You keep hearing over and over again how important it is to have a content calendar to your business and marketing plan. But perhaps you don’t see the point in it, maybe you don’t see how in the world can content gain you leads, clients and revenue.
You also hear that content is king, but it seems like a lot of work without a lot of return. You might have even read the post where I talk about breaking through your struggle with a content calendar, but it still seems far-fetched or a waste of time.
You’re in luck today, my friend, for today I am talking all about my own before and after story on how I was before a content calendar and what my business looks like now with one in hopes to inspire you that you also need a content calendar (I just happen to have one you can download for free too!). So let’s begin the breakdown process and start at the beginning:
Before
When I decided to start blogging, I actually began on blogger where I talked and shared about my own personal struggle and story about being a military wife and a new wife learning so much about herself and marriage. It was around the time I started my own business and I knew I wanted to blog about business eventually.
Long story short, I began writing about my business, where my first blog was announcing my new direction and who I wanted to work with (you can read that blog by clicking here). I began blogging about different people who I knew and I wanted to help them gain exposure through my blog. But of course, I didn’t use any strategic way of really getting these people seen and heard besides sharing my blog on social media.
In 2016, I began to realize I needed to organize my blogs and the way I decided to do that was through having themes every month, which wasn’t a bad idea. It helped me stay on track and because of the theme, I knew what I was going to talk about.
Here’s a takeaway for you: Even though I was theming my months, I was consistent and I knew what I wanted to say, my content did not line up with what I was doing in business.
I didn’t have freebies (until March 2016), I didn’t have an email marketing platform (I believe I got that in the second quarter of my business), and I wasn’t gaining any leads from it. But something changed in October 2016… I was about to partake in a once a month webinar series with some power partners and myself and it hit me as I was planning out my content:
My Content Calendar MUST Coincide with My Marketing Calendar to be Efficient, Strategic, and Purposeful!
That is when my content calendar changed my life, my business and the way I use content to market myself (and I began to identify myself as a Content Strategist)!
After
I came into 2017 determined, confident and knowing what was going inside of my business. I began to plan by the quarter, knowing exactly what I wanted to say and do within each quarter, and I even began prepping with a power partner to host webinars and online courses into the fall of 2017. We worked on our own content and marketing calendars so we knew what we were going to say, being strategic with our message, and knowing what sort of outcomes we wanted.
Because I became strategic with my message and marketing, a whole new world opened up before me! Here are some things I accomplished between then and now, thanks to having a content calendar and a marketing calendar that worked together perfectly:
– I became an Intentional Speaker when a Virtual Summit Guru found my blog and asked if I wanted to be on her Virtual Summit, which went worldwide in April 2017
– I have gotten onto more podcasts, including one in Australia!
– More people sign up for my free offers, which now takes them into an email sequence, which I gather from my blog posts
-My email marketing is beginning to take off, thanks to having a plethora of content to pull from (aka my blogs)
– I was asked to speak at a Startup Week in April 2017 about blogging, which I gained a client from
– I formed a partnership in the spring of 2017 where we are still working together on a variety of projects, thanks to my consistent blogging and knowledge on content marketing
– My past clients are becoming bigger with their businesses because they have discovered how to be purposeful with their content as well (they are gaining clients from their content!)
-I can get into more speaking engagements around the time I am promoting new services that are in my marketing calendar
-I’m gaining more and more clarity on what I want out of my business and what YOU want from me
These are just SOME of the things that have happened since aligning my marketing and content calendars up. What can you accomplish if you decided to begin creating consistent content and then implementing a marketing plan to go along with it?
Conclusion
Begin your content calendar with a 30-day content calendar plan by downloading my FREE Ultimate Content Calendar that will teach you exactly how to create content base on what you’re marketing in the next 30 days. There’s a Goal Action Setting Page that allows you to plan your calendar strategically, then a calendar and a weekly to-do to ensure you’re always in action, and then a review sheet to help you see what worked, what didn’t and how you can move forward with it next month. Take it for a spin and if you want to see your content go even further, hop on a 45-minute free call with me where we’ll discuss your future and your content!
