by Kim Houlahan – e-Marketing Strategist

Summer time…the weather is gorgeous and thoughts turn to outdoor activities, relaxation and planning. Planning? Yes, planning! And no better time than the lazy, hazy days of summer to plan your next year. Great email campaigns and programs come from thoughtful advance planning. I’m sure that’s no surprise. What surprises me is how many people look at email differently then other marketing vehicles – just because email has a quick delivery time doesn’t mean it has a quick creation time. You’ll need to put the same effort into the planning, strategy, writing, editing, proofing and creation as you do with all of your marketing efforts. If you want your email broadcasts to be consistently meaningful, relevant and timely, you need to plan your email program carefully with your overall marketing plans and keep your sales, marketing and communications objectives in mind. Here are 8 steps to take this summer to plan your email marketing program for the next year! And what better time than now, the lazy, hazy days of summer, to get started!

1. Create Your Planning Calendar
   Look at your overall Marketing Plans for the coming year…create a planning calendar (chart) with the next twelve months listed across the top, a column for each. Then start populating your planning calendar.
   
   
2. Look at Seasonal Opportunities
   New Years, Valentines Day, Spring, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving? Are any of these holidays or seasons offering promotional or educational opportunities? If so, mark these events on the calendar.
   
   
3. Note all Your Marketing Initiatives
   Mark all your trade shows, conventions, speaking opportunities, product launches, contests, etc. onto your planning calendar. It’s good to know when these events will occur and the objectives – note this information on the calendar.
   
   
4. Don’t Forget Advertising & Promotion Plans
   Now, record your plans for advertising campaigns (TV, radio, newspaper, web, etc), webcasts, articles publishing, etc. on the calendar.
   
   
5. Create Your Email Marketing Strategy
   Now that you have a populated planning calendar, plan your promotional email broadcasts and your e-newsletter or e-bulletin programs to support your marketing initiatives and leverage your advertising and promotional efforts. With all this information mapped onto one planning calendar, it will make planning your email frequency, content and timing a breeze.
   
   
6. Plan the Content
   While you are planning when your emails will broadcast and mapping them into your planning calendar, decide on a theme, the main stories, the images, etc. Then you can start working on content and research well in advance of the deadlines. No more surprises!!
   
   
7. The Annual Plan is complete – now what?
   This plan will need to shift and adjust over the course of the year to accommodate news, events and new products that were not planned or foreseen at planning time. Roll with this. Be flexible. We find that having a plan for the entire year at a glance, it’s much easier to respond to breaking news or an emerging theme that we decide we want to cover at the last minute – we often switch content from one month to another – but we’re always one step ahead! Review your plan quarterly – or monthly if you’re keen! Make the adjustments you need to. Stay focused and your email marketing efforts will be successful ~ and continue to be relevant, timely and meaningful to your readers.
   
   
8. Relax and enjoy the rest of your summer!!
   With the annual planning calendar mapped out, there is now time to be creative with the content and the design of your email campaigns. But that can wait a few more weeks…just put your feet up, relax and enjoy the rest of the summer!

About cardcommunications:
As an innovative e-marketing outsource solution, cardcommunications helps businesses deepen customer relationships, influence client behaviour, build brand and boost revenue. These benefits are achieved though a wide range of e-marketing programs including e-newsletters, e-promotions, and e-surveys - all built through a combination of permission-based strategies and best practices. Serving local and national clients in government, education, high tech and retail sectors, the reach of cardcommunications is broad.