12 - Build a Communications Calendar - Mini Marketing October Edition with Abi Jacks

It's the October Mini Marketing special, and today, Abi guides activity providers through the essential steps of creating a communications calendar. 

Perfect for those managing local sports clubs, dance schools, or gymnastics clubs who feel overwhelmed by their marketing needs. Discover how to effectively plan your content, ensuring it aligns with key dates and promotions, to maintain consistency and build trust with your audience. 

Abi breaks down the advantages of a well-structured calendar and shares practical tips for mixing content types, timing posts around significant events, and choosing the right platforms for your messages. 

Stay tuned for more insightful episodes from Steps2Success, where we help you navigate the challenges of running a children's activity organisation with practical advice and expert insights.

Created with pride by LoveAdmin

Edited with finesse by Making Digital Real

Transcript

Hey everybody, I'm Abi Jacks, Director of Marketing and Growth at LoveAdmin, and you're listening to the Mini Marketing Podcast, where I'll be taking you through the world of marketing for your children's activity organisation. There's no buzzword, bingo, as a promise. Welcome back to Mini Marketing. 

I hope you enjoyed the last session on the three-trick pony. If you haven't heard it, then check out the Full Step to Success channel and learn how to nail all of your marketing goals in one. Today, I'm going to talk about something every activity provider needs an organised approach to your marketing.

If you run a local sports club, a dance school, or a gymnastics club, you've likely felt overwhelmed by how much there is to keep track of. What should I post? When should I post it? And how do I stay consistent? Today, we'll walk through how to solve this by creating a communications calendar, a simple yet powerful tool to keep your marketing efforts on track. Blogging, social media, email campaigns, these are great ways to build relationships with your community.

But without a plan, it's easy to get stuck, post-sporadically, or feel rushed at the last minute. And that's where your communications calendar can come in. In today's episode, I'm going to show you how a communications calendar can help you, one, stay organised, two, reach the right people at the right time, and three, keep your messaging consistent and relevant.

But first, why would you even bother with a communications calendar in the first place? Well, a well-organised calendar helps you plan your content in advance, meaning you're never scrambling for ideas and having that last-minute panic. You'll have a clear picture of what needs to be posted, when it needs to be posted, and on which platforms. And this not only saves time, but it ensures that your messaging is aligned with key dates, promotions, and events that you may have going on with your club.

Plus, when your content's planned, you're more likely to stay consistent, which really helps to build trust with your audience. Okay, so let's break down the three key things to consider when building a communications calendar. Number one, content variety.

It's really important to keep your content fresh and engaging by mixing up what you share. Your calendar should include different types of content, like blog posts, videos, social media updates, reels, email newsletters. For example, you could post a behind-the-scenes video for your dance class one week, followed by a blog post that interviews one of your teachers the following week.

By offering a variety of content, you keep your audience interested and coming back for more. The second thing is timing and consistency. When are your key dates or events coming up? Maybe you have a competition at the end of the month, or a registration deadline approaching.

Make sure to plan your content around these events so you can build up excitement and send reminders well in advance. And then don't forget the follow-up. Keep that engagement going from when people had a fantastic time.

How can your community continue to engage with you? Consistency is just as important as timing. Whether you're posting once a week or once a month, keeping a regular schedule helps build trust with your audience again. They know when to expect new content from you, and that predictability can help strengthen that connection between your club and your community.

Thirdly, what is your platform focus? You don't need to be on every single platform. Instead, think about where your audience spends most of the time. Are they active on Facebook? Do they prefer emails? Tailor your content to suit that platform.

For example, long-form articles may work better on your blog, while short, punchy updates and messages are perfect for social media. By focusing on the right platforms, you can deliver your message more effectively. If you're not 100% sure which platforms people are on, and you haven't been listening to my podcasts in a row, then head back to the beginning, because I do one where we cover learning more about our target audience.

And it's a really key one to help fill in the gaps into this piece. Okay, so now we've covered the basics. You know me, I love to get practical.

So it's time to start building our communications calendar. We actually provide one of these as part of the Love Admin School of Marketing. But even if you haven't downloaded the template yet, don't worry.

You can create a simple version right now with me with a few easy steps. So firstly, I need you to grab a pen and a paper because you're going to need to write some things down. Step one, start with a blank calendar.

You can use a printed calendar, a digital tool like Google Calendar, or my preferred basic is always Word or Excel. Nice simple table. If you're using a table, make sure to create columns for these things.

Date, content type, platform, audience, and objective. Now step two, think about your content type in that second column. What kind of content do you want to share each week? These could be blog posts, videos, social media updates, or even promotions.

Variety is key, as I mentioned before. So aim to include different types of content in there. And then you're ready for step three, adding your platforms.

For each piece of content, decide where you want it to be published. Is it going to be shared on social media, on Facebook, on Insta, on TikTok? Is it going on your website or are you sending it out via an email or a newsletter? Tailor your content to suit the platform where your audience is most active. Then step four, define your audience.

Who is each piece of content for? Are you trying to attract new members, engage existing ones, or reach out to a specific group or persona? Identifying your target audience will really help guide your messaging. I mentioned this earlier. If you need to go back and listen to that podcast I did, please do because it will really help you when you're starting to build your messaging out.

And then step five, set your objectives. What do you want to achieve with each piece of content? Are you trying to boost signups, increase engagement, or build awareness, or is it a three-trick pony? Make sure each piece has a clear purpose. By the end of this exercise, you'll have a basic communications calendar for a month.

And then once you start using it, you'll feel more organised and in control of your marketing efforts. You might even start to make adjustments to what you're putting in there, or you might want to invite other people in so that they can put their thoughts in as well and it becomes more of a collaborative piece. Don't worry if you didn't catch all these steps.

Check out the transcript or you can access a ready-made content planning template and much more through the Love Admin School of Marketing. It's a completely free resource that we designed to help activity providers like yourselves master your marketing. Once you register, you'll find a wealth of helpful templates, guides, and tips to grow your club.

So no need to wait. Head over to Love Admin, search for the School of Marketing, and you can register for free right now. Okay, let's quickly recap what I've covered today.

It always flies by. So a communications calendar is a fantastic way to stay organised. Keep your messaging consistent and ensure you're reaching your audience at the right time.

Remember these key three points. One, content variety. Mix up those types of content you're sharing to keep things fresh.

Two, timing and consistency. Align your posts with key dates and make sure you stick to a regular schedule. Three, platform focus.

Make sure you're tailoring your content to the platforms where your audience is most active. Now it's time to put these ideas into practice. If you follow the steps we discussed today, you'll have the foundation of a solid communications calendar and you'll feel more in control of your marketing than before.

Thank you for joining me. If you found today's episode helpful, be sure to share it with others and please do leave a review. And remember, you can access the free template and more resources through the Love Admin School of Marketing.

If you're enjoying my practical pods, I hope you are, please subscribe to the Step to Success channel and next month I'll dive into successful blogging with a nod to AI in there. I'm just one of the experts dedicated to helping Love Admin customers achieve success. If you're looking for a software provider that gives you more and wants to help you grow, then visit loveadmin.com to see what working with us looks like.

Until next time, stay organised, stay consistent, happy planning.