Why You Need An Annual Marketing Calendar
Why a Marketing Calendar is Essential!
While most small business owners and self-employed people have a system for keeping track of their schedules, their meeting agendas, to-do lists and daily calls, very few have a marketing calendar that helps them systematically drive their business forward on a daily basis—by planning and recording progress on new profit centers they want to launch, cash-flow strategies they want to implement, future promotions they want to conduct, and more.
Think about your own business for a moment…
Are your income-generation activities planned week-by-week in advance? Do you constantly track your goals, numbers, people, research and other elements that make your business cash-flow centered Do you check off these daily to-do items as you accomplish them? Do you have a system for easily delegating various aspects of marketing implementation to your staff and outsource vendors?
Or do you find yourself constantly scrambling for emergency cash?
What can be found on a typical annual marketing calendar?
Let’s take a look:
New Customer Activites — Perhaps the most important revenue activity you will conduct in your business, generating new customers insures not only revenue from current sales, but ongoing revenue later from re-selling, upselling and cross-selling past buyers into other products and services. Just some of the new-customer campaigns you’ll find on a typical calendar include:
Newspaper & magazine advertising
Radio spots
Preview workshops
Trade shows
Direct mail
Speaking engagements
Marketing-oriented teleseminars
Referrals from endorsers
Special Offers for Current Customers — People who have already purchased from you in the past should be targeted with unique offers just for them. Perhaps it’s advance notice of a special sale (or a special customer-only selection or sale day)…or access to obsolete inventory at reduced prices…or offers on special equipment or services that go along with something they’ve already purchased. These scheduled campaigns — whether via email, postal mail or telephone — should speak in language that will appeal specifically to past buyers rather than prospects who haven’t purchased yet.
Internet Marketing and Email Campaigns — Once you have a website that’s designed to attract visitors, capture their email address and sell them products and services, you can begin to schedule: (1) Pay-per-click activity or endorsements that drive traffic to your website, (2) product launch campaigns that substantially boost the size of your email list, and (3) email campaigns to the email addresses you currently have. Over 90 days’ time, you should be able to launch a basic website, begin capturing names, and sell these visitors an entry-level product or service.
New Business Development — While the business owner isn’t necessarily the one doing the work of recruiting new accounts, new referral contacts and other sources of new business, he or she should certainly schedule these activities for a staff person to accomplish. What kinds of new business efforts do we typically see on an annual calendar?
Recruiting joint venture partners & endorsers
Developing more distributors/dealers
Recruiting non-traditional salespeople
Establishing a professional consortium
Finding unique retail outlets
Locating other businesses for which your product can be an add-on
Finding outside products/services to sell to your customers and prospects
Publicity & Media Relations — One of the most overlooked areas of marketing (and one of the easiest to implement), publicity and media relations should be scheduled and pursued as a low-cost marketing effort. Consider scheduling campaigns like:
Monthly or bi-weekly press releases distributed over the Internet (read my blog post
about local press release distribution here)
Contacting a list of radio talk-show hosts and producers prior to a new product release
or as a follow-up to a sensational news item
Announcing a new technology or methodology, a new book, a new service or a new
market approach
So there’s a great primer on why you need an annual marketing calendar and what goes into a marketing calendar. Go get started!
PR Tips for Local Business Marketing
Press Releases are underutilzed by 99% of local businesses.
There are two big benefits to press release distribution for local businesses.
The first is SEO. Yes, you can and should, do SEO on your press releases. The PR sites are all rated highly by Google, Bing and Yahoo and your release will get indexed almost immediately. In fact, I have a method for getting to #1 on Google News using SEO. I’ve achieved #1 everytime I’ve done it and so can you.
The trick in using PR for SEO is to regularly send out press releases. I recommend creating 3 or 4 with your core story or message and once you’ve released them, tweak each slightly and re-release them. Rinse and repeat.
And you don’t have to break the bank using fee-based PR sites. You can get decent results with free sites and excellent results with $20 sites. I use a $20 site for my #1 on Google News trick.
The other benefit to using press releases in your marekting plan is that your release may actually get picked up by an editor or producer and either a) run as a story or b) more likely, get a call from the journalist who will rework it slightly or c) get you a gig on the radio or tv. How cool would that be? Of course should you land a gig, you’ll want to submit a press release about the upcoming radio or tv interview.
So what do you talk about in a press release for a local business?
Let me ask you a question. Can you talk about:
- New product releases
- Solutions to negative news stories
- Controversial/contrarian opinions in your field
- Yourself positioned as an industry ‘go-to’ expert
- Recognition of you or your company by a publication, news outlet or national authority
- Launching a website
- Announcing free information available (lead generation)
- Sponsoring a workshop or seminar
- Meeting some kind of new challenge or rising above adversity or industry average
- Forming a new strategic partnership or alliance
- Grand opening, opening of a branch or satellite office plus other special events at your location
- Awards you or the business have received
- Awards your business has given out
- New equipment purchases or installation
- Newsletters now available to the public
- Starting a new business
- Introducing a new product
- Announcing a new partnership or merger
- Issuing a statement of position regarding a local, regional or national issue
- Announcing a public appearance on television, radio or in person or announcing a major new marketing effort has been covered in the press
- Introducing a unique strategy or approach
- You solve a common problem/pain/goal
- A unique story behind your product/service
- Ways in which you are a local hero
- Something you do differently from other businesses in your category
- Setting up a customer advisory group
- Announcing results of research or a survey
- Establishing a unique vendor agreement
- Making public statements on future trends or business conditions
- Obtaining a new, significant customer
- Expanding or renovating the business in some way, including remodeling your store
- Contests for employees
- Contests for your customers and prospects
- Announcing a restructuring of the business
- Receiving an appointment
- Announcing you’ve reached a milestone
- Celebrating a business anniversary
- Participating in a philanthropic event/effort
- Announcing you’re available to speak on specific topics related to your industry
- Announcing that an individual in your business has been named to a leadership position in the community
That’s a very long list. I did that on purpose. As you can see, there are many ways to be locally newsworthy or newsworthy within your industry or category.
PR is an effective way to get noticed. Go ahead and add PR to your marketing mix. I promise you won’t be disappointed if you stick with it!
Small Business Productivity Tip
This is simple, but be warned simple isn’t easy. (That’s a great tip in and of itself! Call it a bonus!)
Productivity Tip
Small business owners and self-employed people commonly struggle with “I have to do it all myself.” This is probably their number one challenge. So here’s an essential productivity tip that will allow you to focus on your strengths, delegate the grunt work and feel happier because you’re working on tasks where you’re happiest.
1. Identify all the tasks you currently do that qualify as $10/hour work.
2. Get someone else to do those-delegate! – even if that person can’t do them as well as you
3. Identify all the tasks you perform that are $100+/hour work
4. Block out time in your calendar to work on those tasks for at least 50% of your week
But, you’ve already been warned. This is simple, but not easy. First, you have to have the cash flow to be able to pay for your help. Not to mention that you may struggle with, or dislike some of the $100+/hour tasks. As things progress, you can delegate those, but not at the start. (Didn’t anyone tell you that a large part of small business\self-employment success is due to intestinal fortitude and doing what it takes? 
Please share your successes or challenges if you have any experience with this tip!
How To Overcome Price Objections: A Sales Psychology Lesson
Sell at a premium. Sell to value. Commissioned on margin. Overachieve quota. All clarion calls of sales people, sales managers, executives and small business owners. Here’s a way to overcome price objections and the psychology behind it.
Recently, I was in a conversation with a CEO who claimed his team sells on value. When I asked him to describe or demonstrate his technique, meaning the approved company value script, he was unable to do so. The CEO! Unfathomable!
All selling, and all marketing for that matter, comes with a ton of psychology. You are dealing with emotions much more so than logic, and understanding which levers to pull and which buttons to push is key to sales and marketing success. Also, it must be said, how hard to push and pull and when to those buttons and levers.
Here is a great example of how to overcome a price objection using sales psychology. The example was developed for chiropractors a B2C sale, and as told to me, used by a background checking firm, a B2B sale.
When told by a prospect that they can “get it for less” or that others have quoted lower fees, quickly say:
“Well of course – but if you must choose by price, and cannot consider other factors, at least let me refer you to a couple of the most reliable firms of all those that will do it for less,”
At which point most prospects hastily retreat and say, “no, no, we want you;” then you make a quality, experience and speed case and close the sale.
The idea is that rather than retreating to questions, to lowering price, stiffen your spine and stand your ground, stay in control of the conversation and pull some sales psychology levers – hard.
Here is the translation according to how this statement is heard and felt by the prospect’s self-image, which is eager to defend itself:
“Of course you can find cheaper services. If you are poor and cheap and prohibited from having the best (if you are a pathetic loser and ball-less wimp, limping through life settling for the cheapest of everything), let me take pity on you, and direct you to the least worst of the cheap options, because you are pitiable and because I don’t give a rat’s behind if I get you as a client or not. My sympathies to your spouse.”
Ouch. If that feels like being stabbed with a dull knife, it’s supposed to. That’s the psychology at work. The attacked and humiliated prospect will respond in one of three ways: angrily; slink away, tail between legs, agreeing to the harsh assessment; or, most often, by denying the characterization the only way possible, by behavior. The backtracking, “no, no, we want you” translates as: “no, no, I am not a poor, cheap, pathetic, pitiable loser. You’ve got me all wrong. I’m a real he-man, dammit. Here’s I’ll show you…” and they buy. Sale closed, margin protected, quota achieved.
Shocked? Why? Is this approach too strong?
Here’s further psychology to back this approach. First, decision makers appreciate people who are able to go toe to toe with them. You gain respect and credibility that way. Second, you cannot pussyfoot around when you are attacked on price. In our example, lower price is strongly attacked as bad and the sale still requires a sound case including quality, experience and speed. Whatever your value drivers are, strongly positioning cheap stuff isn’t good sets the stage for your value case.
Go ahead and try it.
Attack cheap, attack the ability to buy well, make your value case and close.
One more thing, as we said, there are three responses to this manner of overcoming a price objection. One of which is to take you up on the offer of a referral. Be prepared for this to happen. If your business and its ethics permit it, establish referral arrangements with your competition. Handle the referral well and you’ll earn trust and points with the customer as well as a referral fee or other consideration from your competitor.
I’m curious about your thoughts on this example. It does strike a chord with people, indeed it’s designed to, and that’s the whole point. What do you feel about it? Please share! Dialogue about this will be very interesting.