Don’t start planning a holiday escape just yet. Get the team around a 2020 calendar, layer in the strategies below, decide the goals and let your team decide “how” to get there and then get out of the way. The calendar sets you free:
- Press releases are not dead though everyone keeps saying so. If we have news, a press release is the best way to tell the facts. Media need the news quick and clear. What’s on the company’s news calendar for Q1? Keep releases to one page, grab ‘em with a headline and go easy on the quotes and hyperbole. Maximize press releases through wire distribution, website content and social media posts. It’s cheap SEO.
- Awards calendar: Which ones and what are the deadlines? This is easy. You probably applied for some of them last year. Start the 2020 calendar with those, then research more. Have a goal for 5 to 10. We have to play to win. Awards are all around us in business journals, Inc. 5000, and your trade organizations. It’s easy and effortless—because a good PR agency does it for you.
- What does the 2020 social media calendar look like? If we’re not sure, let’s dig in. Your current social media analytics are X. They should be Y (Y being at least as good as the closest competitor.) Fine-tune a campaign to grow followers. Customize for different platforms. Recognize that more than half (54%) of customers use social media to research products or services prior to purchase.
- Podcasts are the 2020’s TV and the medium of choice for everyone in a car, plane, train or on a walk. They connect brands to a captive audience and have the leisure to really tell the story. The average podcast is 43 minutes and provides sharable links that can be added to an email signature line. Game it and ask the team to come back with the best podcasts for the business. Winner gets a free turkey!
- Book speaking gigs and pin them to the 2020 news calendar. Trade shows are calendared so prepare for a media push for each now, not one week away. Plan to make a newsworthy announcement on the show. Stir the pot. Let’s not miss any opportunity.
Don’t end the year without an action calendar. Sure, there will be a few holes, but this one tactic puts us at ease to enjoy the holidays. Time away gives us an opportunity to recharge and imagine new ideas and solve problems. So, let’s get to work. There’s only a few weeks left.
