So, don’t skip this part.
ACTIVITY
Either download our calendar template for A3 (from www.thewern.com/book) or sketch out a 12-month table – see the example below for a suggestion – and work through the following titles under each month.
Business dates
– What are the key moments in your business for the year ahead?
– Do you have a business birthday?
– Do you have a significant planned new senior hire?
– Do you have an annual charity day?
– Are you implementing an innovative HR policy that you could promote?
– Do you have case studies to promote?
– Are you launching a new product or service?
Key calendar days
Have a Google of national days that relate to your sector; e.g., if you are a food & drink business, Google ‘national days for food & drink’ and see what comes up that could be applicable to your business:
– If you are a business-to-business (B2B) organisation, there are still plenty of national days that can be applicable. What about National Coworking Day, National Work from Home Day, National Apprenticeship Week, Small Business Saturday or National Freelancers Day as a starter for 10?
– What about key moments such as the budget, or policy debate days that might apply to your business? Check what is coming up in parliament for inspiration.
– Each month we share our own cultural calendar dates via our blog and Instagram on @wernchat; have a look out for inspiration on dates relating to sport, fashion, film, design and TV.
Think about how you can do something different on a traditional newshook. Grace Gould from Soda Says shows just how innovative you can be:
Our favourite case of using a calendar newshook to our advantage was when Soda Says launched our Sex Tech edit for Valentines Day 2019. We did a whole series of programming around demystifying female pleasure and self love. We even co-hosted a sold out “unValentines Day” party with the Pink Protest and the Libreria bookstore in East London.
Awards/conferences/panels
– Think about how you could populate your calendar with industry events, awards and conferences.
– Research sector-specific events; e.g., if you are a wedding business, what are the wedding-related events, awards or groups you want to participate in? Plot these in.
– Consider generic business events for founder awards, marketing, design.
– Think regionally – lots of local regions have their own independent business or founder awards.
Content summary
Every business now needs to be a publisher so you need to think about the following content ideas and match them against the key dates you have created (or even use them to fill in the gaps).
It helps to first write a list of how many of these you would like to do annually, then break it down by quarter and then monthly so that you can then see a clear pattern of activity for the year.
– Guest post/article
– ‘How to’ guide
– Interview
– Podcast
– Live-streamed video
– Whitepaper/Research report
– Newsletter
– Press releases
– Trend pitch
– Talk/Panel event
– Other activity
For now, you can leave this blank, but you may wish to populate it with ideas from Chapters Three and Four as you work your way through the book
BONUS ACTIVITY
With all campaigns I work on, I am also thinking about the future, so I often break down my key calendar dates by long lead, mid lead and short leads.
Long lead
The one that most people might have heard of is Christmas in July. Basically, long lead refers to monthly magazines that are working six months in advance. No good going to Vogue in January to pitch your perfect product for a New Year’s Resolution; you should be doing that in August.
If you have photography of your product or an event image you can use six months ahead then you are good to go and it’s definitely worth marking in your calendar when to start pitching.
Mid lead
Similar to the above, but for me, mid leads are 6–8 weeks (usually this can differ for different titles) – this is more applicable to the Time Out magazine-type publications. If you are planning an event, launch, or something that is timing-specific, then working far in advance is essential, so you have time to craft and issue your press materials ahead of the launch.
Short lead
Typically, short leads are your online publications. But again, even with them you want to be giving them a heads up of at least a week in advance. No good pitching someone your fantastic Valentine’s Day stunt on the day. And I think it’s always better to be safe than sorry. In my opinion, you can never be pitching your event, service or activity too early – someone can always say come back. But if you are too late, the opportunity is dead.
EXAMPLE
TIPS
– Make sure you plan in advance where necessary (e.g., if you want to pitch to long-lead magazines or pitch to speak at a conference) to make sure the things that need a lot of consideration are included.
– If thinking ahead for a full 12 months is too much, then start with monthly or quarterly content.
– At the beginning of each month, I write a week-by-week plan to ensure I am keeping my strategy on track.
– Sit and review your calendar at least monthly to make sure you are on track – schedule a monthly communications planning meeting with yourself/your key stakeholders and
