52-Week Marketing Activities Calendar
A 52-Week Marketing Schedule for Overworked CEOs
If business owners have one thing in common it is the discipline of a regular and thorough review of operating performance, with one possible exception-marketing. Marketing is often taken for granted and reviewed more for its tactics than for the disciplines that make it effective. For example, a large scale emailing will be analyzed for the number of calls it generates, yet opportunities for A/B testing or optimization of landing pages linked to the email may be ignored.
Small business CEOs can get an effective handle on their marketing activities-and improve the ROI of their marketing investment-by applying the same thoroughness used in other critical business areas. Here's a way to start the marketing activities calendar.
Organization of the Calendar
This calendar is based on the 4-4-5 week quarterly calendar. This results in 3 sets of 4 weeks plus an additional week every quarter. Each set of 4 weeks has an identical weekly discipline. Here is that discipline; the extra 13th week of each quarter will be discussed later.
The 4-Week Marketing Calendar
Week 1
- Focus on the big picture.
- Review the marketing calendar and familiarize yourself with those upcoming events that require special planning and communication.
- Review the ROI of the most recent marketing event, and pay special attention to traditional marketing activities such as print and direct mail.
- Analyze marketing performance versus budget, year-ago, trend, competition, and prior test results (if any).
Week 2
- Focus on online, inbound (non-traditional) marketing.
- Evaluate keyword performance and current relevance.
- Review how your website is attracting visitors, promoting your services or products, and converting leads. Optimize and analyze.
- Review the creation, use, and re-purposing of content.
Week 3
- Focus on problems and opportunities, primarily through the testing of new solutions and customer offerings.
- Identify test alternatives, and rely on competitive intelligence.
- Decide on the test design and expectations.
- (Tests may be conducted on virtually anything that warrants an improvement, ranging from alternative ads to new products.)
Week 4
- Focus on listening to your customer.
- Listen online to what is being said about your company and your competitors.
- Visit your customers and vendors.
- Listen to your employees.
The 13th Week
There are 4 weeks that we call 13th weeks. Assume that they fall at the end of your business quarter. Here's how you can incorporate them into your 52-Week Marketing Activities Calendar.
- First 13th Week: Simply get out of your office. Make visits to rarely visited customers, attend an off-site seminar, or visit a place (library, museum, retail store, etc.) that can stimulate your mind to think differently.
- Second 13th Week: Repeat the first 13th week activity.
- Third 13th Week: Prepare for your annual marketing review.
- Fourth 13th Week: Conduct your annual marketing review.
Summary:
Getting the most out of your marketing investment involves the regular disciplines described above. Modify this schedule to fit your particular business needs.
For more ideas, see Business Strategy.
Mission: To help small and mid-size businesses capture the power of big-picture marketing.