Planning for Success: A short guide to using what’s working to plan and grow your business

It’s the end of the year and you may be making big plans for the new one.

And while I’m a huge fan of planning big things, pushing yourself to reach goals, launching the ideas that you’ve been sitting on for too long…I’m also curious…

And I like to be a detective in my business…especially when I’m planning.

I like to ask – What worked last year? And if it worked…can I do it again?

Today’s episode we dive into that topic and more.

So – if you’re about to create your own marketing calendar for the new year, this one’s perfect for you.

Listen in and then come back to review some of the examples and guidance below.

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You know, things that you do once, work well, and that are scheduled to happen again at regular intervals throughout the year?

• Like say a sale you did back in November that you could run every November?
• Or a launch that you usually open in September that you can open EVERY September?
• Or a 30 day challenge to boost your list growth that you can also do the same time every year or quarter?
• Or what about a webinar that worked once that you could do every month or every week?

If you’re not finding ways to repeat and reuse your promotions, then you are missing out, especially if they worked.

Here are some specific examples that may spark ideas for you:

1. Promotion where you offered a limited time bonus or upgrade on the product

For example: Fearless Launching + upgrade to the complete package – Last November I ran a similar short duration promotion that I’m running this year during Black Friday week.

I offered a bonus if people signed up during 1 specific week. This year I’m only changing the “bonus” to be an upgrade. But, funnily enough, it’s the same promotion that did for the program in June.

Moral of the story – if something worked at specific times, pop it on the calendar now for the same times next year.

2. Stick to a format that works for you and RE-USE content.

Stop trying to reinvent the wheel. If you did a spreecast and it worked well, do it again. If your 7 day challenge brought people to you, do that. If you enrolled people through one on one contact, do that again.

If you ran a series of webinars to promote and sell membership into your program. The content is evergreen enough that you won’t have to update it every single time you present the material.

Can you do them regularly? How regular? Monthly? Weekly? Quarterly?

For example:  John Lee Dumas does weekly podcast workshops to promote his Podcasters Paradise community.

Another example is Amy Porterfield who usually does multiple webinars throughout her open launch window.

Here’s a clue – if it works, keep doing it. That’s why they keep doing it!

3. You did a month long challenge, gave people a ton of value, and sold something at the end.

Two examples: Simple Green Smoothies has an amazing 30 day green smoothie challenge. They run it at regular, scheduled times throughout the year.

Amber McCue has run her Planathon two years now in November. Based on the success of this, I’m betting she’ll do it again.

A few thoughts: Is there something you’re already doing that could be scheduled, repeated and put on a more public calendar so your audience knows when you’ll be doing it?

It would be a shame to create so much content for a challenge and then not repurpose it or use it again!

4. You launch your signature program once or twice a year.

For example: We know Marie Forleo’s B-school comes out at least once per year. Creating Fame with Laura Roeder follows that same pattern. Up until 2015, Fearless Launching was doing 2 launches per year.

You get to choose, but start building things that you can re-do with less effort and stress on you or your potential team.

Live or Memorex?

You can do these types of promotions live or simply cue up the emails/content that need to go out.

That’s the beauty of recurring promotions.

You get stop creating from scratch every single time!

There are always elements that can be made live or completely repurposed.

4 Ways To Rebuild The Fire For Something That’s Already “Launched” Once

But you might be thinking…how do I launch something or bring the same excitement to the launch that it had the first time.

Or maybe it’s a product that’s always available.

What then?

1. Facebook Ads – listen to what I did in this recent podcast episode about using ads to build my list.
2. New and related blog content sharing a new perspective on the product or perhaps highlighting a customer or student.
3. Adding emails to your new subscriber autoresponder sequence introducing them to the products they may not know about.
4. Good ‘ole social media – sharing content you may have created during your first launch, including guest posts, interviews, anything you also published on your own blog.

Okay, Your Turn

Do you have 1 or 2 marketing activities you have promoted, offered, put on sale, or done this year that could be repeated next year?

They don’t all have to be moneymakers – some could be list builders, some could be gifts to your tribe, some could dovetail into some anniversary or holiday in the real world.

And if the answer is yes or maybe, write that thing down and put it on your calendar for either the same time next year or sometime in the next 2 months.

Ask Away…

Leave a comment below and let me know your biggest takeaway or musing from today’s show. Also, if you’d like the chance to be featured on the next Fearless Launching Show,head over HERE and leave me a voice message!

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