How planning for big calendar events can benefit small business

events, schedule
Events. Flat design business people concept for business planning, events and news, reminder and schedule. Vector illustration concept for web banner, business presentation, advertising material.

At the beginning of the year, we’re full of energy, the blood is pumping, the desk is clear and the paper is clean. We’re laser focused on making the most of every opportunity so we can reach our goals and take our business to the next level. Right?

Fast forward to now. Tell me it’s not just me.

The clarity fades into an overtired blur and we find ourselves stuck in the day-to-day with all our awesome strategy now sitting about 20 pages deep in the pile marked “to-do”. It’s something that happens to me nearly every week, but there’s one area of my business that is well planned and still on point and that’s my yearly event planner.

Why? It’s vitally important for delivering the right content at the right time to my audience.

For us, annual events in Australia are opportunities. We sit down and plan our content delivery and when it’s most relevant. This is going to vary for each business depending on who your audience is, however, if you haven’t looked at our Australian events for content opportunity, maybe now’s the time to give it some thought.

The events we consider include:

  • Seasons – these can relate to the climate, time of year, or the characteristics of a season, like locations and activities.
  • Celebrations/occasions – Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, even your business birthday I would consider an event time.
  • Holidays – Easter, Christmas, New Year etc are all holiday events.
  • Cultural – like, Harmony Day, Multicultural Day, festivals, sporting events, School Clean Up Day or Clean Up Australia Day. Supporting these events is great PR and helps build relationships and good-will.
  • Causes – we work with Garden Releaf Day and Farmer Cookbook and we plan them into our calendar and shape our content around them.
  • Sales – there are a number of annual sales like EOFYS or boxing day sale which might work for your business too.

Key Tips

  1. It’s best to plan ahead so that your content creation is completed way before launch is delivered. The relevance needs to be spot on.
  2. Don’t include every event you can think of. Focus on the events which connect your audience to your business the most and make a positive impact with them. Too many events will dilute their effectiveness.
  3. Break your planner up into manageable chunks and be ahead of the quarter. This will help your audience plan as well.
  4. Once you identify the best events for your business, flush out your ideas and research what’s been working in the market. Look out for topics which are hot for your market in forums or groups. Don’t assume everyone already knows the content, they don’t.
  5. Understand school holiday times and how they impact your business. If you operate on a national basis, make sure your planner includes school holidays for every state/territory.

Small business can really benefit from planning out annual events that work for their business online. It’s about knowing your customers or audience and delivering what appeals to them at valuable times throughout the year.

This continues to build brand awareness and provide touch points for your business. It will give you the opportunity to connect with them on different topics and not just selling to them. Plus when your audience connects with your business on a regular basis, it builds trust and expert status which is the golden path to conversion.

Rebecca Searles, Founder, Family Garden Life