A content calendar is crucial when your goal is to increase the results of your digital marketing strategy. It is a vital tool for planning, organising and publishing your content.
Most importantly, it helps your target audience to stay engaged and informed. Let’s explore the essential steps of creating a content calendar that elevates your patio business.
What Is A Content Calendar?
A content calendar is a digital marketing tool used to plan and organise the creation and publication of content. Just like you track other important dates in your patio business, such as accounting deadlines and sales targets, a well-structured content calendar improves the flow of your business.
Content calendars track when and where you publish content, including social media and blog posts. Furthermore, it helps to manage newsletters and videos.
Understanding Your Target Audience
Before you or your digital marketing agency start creating content, it is crucial to understand your target audience.
Consider the following points:
● Interests and hobbies: This provides information on how potential customers use their spare time. Do they like dining in their garden or use it for other activities?
● Demographics: Gender, age, income level and location
● Goals: How are they going to use their patio? Dining, playing or exercising?
● Pain points: What do they find challenging about creating a patio space?
Once you have identified your customers’ goals, you can create tailored content for your target audience.
Setting Clear Goals
You also need to set your goals for your business and marketing efforts. Ask yourself what you want to achieve.
Here’s what you should consider:
● Generating leads: This is one of the top goals.
● Increasing website traffic: Increasing website traffic helps to generate more leads.
● Brand awareness: Content helps to increase your brand’s visibility.
● Encourages customer engagement: Interaction with your audience is important. This is achieved through likes, shares and comments.
● Driving Sales: Your content should contribute to increased sales revenue.
Choosing the Right Content Formats
Your content strategy must be as diverse as possible. This is how you reach a wider audience.
There isn’t one answer. Instead, you should spread your content across different formats and outlets.
Blog Posts
Regular blog posts are still one of the best ways to increase traffic to your site. They present a great opportunity for link management and general awareness. Publishing blog posts on networks helps to drive traffic to your site.
Social Media Posts
Digital platforms, including Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram, are great for sharing visually attractive content. Before-and-after photos are popular but don’t underestimate the importance of customer testimonials and product highlights.
Videos
Create engaging videos that showcase what products and services you offer. Videos are also a great way of indicating your level of experience.
Visually appealing graphics help to increase your message.
Newsletter
Many businesses don’t appreciate the importance of regular newsletters. Newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with new and current customers.
Let them know about new product launches and services that you offer. Why not add a special offer or two?
How To Develop A Content Calendar
The main purpose of a content calendar is to help control your content and ensure it is released on time. Just like you pay your business bills on time, it is important to ensure content is published consistently.
Key Steps to Creating a Content Calendar
Let’s check out how you create a content calendar that works for your patio business.
Identify Key Dates
All businesses have peak times. What are yours? Perhaps it is just before spring and summer? After all, this is the time of the year most of us want a nice-looking yard.
Plan Content
Determine what kind of content is the best for each month and weekly.
At the end and start of the season, the emphasis is on publishing relevant content. Cleaning or restoring patios are both popular topics. This could include a special offer or explain why homeowners should let a professional service do the job.
Task Assignment
Who will create and publish the content? Is this something you can do yourself? You may need the help of a digital marketing specialist.
Freelancers often help create valuable content for patio businesses and other enterprises. You need to make sure their work is completed on time and that you have relevant visual content.
Once you have the content, don’t forget to set a publication date. Also, remember that talented digital strategists are busy.
Deadlines
You need to set deadlines.
When you take on a new patio project, your customer probably expects you to work to a deadline.
This is important when publishing content, especially at peak times.
You probably know your business’s peak times, but don’t forget other peak times, including Christmas and Easter. Many publish large volumes of content around these times of the year.
Content Inspiration For Your Patio Business
So, what are the best content ideas for your patio business? Here are a few ideas to inspire you.
DIY Projects
Although the main aim should be for your business to create the patio area, you can still promote other DIY projects. They can include container planting projects, lighting and tips on creating a cosy outdoor seating area.
Design Ideas
Share your experience of how to create a stunning patio. Remember, we all have different tastes.
Design ideas include modern, minimalist and traditional. Check the latest trends and include them in your content. New ideas help your content look fresh.
Showcase Your Products
Many companies neglect to highlight their products. Check your range and find a product that looks great and may even have a mass appeal. The more you sell, the better.
Top ideas include fire pits, new types of paving and lighting.
Maintenance and Care Tips
Offer daily maintenance tips, but don’t overlook major projects such as restoration and repair. These are the projects you want customers to contact your business about. Make it easy for them to do so.
Emphasise the pros and cons of professional service compared to DIY. Done correctly, you be surprised how many regular customers you will gain.
Customer Testimonials
Customer testimonials are invaluable for any business. Collect as many as you can and publish new ones regularly.
When you list the same ones permanently, it looks like your business only has a few customers.
Behind-the-Scenes
Behind-the-scenes content is great for creating videos. Publish them on YouTube, and you may even gain extra revenue for your business.
Collaborations
Many business owners worry about working with others, thinking they will “steal” your business.
That is seldom the case. For instance, if you don’t sell patio furniture, you may want to find a business that does so. Get in touch and find out how you can work together.
Final Thoughts On Content Calendars
When you follow these guidelines and publish regular high-quality content, you engage your target audience, boost brand awareness and increase sales.
Are you too busy to create and maintain a content calendar? If so, don’t hesitate to hire a digital strategist.
