Once a year, marketers around the country stop their day-to-day activities and plan for the year ahead. It’s a time to not only take a step back and think about the future but also to ask for more resources to grow market share. I think of it like a football game: All of the teams in your category are watching replays of past years’ games and coming up with new plays to win during the upcoming season. Rather than using players on a sports field, we are playing with dollars that we spend on various marketing channels including social media, TV and SEO.
I have been creating marketing calendars for a quarter-century since I was an assistant brand manager on Bull’s-Eye Barbecue Sauce at Kraft Foods. As such, I’ve learned a few tricks of the trade that can help small-business owners set the foundation and craft a winning marketing calendar. Here are my top ten tips:
1. Testing
Prior to the internet, I would devote as little as 3-5% of my budget to testing new marketing approaches once a year. Now that there are so many digital options out there, this process has become a year-round activity that requires a monthly budget. Today, I make sure to dedicate around 5-10% of my budget to testing new ideas and technology.
2. Training And Development
There is an old axiom that states, “It all starts with your people.” I could not agree more. I always set aside a general allowance for on-site training, online training and off-site training. Given the fast-paced changes in marketing technology, it is imperative for our digital team to attend several conferences every year to keep up and further their growth within the company.
3. ROI
Every significant program must have an expected ROI. This is easy for digital marketing, where you can measure clicks and sales, but it is also required for traditional spending like TV, public affairs and local marketing. If you're unable to track the results, you cannot assess whether an intervention is working. In that case, cut it from your budget.
4. Research
In 25 years, I have never created a budget that does not include a research section. It is essential to understand your customers’ needs and wants. Consider new research methods, such as online bulletin boards. Rather than flying around the country conducting two focus groups a night, an online bulletin board provides an opportunity to talk to hundreds of customers over multiple days from the comfort of your office. They are cheaper and more effective.
5. Content Management
One of the big buzzwords of today is content management. It is important to create a separate calendar of all the content that your team will deliver over the next year. When, where and how will you be delivering your TV, radio, print, blog posts, social media, video and thought leadership content in the coming year? The plan needs to be laid out with weeks on one side and channels on the other. Don’t forget to go heavy on the videos -- consumers today don’t want to read your story, they want to watch your story.
6. Competitive Review
This is the perfect time of year to think like your competition. When I was at Kraft, we were required to create a marketing calendar for our product and for each of our major competitors. This forced us to think like our competition and truly understand their strategy. We also had to create each competitor’s profit and loss statement. It proved invaluable to update the P&L throughout the year to determine in which segments they were over- or under-investing.
7. Truth Points By Segment
Most brands have multiple consumer segments that they are trying to attract. For each segment, you should list a marketing message that is the most compelling statement for influencing that consumer’s behavior -- we call this a truth point. These truth points should be unique to your brand. If you devote 20% of your budget to targeting millennials, make sure you have the right millennial-focused vehicles (like Snapchat) and the right truth point to match that group. Review your list of consumer segments and make sure that the weight of spending and truth points are the most aligned and effective to reach those demographics.
8. Digital Vs. Traditional Media
These days, most companies spend more on new media than traditional media. I suggest you go back 10 years and map out how your digital spend has evolved over time. What is the logic of your spending mix? Is it moving too fast or too slow? In most cases, your consumer segments have not changed much, but your mix has changed dramatically. Did your shifting mix follow your consumer’s lead or did you lead the consumer?
9. Scorecards
“Inspect what you expect.” It is essential that every employee in your department has a scorecard that can be used to evaluate performance. Make sure each program on the marketing calendar fits into someone’s scorecard, and that there is a budgeted ROI to measure your results. This will be important throughout the year when deciding which programs were effective. It will also be important at the end of the year when you have to write performance reviews.
10. Out-Of-The-Box Thinking
Once your calendar is done but before you present it to management, stop and ask yourself “how would my calendar look different if Walt Disney or Apple or Nike wrote this calendar?” Think of the most innovative companies you know and ask yourself what they would do differently. I always challenge my team with these ideas, and you would be surprised how many innovative suggestions come from thinking like players who are not even in your industry.
If you focus on these elements when planning your next marketing calendar, you will bring strong strategic thinking and action to 2018 and beyond.
