It’s a new year, and staying ahead of the curve is one of the most important skills you can have in the ever-changing world of digital marketing. So by creating a year-round marketing calendar of relevant upcoming events, you’ll be that much closer to mastering the digital landscape.
In this article, we’ll list the top key events of each month. This will hopefully help keep you organised, consistent, and give you ideas for campaigns, strategies, and social media posts for the year ahead.
Let’s get started…
January – New Beginnings
It’s time to kick off the new year with a campaign centred around new beginnings and New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps something to beat the “January blues”?
Whatever your particular business is, offer a fresh start for your customers. A special sale or discount should motivate and encourage them to do business with you.
For example, if you’re a digital marketing agency in London or any other part of the world, many different businesses will be making New Year’s resolutions to up their game. So, capitalise on this and offer a discounted package that will inspire those businesses to work with you in order to revamp their online presence for the new year ahead.
February
The big marketing event in February is probably Valentine’s Day, although other events such as Chinese New Year and Pancake Day (if it falls in February) could be worth a mention.
Alongside Valentine’s Day, there are also alternative takes on the day. These takes provide an alternative to the romantic love that is usually associated with Valentine’s.
Valentine’s alternatives include Galentines and Palentines, which focus on platonic love between friends – acknowledging something like this could potentially help you reach a wider audience than Valentine’s. Some people are very anti-Valentine’s Day, so depending on your type of business, target audience, and brand’s tone of voice – you could also utilise this.
For an example of a Valentine’s marketing campaign, why not focus on a generalised love-theme? You could create a campaign that celebrates the relationship between businesses and their customers. For this, craft a promotion or contest that will engage your audience and “spread the love”.
March
March marks the beginning of spring, so see if you can match any of your services to things like spring or even “spring cleaning”. This could see you refreshing your marketing strategy and cleaning up your online presence – if you hadn’t done so at the start of the year.
You could also try introducing a new, vibrant approach that matches the changing season. Do this by updating profile pictures, backgrounds, etc., with brighter colours such as ones from a pastel palette.
For seasonal businesses that specialise in better, warmer weather and summer, such as travel agencies, garden stores, or BBQ sellers it’s time to get an early start on the next few months. Clothing stores can start introducing a spring/summer wardrobe.
April
If appropriate for your business, try creating an interesting April Fools’ Day campaign. Look to other businesses and famous examples for ideas. But remember to keep it light hearted. This could be a good opportunity to show your brand’s creativity and sense of humour. Just make sure the campaign won’t create any misunderstandings.
May
The bank holidays are key days to target here, make the most of the extra free time or plans that your target audience will have. Offer long weekend sales.
There’s also Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you) and the Eurovision song contest if you can utilise either of those with your brand. There are often several viral moments from the annual song contest, including memes and social media reactions.
June
With June, we are going into summer, so any products or services that you can offer or highlight that improve people’s summer experience will be key here.
July
July is when summer mode fully activates. In the UK, sporting events like Wimbledon will be hot topics, so if you can link your services or campaigns with something sporty, now might be a good time.
August
Summer continues, one of the top campaigns you’ll start seeing this month will be back to school offers. If you sell or offer anything relevant, create a marketing campaign that resonates with students, parents, and even teachers, in preparation for the new year starting in September.
September
This is when summer sales finish and autumn campaigns start so it’s time to reassess your marketing strategy, embrace the changing season and prepare for the final stretch of the year.
October
The big event in October has to be the run up to Halloween at the end of the month. If you can add a touch of “spookiness” to your content creation then do so, it’s a great opportunity to showcase your brand’s playful side. How about a Halloween costume contest to engage with your audience?
November
This is the time where many businesses embrace the Christmas season early, so you may want to join them and get ahead of others who might wait until later in the month.
December
And finally, if you didn’t start a Christmassy campaign in November, it’s time. Don’t forget sales and campaigns for Boxing Day and New Year’s. You should also create content that reflects on the year’s achievements and trends, as well as offer predictions for the upcoming year.
Final Thoughts
By crafting a year-round marketing calendar, you can create content and campaigns ahead of time, making sure they’re the best they can be. If you haven’t done so before, try it this year and see what a difference it makes.
