In today’s Tech News Tuesday episode, we’re continuing our series on how you can get more business in 2025 by creating a clear marketing plan that works. This time, we’re talking about how to get organized by getting your marketing on a calendar. Having a clear schedule for your content is crucial to staying on track, so let’s break down how to make that happen.
If you’ve been following along, in the first two parts we’ve covered what strategic topics to cover for your audience and where to share them. Now it’s time to take those ideas and turn them into action. The key to doing that is creating a content calendar. A calendar allows you to assign dates and deadlines for all your content — from blogs to emails to social media posts.
Planning Your Content
Planning your content by month helps you stay relevant and strategic. You can fill in topics for each month and be sure that you’re covering what matters to your audience. But here’s an important tip — don’t just put the publish dates on the calendar. You need to work backwards to add due dates for what you need for the content.
Don’t just put the publish dates on the calendar. You need to work backwards from those to get due dates.
Let’s say you plan to send out an email on the second Wednesday of the month. If that email is based on a blog post, that blog needs to be written ahead of time. You should set deadlines for when that blog draft needs to be done, when it needs to be reviewed, and when it should be published. Ideally that would be the 1st Wednesday of the month in our example. The same goes for your social media posts — what days will you post your content?
A calendar turns your marketing ideas into actionable steps that can actually get done.
It’s all about breaking down the tasks into manageable steps. A calendar turns your marketing ideas into actionable steps that can actually get done. Without a calendar, things often slip through the cracks or get pushed off until it’s too late.
Creating Your Calendar
Now, let’s talk about how to actually fill in that calendar. We like to start with a big picture for the year.
What things happen regularly in your business each year? Is back to school time important for your business? If you are a landscaper you have seasons like spring cleanup, mowing, leaf cleanup. Maybe you’ll want to feature a product each month.
Start by mapping out your themes for each month. That will inform your website, email and social media content for those months. Then look at the next quarter and get specific with content. What are some of those topics you always get asked about that you don’t already have content for? Do they fit with the themes you’ve identified for those months, or you can add them to places where nothing else is going on.
Set realistic timelines.
Don’t forget to set realistic timelines. If you want that blog ready a week before the email goes out, make sure to schedule time for it. The idea is to break down tasks into smaller chunks so that everything gets done on time.
By creating a content calendar, you’ll stay organized and ensure you’re always on track with your marketing. In our next episode, we’ll talk about how to save time with batching, scheduling and reusing your content. You’ll feel so much better when you’re not scrambling at the last minute!
Your Action Items
- Start with your larger themes for the year for each month — seasons, etc.
- Based on how often you are going to create content, for example one blog, two emails per month, enter those topics and dates. Ideally you’ll want to complete a quarter at a time, but at least monthly ahead.
- Work backwards from the publish dates to add due dates.
So, take action today! Get out your 2025 calendar and start filling in dates that match the platform and frequencies you identified in the last episode. This process will help you stay organized and focused on the big picture.
Remember, being organized today not only helps you stay on track tomorrow, but it also allows you to keep your marketing consistent and effective in the long run, setting you up for success as the year goes on.
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Links in this episode: Digital Marketing Success Drivers
