Marketing plays an important role in the growth of a business. This explains why many businesses come up with different strategies to achieve their marketing plan. One of the strategies that have proven to be effective is the use of advertising calendars.
Having a monthly plan in place that specifies your marketing actions ensures that a consistent stream of advertising reaches the desired audience and keeps your products and services in their minds. The more your business is talked about, the more probable it is that someone will hear about you and get interested.
A marketing or advertising calendars is custom-made and used in promoting or advertising business goods and services. Just like most components of a company’s plan, advertising calendars require some initial time and resource investment, but having one pays off in the long run. You will find that advertising calendars are very helpful, especially when you do not have enough time to plan frequent promotions.
Creating an Advertising Calendar
Are you looking to create a marketing calendar? Here are some tips to guide you:
Set a Budget
This is the first step to take in the creation of an advertising calendar. You need to have an estimate of your advertising budget. This way, you know how much to spend in a year. Some of the questions you need to ask include:
- How regularly do you want to promote your organization? You can determine the regularity of this operation based on how much you have.
- When does your business experience peak demands? Find out when demand is high for your products and services.
- What medium will best suit your messages? You need to look beyond social media and email marketing. Creating promotional pictures to be on your calendar can work too.
When you have answers to these questions, you will know how to successfully set a budget for the campaign. If you need help with setting a budget for your ad campaign, you can watch this video.
Determine the Type You Want
Do you want a hung- on-the -wall, sit-on- a -desk, or move -anywhere calendar? You need to determine which type you want before creating one.
You can never go wrong with advertising calendars, but if you decide to go for one type, ensure that you ask yourself these questions:
- Am I interested in small or large size calendars?
- Do I want people to have a column to write on?
- Will it be portable?
- How will I arrange the pictures of my products? Would it be on each months of the year?
Once you have found answers to the questions, you will know how to choose the right type of promotional calendar for your business. It is vital to do this brainstorming so that the creation will be easy and fast.
Make a Calendar
Microsoft and Google have online materials that can help you create calendars. These calendars will contain pictures of your business products or the services rendered. It will also display your logo throughout the pages. Most calendars also contain special dates with special offers that your customers will find interesting.
Aside from making the calendar, it is vital to keep track of this advertising means. Keep in mind that the reason for any marketing strategy is to improve your business growth and sales, so you want this ad to do the same for you. Having a track record also allows you to know which strategies were ineffective and didn’t meet up to expectations and which ones did.
So keep the following in mind when making this calendar:
- The name of your business
- Your company’s logo
- Your business theme colors
- The products or service you render
- A purchase guide to your products and services
- Benefits of the products and services.
With all these in place, your marketing strategy is good to go. Prospective customers that get your calendar can see what you sell and how to reach out to you for it. The distribution aspect of this ad campaign might be a bit tricky. You can offer the calendars to current customers with hope that it attracts prospects to your business. Or you can choose to offer it to both prospects and your customers through social media giveaways.
A calendar is a very cheap means of promoting your business. All you need is quality material, a good design firm that deals with such, and an effective strategy. You might also include your website or a QR code that when scanned takes the prospects to where he or she can buy your product.
Evaluate Your Results
It is not that easy to evaluate the results of this campaign, but you can always find a way to do so. Asking new customers how they came to know about your business is one way. You can ask them if it was through social media, word of mouth from past customers, or promotional materials like calendars. Compile the results of the survey and see the percentage of people that learned about your company through this advertising means.
Benefits of Advertising Calendars
Here are some benefits:
It is a Cheap Marketing Means
Calendars are much more affordable than radio or TV ads and they also last longer. People can change the station when your product is being advertised. But they will always see your calendar on the walls every day.
It Serves as a Meaningful Gift
How would your client feel if you gave him or her flyer that has your business information on it? They might not be too happy about this. But what if you offer an advertising calendar? They will appreciate this gift. They would place it on their desk or hang it on the wall. This way, they help you advertise your products and services to others.
It Builds Your Business’ Branding
When your company’s calendar is staring at prospects face every day, they are bound to notice what you sell. Think of this as a personal recommendation. If your current customer has this hung on the wall or placed on a desk that means that he or she has endorsed your brand. So, if prospects were to visit this customer, they will clearly see that there is a relationship between your company and the customer.
Truly, custom calendars are great promotion tools that can improve your branding. For other ways to promote your business, you can check here: https://business.chase.com/.
Conclusion
Marketing calendars can be really beneficial to your organization. It can help your organization achieve its desired growth and success.