3 Simple Steps for Creating Your Monthly Marketing Strategy
Overwhelm is real – and likely one of the top reasons practitioners don’t enjoy doing their own marketing, especially when it comes to creating content for social media platforms. What once was a creative way to showcase your passions and hobbies is now more like a chore that you didn’t sign up for.
Don’t worry though, even if you’re just getting started you can gain leverage for your business with a DIY monthly marketing strategy. Think of this as a crash course that will set the foundation, help you get organized, and implement a plan. An easy and streamlined process that allows you to feel confident about promoting your business is closer than you think – let’s dive in!
First things first, you need to ask yourself a few questions before you can get started. What is your goal for your marketing plan? Do you want to grow an online following? Get more patients or clients? Advertise your in-office events? There are no wrong answers here; what’s important is identifying the goal for your unique marketing strategy.
When you’re clear on your marketing goals, you’ll be able to make strategic content that caters to it.
Try to be as specific as possible. Grab a pen and paper and list all of the reasons you want (or need) to put more energy into your marketing efforts. Then, narrow it down to the 3 critical reasons. Once you figure that out, you can start brainstorming on what type of content you would like to create for your marketing strategy. Generally speaking, if you’re building a presence online, providing educational content is one of the easiest ways to get people interested in your profile and business.
If your goal is to grow a community or boost engagement, you’ll want to foster and encourage conversations about trending topics in your field. If your goal is to attract and schedule more new clients, you’ll need to craft content that speaks directly to the problems or questions your ideal clients are asking and showcase your offer with a compelling CTA (call to action). These are just a few of the ways to start brainstorming the content you want to create.
Don’t limit yourself; just focus on your marketing goal, and make sure your content aligns with it.
Next, you’ll want to get a blank calendar dedicated solely to planning your marketing. Getting organized is the key to saving time on your monthly marketing strategy! A paper calendar and a pencil are great tools to use when drafting out your first month. The calendar serves as a place where you can layout and visualize the “rough draft” of your monthly strategy. If you’re comfortable using an online calendar, Google Calendar works well. Having your marketing schedule online makes it easy to keep team members in the loop about upcoming projects, events, and deadlines. Before you get started drafting your month, answer these questions…
- How often do I want to be posting? Daily? Weekly?
- What is my theme for the month?
- Which of my content ideas will I be using?
Try to answer these questions before you get started on writing or scheduling your content. Think of them as the skeleton for your monthly marketing strategy. Lay the foundation and then build on top of it. Once you have these questions answered, grab your calendar and fill it in with the ideas you came up with.
If your plan is to post 3 times a week, pencil in those posts, #1-12 with their corresponding theme.
Example:
July 1st Post #1- How to bake a cake!
July 3rd Post #2- Which is better: whole wheat or enriched flour?
July 6th Post # 3- Buy my Baking 101 book!
You get the point.
Now the final step that intimidates even the best content creators: Actually creating the content! I highly recommend writing the content in as few sittings as possible. This will keep your tone and messaging cohesive. Trust me when I tell you, it’s easy to lose track of your thought process and inspiration if you try to chip away at it over the course of a month.
So, do yourself a favor… set a date, put your phone on airplane mode, and GET. IT. DONE.
Just imagine it now: it’s the beginning of a new month, it’s a beautiful new day to be a business owner and last night you slept like a baby because all of your content for the entire month is written and scheduled to go out! Signed, sealed, delivered.