How To Create An Email Marketing Calendar Step-By-Step So That You Never Run Out of Content Ideas

Are you struggling to keep your email content fresh and engaging? Do you often find yourself running out of ideas? If so, you’re not alone. Many marketers and business owners face the challenge of continuously creating compelling email content.

In this article, I will share with you a game plan for perpetually keeping your email content fresh and engaging. You will learn how to create an intentional email marketing calendar that aligns with your specific goals and business needs. By following these steps, you can streamline your email content creation process and deliver consistently amazing emails.

Understanding Your 3 Email Marketing Goals

Before we dive into the specifics of creating an email marketing calendar, it’s crucial to understand your overarching goals for your email campaigns. There are three main goals that most email marketers strive for: growing awareness, building trust and engagement, and driving sales.

Growing Awareness: This goal focuses on increasing the visibility and reach of your brand. You want to capture the attention of potential customers and make them aware of your products or services.

Building Trust and Engagement: This goal centers around establishing meaningful connections with your audience. You want to build credibility and trust by consistently delivering valuable content that resonates with your subscribers.

Driving Sales: This goal is all about generating revenue and converting subscribers into paying customers. You want to craft compelling emails that motivate recipients to take action and make a purchase.

By understanding these goals, you can tailor your email content to effectively achieve them. Each goal requires a different approach and content strategy, which we will explore in the next section.

Different Content Types for Each Goal

To create a well-rounded email marketing calendar, it’s essential to incorporate different content types that align with your goals. Let’s take a look at some content types that can help you achieve each of the three goals:

  1. Educational Content: This type of content focuses on providing valuable information and insights to your audience. It helps establish you as an industry expert and builds trust with your subscribers. Consider sharing tips, tutorials, industry news, or thought leadership pieces.
  2. Product Highlights: Showcase your products or services in an engaging and informative way. Highlight the benefits, features, and transformation that customers can expect to see. This content type can help drive sales and create excitement around your offerings.
  3. Customer Stories: Share success stories and testimonials from satisfied customers. This type of content builds trust by demonstrating the positive experiences others have had with your brand. It can influence potential customers and move them further down the sales funnel.
  4. Behind-the-Scenes Content: Give your subscribers a glimpse into the inner workings of your business. Show them how products are made, introduce team members, and provide an insider perspective. This content type fosters a sense of connection and authenticity.
  5. Seasonal and Holiday Themes: Create email content around specific holidays, events, or dates relevant to your business. Tailor your emails to match the festive spirit and offer exclusive promotions or discounts during these times.
  6. User-Generated Content (UGC): Encourage your subscribers to share their own content featuring your product or service. This builds social proof and amplifies your brand’s reach. UGC also strengthens the sense of community among your customers.

These content types cover a range of goals and stages in the marketing funnel. They provide variety and keep your emails interesting for your subscribers. Incorporate a mix of these content types into your email marketing calendar to meet your specific goals and engage your audience effectively.

How To Create An Email Marketing Calendar

Now that you understand your goals and the different content types, let’s focus on creating an email marketing calendar that will streamline your content creation process. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started:

  1. Start with a Spreadsheet: Use a spreadsheet or a tool like Google Sheets to create a calendar layout. This will serve as your master plan for your email content. Include columns for the content type, goal, audience, hook, call to action, and subject line.
  2. Assign Dates and Frequency: Determine how frequently you want to send out emails. Select specific dates or days of the week to schedule your emails. For example, you might choose to send educational content on Tuesdays and sales promotions on Fridays.
  3. Brainstorm Content Ideas: Refer to the content types we discussed earlier and brainstorm topics for each type. You can use tools like Chat GPT to generate content ideas based on your specific brand and industry. Aim for 20-30 ideas per content type.
  4. Evaluate and Modify Ideas: Review the generated content ideas and modify them to suit your brand and audience. Tweak the ideas to align with your goals and business objectives. Make notes on any specific dates or events that may be relevant to certain topics.
  5. Transfer Ideas to Email Calendar: Copy the content ideas from your spreadsheet and paste them onto your email marketing calendar. Use sticky notes or color-coding to differentiate between ideas, work in progress, and completed emails. Assign content pillars and specify the goals for each email.
  6. Refine and Batch-Create Content: Go through each email idea and refine the details, such as the hook, call to action, and subject line. Ensure that the content aligns with the goal and audience of each email. Consider batching your content creation to streamline the process and work ahead of schedule.
  7. Track Progress and Make Adjustments: Use the color-coding system in your email calendar to track the progress of your emails. Monitor which emails are in the idea stage, which are being worked on, and which are ready for scheduling. Make adjustments as needed to ensure a consistent flow of content throughout the year.

By following these steps, you can create a structured and organized email marketing calendar. This visual representation of your content plan will help you stay on track, maintain consistency, and easily track your progress throughout the year.

Keeping your email content fresh and engaging doesn’t have to be a daunting task. By creating an intentional email marketing calendar, aligning your goals with appropriate content types, and streamlining your content creation process, you can consistently deliver amazing emails to your audience.

Remember to keep an eye on your goals, regularly assess your email performance metrics, and adjust your content strategy accordingly. With a well-planned email marketing calendar in place, you will be able to engage your subscribers, build trust, and drive sales throughout the year.

If you’re new to email marketing or want to learn more about specific topics, be sure to subscribe to my channel. I release new videos every week, covering various aspects of email marketing. Together, let’s elevate your business using the power of email marketing.

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Hey! If you’re new here…

My name is Emily and I help ecommerce brand owners scale their business using email marketing. I’ve worked with a ton of ecommerce brands over the years and have learnt a thing or two leveraging email to grow your revenue. I’d love to share with you what I know! Thanks for being here 🙂

🚀 Ready to earn money while you sleep with my email marketing strategy for ecommerce? Check this out — https://emilygracefarrell.com/email-marketing-guide-for-ecommerce/

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