difference here, okay, three is going to be your email marketing campaigns, because that's really important.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Four, any network speaking engagements.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: And then five, any product service launches, seasonal promotions.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: At number six and number seven, don't forget professional development, because we should all always be learning.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Right Now, I want to walk through the steps to create your 2025 marketing calendar.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: First, review your 2024 performance.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: What worked, what flopped.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Be honest with yourself.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: This is no time for ego, because I want you to set clear goals for 2025.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: How many new clients do you want?
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: What revenue are you aiming for?
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: I want you to get specific.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Then step three is to identify key dates and events.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Now I'm going to start with some like birthdays, vacations, industry conferences, seasonal trends, even national days that relate to your business.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: These are big, immovable things in your calendar, right?
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Until you put those big rocks in first.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Then you plan your base content themes.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Maybe you want to focus on mindset in Q1, skills in Q2, and so on.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Align these with your expertise and what your clients need and your launches.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Then schedule your regular marketing activities.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: This is where your base content and the repurposing strategy comes in.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Maybe you release a podcast every Tuesday and then spend Wednesday repurposing it for social media and your blog.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Or maybe you batch, like I do, and spend a Saturday recording and a Friday of the following week or two weeks later batch, editing and repurposing.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Step six is to allocate your resources.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: I want you to be realistic about your time and budget.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: That is one thing I think we don't do enough of, because, remember, it is going to be better to do a few things consistently than to burn out trying to do everything, and I have been there.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Less can often be a lot more.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Now I want to talk a little bit about tools.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: You don't need anything fancy to manage your marketing calendar.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: You can just use a simple spreadsheet.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: But if you want to level up, tools like Trello or Asana Asana is my go-to can help you visualize your plan For social media scheduling.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Check out Metricool.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: I've used Hootsuite, buffer, coschedule and more, but nothing has beat Metricool for me.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: I do have an affiliate link in the show notes for you if you want to show me some love or visit kendercormancom forward, slash Metricool and it'll take you right there.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: These tools can really help automate the process, saving you even more time.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Before we wrap up, let me share a few tips to help you stick to your marketing calendar without losing your mind, because, lord knows, that seems to happen often.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: I want you to focus on quality-based content first right.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: If your foundation is strong.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: To focus on quality-based content first right.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: If your foundation is strong, everything else falls into place.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Number two I want you to be realistic.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: You're one person.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: You're not a marketing agency, a team.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: You don't have 27 people working on your marketing.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: It's okay to start small and scale up.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: And then I want you to build in some flexibility.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Life happens, launches get delayed, opportunities pop up.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Your calendar should be a guide, not a straight jacket.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Number four one of my favorites batch your work.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: I like to record several podcast episodes in one day, spend another day repurposing them.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: It's all about finding your rhythm and what works for you.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: I have one client that can only record one podcast a day.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: I have another client who's all interview episodes and she mostly records on weekends, and so that's just sort of the way it goes right.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: She gets what she can when she can.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Now I want you to review and adjust regularly.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: It's a living document.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Don't be afraid to change it as you learn what works best for you, but also don't change it too often or as a result of someone just giving you advice.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: We do want progress over perfection.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: An imperfect marketing plan that you actually follow is infinitely better than a perfect plan that stays in your head.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: So there you have it.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: This is your roadmap to creating a manageable, effective marketing calendar for 2025.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Armed with your content repurposing strategy and, hopefully, these planning tips, you are ready to take the new year on like the marketing master you are.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Before you go, I'd love to hear your content repurposing tips.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Drop them in the comments or shoot me a message, and if you want more resources to help you with your marketing planning, head on over to my website, kendracormancom.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: I've always got some goodies waiting for you there.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Or check out some of the videos on my YouTube channel Now.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Next week, we'll be talking about well, you're just going to have to tune in to find out.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Until then, keep your marketing perfectly imperfect and your content smartly repurposed.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: This is Kendra signing off for now.