Marketing planning is the process in which the researched and identified marketing tactics that will help meet business goals transfer into a calendar format that allows you to see which tactics need completing when, by who, and with timelines and measuring metrics in place to track progress. 

A well constructed marketing plan is beneficial for businesses when you're time poor, overwhelmed by the thought of marketing your business or need help knowing where to start. It provides clarity and direction around your marketing activities and how they come together and work cohesively. When you're business is in the position to prioritise marketing, be consistent and commit to it long-term, marketing planning helps make this happen. 

Read the below to understand how a marketing planning calendar helps your business, what the benefits are, what's covered and which businesses this is for. 

Why a marketing planning calendar will help your business

I hear it a lot. Business owners who take the piecemeal approach to marketing. Where bits and pieces of marketing are happening, but it's not consistent. With marketing, there must be a strategy and a plan to ensure everything works cohesively together. 

It's easy for this to happen; we've all been guilty of it, including me. It's not that we have no idea what we're doing - we know our business inside out, and we generally know our customers well enough to start building some brand awareness.

Where it falls over is when we come to the actual doing. We get busy, other priorities happen, marketing gets pushed down the list and then it's a scramble to 'get something out' there. That's when the piecemeal approach begins and might look something like this.

• Random posts on social media

• Paying for advertising on the spot when someone offers it without researching how it fits with our business goals and plans.

• Writing a blog without any specific message behind it in the hope it will get found by Google.

• Investing in paid ads like Facebook or Google without checking results and ensuring they're performing as they should.

• Spending thousands on a website and then never updating it again or making changes to help increase your SEO.

• Throwing yourself into upskilling in an area but not quite following through with those newfound skills

If you feel yourself nodding when you read through the above list, know that you are not alone - and that a solution awaits to make things clear, consistent and planned out, so you need not worry your marketing efforts are all over the place.

A marketing planning calendar needs to be easy to follow so it frees up your time, not make it more difficult. The calendar Pocket Marketing offers sets out the marketing tactics you need to do each month and week. You'll know in advance what needs doing by just checking your calendar. It takes away the guesswork around marketing and gives you confidence that what you're doing is right for your customers, brand and business. 

What's covered in a marketing planning calendar?

A marketing planning calendar builds out all your marketing activities in an easy-to-follow spreadsheet detailing the tasks to complete, when, and who should be responsible for each. You can use it to track and promote specific campaigns along with day-to-day activities, such as social media, you need to have planned. 

With a marketing planning calendar, you can ensure that all your marketing efforts are well-coordinated and effective. 

The Marketing Planning Calendar that Pocket Marketing offers works through the following: 

• Current practices

• Target audiences

• Product/service overview

• Budgets

• Business goals and plans

• How to prioritise your marketing activities

You can start anytime with a marketing planning calendar and begin planning out monthly marketing tactics. The Pocket Marketing Planning Calendar includes content pillars, brand voice, tone and buyer stages to work with, keeping content messages, tone, structure, and format consistent and on brand. 

The following are specific highlights of the marking planning calendar you'll get clarity around: 

• Which tactics and platforms to work on

• How often and when to complete set marketing tactics

• The approximate advertising budget required 

• Measures you can use to check the progress

• Approximate time to allocate to tasks

• Which marketing tactics to prioritise

• Broken down into weekly tasks to complete

• Social media content plan which outlines which content, format, stages, tone and keywords to focus on

• Email support and monthly zoom check-in on progress once a month for 6 months. 

You can systematically organise your tasks and activities when you plan in advance, making monitoring and measuring your progress more straightforward and allowing you to make any necessary adjustments to your strategy.

What are the benefits for your business?

There are so many advantages to having marketing tactics planned. A good marketing framework, such as the Pocket Marketing Planning Calendar, provides clarity and direction around marketing efforts and avoids guesswork. You'll know which month and week your marketing tactics need completing. It's easy to follow in a spreadsheet format with drop-down tabs and menus to ensure you know who is responsible for what, when and where. 

A marketing planning calendar will save you time in the long run as you seamlessly complete tasks outlined in your calendar task checklist.

The benefits of the Pocket Marketing Planning Calendar

• Avoid marketing overwhelm with clarity around tasks that need completing.

• Outlined tactics best suited to your business and target audience, created with your business objectives in mind. 

• Marketing activities are planned in an easy-to-follow monthly and weekly format to keep marketing prioritised and consistent. 

• Consistency across all marketing platforms. You'll keep messaging clear, on brand and relevant to your business goals. 

• Using the right messaging and format, a framework and the confidence you're talking to your customers in the right places.

• Ensuring key business objectives align with measurable marketing goals.

• 1:1 support ensures you manage tasks and stay 'on track' with your marketing.

• You get an easy-to-follow spreadsheet where the social media content you enter populates into a monthly calendar format.

When we have clear direction on the best marketing tactics to follow, we're more likely to hit our goals, build better brand awareness and relationships with customers and feel confident we're building a business for the long term. 

This helps you stay ahead of the competition and ensure you get the most out of your budget. You can plan your campaigns, promotional initiatives, and other marketing activities months in advance, giving you ample time to adjust your strategy if needed.

Who needs a marketing planning calendar?

Any business that wishes to progress must be ready to prioritise and commit to marketing efforts. For example, if scaling and growth are one of your business goals, marketing must be a part of that. Well planned and strategic marketing efforts working towards meeting your business goals free up your time to concentrate on the day-to-day operations of your business.

Business owners needing help managing all marketing elements will benefit from a marketing planning calendar. When you're busy and need to free up time, a marketing plan provides a framework with consistent and clear marketing practices to work through each month and week ensure you're marketing efforts are 'always on'. 

A marketing planning calendar is for any business that wants to save time and money. When you plan, you avoid wasting time and resources on campaigns that are unlikely to be successful. With a plan, you can ensure that your efforts are focused on initiatives likely to generate the highest return on investment. 

Is a marketing planning calendar right for my business? If you identify with any of the below, consider investing in a marketing plan. 

✅Busy business owners that need to FREE UP TIME in order to work on their businesses. 

✅ You've been in business for a few years and need to prioritise marketing efforts to grow further. 

✅ You've identified 1-2 areas of marketing you think your business should be focused on but are not sure where to start. 

✅Businesses that need detailed marketing tactics for their team to follow through on.

✅Anyone committed to prioritising marketing activities for the long term.

✅ For Specific marketing campaigns where structure and a dedicated framework are required. 

Finally, having a marketing planning calendar can help you stay accountable. It helps track your progress and ensure you're meeting your goals. With Pocket Marketing, you get 1:1 support and help, and you can adjust your strategy and make necessary changes if needed. Overall, having a marketing planning calendar is essential for any business that wants to succeed in today's competitive marketplace.

Need more marketing help?

If you’re unsure where to start or your current online marketing solutions aren’t achieving the desired results, reach out! I’m keen to ensure business owners are getting the right solutions for their organisation.