3 New things I’ve been trying (and 1 I’m giving up)

I’ve been working in marketing professionally for 5 years now. My first professional gig was as the Marketing Director for the Red Door Group in Westminster Colorado.

Today, I coach artists, musicians, emotional support professionals and real estate agents on marketing strategy for social media, newsletters, graphic design and websites. 
In my opinion, the most important aspect of any marketing campaign is having a plan for consistent and relevant media presence. Meaning, you gotta post 3-5 times a week and send out weekly newsletters. 

The three things I’ve been trying recently are (and there's one I'm not doing anymore)

1. Creating a 3 month posting content plan (just the plan)
2. Sending weekly newsletters
3. Writing my posts & blog articles the week before they get published
   
   
   

What works:

#1 The 3 month posting content plan.
I admit this has been the best tool I’ve come up with recently. I spent a couple of hours researching topics like hashtags days (#NationalCatDay) and collecting ideas from other posts I see that get a lot of comments. I put these all on a calendar pdf and refer to it when I go to make my weekly posts. It’s been great to not have to come up with an idea for every day.  Since I’ve started posting nearly every day, I’m seeing more followers and more engagement with my posts! (That’s the point right?)

#2 Sending weekly newsletters.
Scariest thing on the planet, sending a newsletter! I don’t know why this is, but most of us who email are terrified of pissing people off. Of course we are! But what I’ve discovered with my weekly newsletters is that a) I provide valuable information people enjoy reading b) only my best friend unsubscribed. LOL​

What didn't work...

#3 Writing my posts & blog articles the week they get published.
It has always been my strategy was to wake up Monday morning, write all my posts and schedule them for the week. Then check in on Thursday and add another post relevant to what happened during the week. This is great until I either go on vacation or get sick. My feed dries up and no newsletter goes out that week. 
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Even as a professional marketer, I struggle with keeping up with the work. I decided that this was simply a motivation and work flow issue. 

This week I decided to fix this problem by spending a couple of hours scheduling out 70% of my posts to Facebook & Instagram through the end of the year (60 days) using my 90-day Post Content Ideas Calendar (get yours here).  

I also decided that my  blog & newsletters will be written a minimum of 2 weeks ahead of time, and my goal is to get 4 weeks of content created and scheduled. This is about 20% of my posts, but they are the most important because this is where I share my knowledge and expertise. 

Lastly, I’m leaving room for 10% of my posts to be spontaneous and fun. These may not end up in my feed, but are usually posted to my Instagram “stories” where they can be seen for 24 hours and then disappear.. 

What have you tried recently that is working (or not working) for you? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

P.S. If you don’t already have your Q4 Fall Post Content Ideas Calendar, CLICK HERE to get yours now. And I’ll also be sending out Q1 Winter Post Content Ideas Calendar by November 15th!