How To Plan An Effective Marketing Calendar That’ll Give You The Upper Hand
As of now, we're in July, and the State of Origin is going off. So if you're a Rugby League supporter, you'll understand what that means. It reminded me of a time when we used to work with a restaurant that did the promotions for the State of Origin. Every time he did it, the place was packed.
He used to do all-you-can-eat ribs, and it was aimed at the male market. Their place was absolutely packed full of men. It cross-sold a whole menu of real ale. People were sitting there eating their ribs with their hands and they were having a great time. There was a menu of different real ales that people used to work their way through the menu. This worked year after year after year.
The reason I’m telling you this is because you’ll see the State of Origin every July. At the end of the year, in September, you're going to see the football finals, whether they are rugby league, or whether they're rugby union, or whether they're AFL, whatever they are, you're going to see that every time. Our calendar is amazing because we have everything from New Year's Day to Anzac Day to Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Melbourne Cup, we've got something going on just about every month.
As I mentioned earlier, right now, July is the State of Origin. Then next month, August, and this is where it makes a liar of me because there's nothing really in August. So what we tend to do is tell our restaurant owners, "Why don't you make it the restaurant's birthday?" Or you can say, “Hey, we're celebrating our 10th anniversary of opening!” It doesn't have to be the exact same month, it's just because August has got nothing on but you're celebrating your 10th year of opening or 11th or whatever it is. So it gives you a reason to market your restaurant.
In September, it's Father's Day. In October, there's a menu launch. In November, there's Halloween and the start of the Christmas season. And then, of course, in December, there's the Christmas season.
What I recommend is that you look at the calendar, see what's coming up, and start talking to your team about the things you want to promote. Because even if you don't think you're a venue where those things happen, people are going to do it anyway. People are going to do Halloween, Oktoberfest, and Father's Day, so it will be on people's minds. So talk to your team, figure out what you want to do, and then promote it through your emails, social media, website, and any other vehicle you use.
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