Create your weekly marketing plan

A few weeks ago I shared how to create your monthly marketing plan by breaking down the tasks you want to accomplish into weeks, so you’re not overwhelmed trying to do it all at once.

(Check out that article and resources here)

Today I want to go even further into your weekly marketing plan so you can build your action plan and never have that lost, confused feeling of “what the hell am I doing?” – at least when it comes to your marketing.

A word of caution…

Often times we get caught up in trying to figure out what someone else is doing so we can copy… er, emulate… their strategies.  I understand the desire – someone else is clearly successful so why not do what they do? The reason is that there are innumerable differences not limited to your business structure, team members, level of skill, connections in the industry, audience and reach, so what works for someone else might be a disaster for you.

While it may make sense for someone you follow to invest in a live event and promote it via TV advertisements, that doesn’t mean you should follow suit.

So I’d encourage you to follow along this weekly plan and adapt it for your own needs.

Here’s your monthly marketing plan again:

Week 1: Write 1 blog post and share it on Twitter or Facebook
Week 2: Share your blog post in an ezine to your email list
Week 3: Record a video expanding on the blog post you wrote and share it on social media
Week 4: Create a list of 3-4 topics you can share and pitch them as guest posts. When you get published, share it in your ezine and on social media.

Now, let’s break it down into a simpler weekly plan:

Week 1 – Write 1 blog post and share it on Twitter or Facebook (est 3 hours)

Day 1 – write the first draft of your blog post (45 min)
Day 2 – read the post aloud and fix anything that feels or sounds weird, find an image on a stock image website to use (30 min)
Day 3 – write a post for Facebook and Twitter about your blog post (15 min)
Day 4 – add your final post and image to your website, spend some time completing the SEO for the post  (45 min)
Day 5 – publish the blog post and share what you prepared on Facebook and Twitter (15 min)

You might be thinking “it will take me much longer than that!” and I’d suggest setting a timer while you work. If you decide that it will take 45 minutes to write a blog post, then be okay with a first draft during that time. It might mean you write shorter posts and that’s fine!

Week 2 – Share your blog post in an ezine to your email list (est 2 hours)

Day 1 – write the content for your ezine (30 min)
Day 2 – format the email within your provider including text, photo, and links to your blog post (60 minutes)
Day 3 – queue and send your ezine to your followers (30 min)

Week 3 – Record a video expanding on the blog post you wrote and share it on social media (3 hours)

Day 1 – make a bullet-point list on a post-it note about why you shared that blog post (30 min) Day 2 – set up your space with a webcam or video camera, test the sound and lighting (45 min)
Day 3 – get your beautiful self in front of the camera and record your video (15 min)
Day 4 – upload your video to YouTube, add SEO to the description and post (60 min)
Day 5 – share on social media a link to your video using your bullet points as copy (30 min)

Week 4: Create a list of 3-4 topics you can share and pitch them as guest posts. When you get published, share it in your ezine and on social media (est 2 hours)

Day 1 – Grab a stack of post-it notes and a blank wall and write ideas, one per note, until you get 25 topics (30 min)
Day 2 – Do an online search for at least 2 places you can guest post, write down the name, URL, and email for each (60 min)
Day 3 – Pick the strongest 3 topics that would fit as guest posts and send a simple pitch email (15 min)
Day 4 – Write a short outline for each of the 3 topics you love (15 min)
Day 5 (optional) – Share all of the published posts you’ve had this week on social media (15 min)

Well that’s all good, but what if you have different marketing goals?

Or just different goals in general? As I said in the beginning, it’s valuable to see how to break down what needs to be done, even if you have a different end goal. Here are some of my tips on how you can follow this process for anything you want to accomplish:

Step 1: Break long-term goals into monthly goals

Working day-to-day or even week-to-week is too granular for me (and most entrepreneurs), and while it feels easier to keep your head down and focused just on what’s in front of you, it’s easy to lose perspective.

Now, you don’t need to sketch out a 5-year plan in order to move forward, but it would be a good idea to review your goals for the next 6-18 months, and then create the monthly strategy you need to get there.

Let’s break this down using the common goal of growing your list and use these made up numbers:

Current list size: 3,000 unique
Goal list size: 10,000 unique
Goal date: 18 months

You can’t just say where you want to be, whether you’re looking at blog traffic, sales, conversions, or social media followers; you need to give it a deadline.  Once you know those longer-term numbers, then you can break it down by month.

Monthly growth: 389 unique

Currently you might be getting 100 new subscribers on average, so let’s make our monthly goal an additional 300 people.

Step 2: Create your monthly strategy

Okay, you need to add 300 new subscribers a month to reach your goal. You could continue doing the same thing and see how numbers change. Or you can develop a strategy, execute it, test the results, and tweak as you go.

Let’s assume you’re committed to these goals and are not going to sit back and simply “see what happens.” This is where your strategy comes to life.

Depending on what your marketing goal is, your action steps are going to differ. Here are some examples for our goal to grow the list:

• If you’re currently posting on Twitter twice a week, maybe now is the time to share updates and interact more frequently.
• Perhaps you notice that when you post a video on YouTube or do a Periscope, your numbers always jump – now is the time to schedule more video time!
• If you’ve yet to run ads that guide people to your free offer, it may be time to dive into Facebook and Google ads.
• Maybe you’ve gotten a great responsive from speaking and you’ll work on booking a speaking opportunity at a live event.

No matter what strategy you choose to reach your goal, this next step is absolutely critical.

Step 3: Decide what you can do each week

Often times we get stuck looking long term at the bigger picture, but to execute your goals all you need to do is tackle that strategy one week at a time.

Notice how in our marketing day-by-day, I didn’t schedule a new video every other day or even each week. You can start by making one video a month. Same with social media. You don’t need to spend 4 hours a day on Twitter, but create strategic time to be posting and present.

Here’s how we could break down some of the goals into weekly tasks:

Week 1:

• Schedule 2 times per week to spend 30 minutes on Twitter answering mentions, sharing content, and adding back followers

Week 2:

• Write scripts or bullet point for new videos and schedule time to record new video content.
• Set reminders to share content on Periscope once a day for 15 minutes or less.

Week 3:

• Budget for running new Facebook or Google ads on a regular basis.
• If new to advertising, spend some time learning the ropes of how to post and optimize your ads.

Week 4:

• Begin researching events and hosts for events that align with your audience for speaking.

Every business is unique

Your own plan might take 2 months to execute, or with the help of a team, you can outsource things quickly and spend an hour per week on your marketing.

I want you to know that there is no one right way to work or to schedule your time. Your own approach is going to be unique, but I hope that by seeing how I break down a larger task into weekly and daily goals, you can do the same for your own objectives.

Let me know in the chat: what is your big goal, marketing or otherwise, and what is the first next step that you’ll take to make it happen?