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30 Days to More Customers:
The Tortoise Marketing Calendar
I recently wrote a blog post called The Tortoise Marketing Strategy. In the story of The Tortoise and the Hare, we small biz owners are often like that cocky hare. "Oh, I can catch up on my marketing. I'll just go to that event or send out this coupon and then I can 'rest.'"
But like the hare, winning at marketing doesn't work that way. It turns out that slow and steady wins the race. Balance is the key. Of course, that would be Tortoise.
In a past issue, I gave you 5 Easy Steps to a Balance Marketing Mix. One of those steps was to create a marketing calendar, something to keep you plodding along, slowly, bit by bit. But a plan that eventually pays off big-time.
A 30-day window:
Your Monthly Marketing Calendar
Mapping out a year makes your brain ache just to think about it. Even three months. But 30 days? That you can probably do. If a written plan is new to you, start with 30 days and just take it one day at a time.
You have no time for marketing, you say? What if I said you could make steady progress with just 15 minutes a day? Would you do it then? Consider a mix of these four areas:
Print and direct mail- postcards, sales letters, promotional coupons, etc.
Phone- calls to colleagues, clients, someone you met who you'd like to get to know better
Personal networking- business events, coffee meetings, lunches
Social media and emarketing- blogs, forums, e-newsletters, etc.
Start with your first month and schedule a mix of activities. Some marketing activities cannot be completed in 15 minutes. When a project is going to take some time, as a quarterly newsletter to clients, identify the date the issue needs to go out and work back until you arrive at the first task.
Click here to download a pdf of a blank monthly calendar. Go here for ideas on what to schedule in each of the four areas.
How about you? Are you Tortoise or Hare? Because you know who actually won, don't you?
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