One of the highest payoff activities in marketing is to prepare a marketing calendar. And it’s never too early to map out a calendar for the coming year 2014!
As well as this article to give you ideas…
…here’s a great post from copywriter Ray Edwards…
“How To Create A One-Page Marketing Plan”.
It’s taken from one of Ray’s regular podcasts, so you can listen along if you wish.
Now, this was originally published last year so it talks about creating a marketing plan for 2013…
…but the principles are pretty much timeless and apply to 2014.
In passing, included in that article is a GREAT resource for event-driven marketers…
…a comprehensive calendar of events!
Even better, there’s a specific calendar for every major country, so you can create your own list of events that are relevant to your local area!
With that said, let’s get down to business with a core calendar that can be used pretty much anywhere for the coming year 2014.
January – New Year (Chinese New Year on January 31 – “Year of The Horse”)
February – Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day
March – St Patrick’s Day
April (18-21) – Easter
June – Mid Year (mid-summer northern hemisphere, mid-winter southern hemisphere)
October – Halloween
December – Christmas
To fill out the schedule…
…two fairly universal events are…
Mother’s Day – March 30 (UK), May 11 (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand)
Father’s Day – June 15 (UK, Canada, USA), September 7 (Australia, New Zealand)
Remember as well the solstices (June 21 and December 21) and the equinoxes (March 20 and September 23). Those dates are on UTC so check for your specific location.
In the USA…
July 4 – Independence Day
September – “Back to School”
November 27 – Thanksgiving
In Canada…
July 1 – Canada Day
August 4 – August Civic Holiday
October 13– Thanksgiving
In Australia…
January 26 – Australia Day
April 25 – ANZAC Day
June 30 – End Of Financial Year
November 4 – Melbourne Cup
Remember as well dates such as the end of the financial (or tax) year, sporting events, local events and anniversaries and occasions specific to your own business or industry.
Next to events more specific to 2014.
In the sporting world, along with the regular big occasions, in 2014 we have…
Winter Olympics 2014 (February 7-23)
FIFA Soccer World Cup 2014 (June 12 – July 13)
Commonwealth Games (July 23-August 3)
For major anniversaries in 2014…
…the standout event is somewhat somber, being the anniversary of the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914.
I’d suggest using a considerable degree of tact and sensitivity if you decide to use this particular anniversary.
In fact for military history buffs, there is a vast selection of events to choose from this coming year.
70 years ago, World War 2 was raging…and 6 June sees the anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.
150 years ago, the US Civil War was at its height…
…and 200 years ago the Napoleonic Wars in Europe were reaching a climax.
A selection of other significant anniversaries in 2014…
1 January 1939 – IT company Hewlett-Packard formed
9 January 1839 -Louis Daguerre of France announced his invention of the Daguerreotype, the first commercially successful form of photography at the Academy of Sciences in Paris
24 January 1984 – First Apple Mac computer goes on sale
4 February 2004 – Facebook launched on an unsuspecting world
25 February 1964 – Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay, at the time) becomes the heavyweight boxing champion of the world
31 March 1889 – Eiffel Tower officially opened
6 May 1994 – Channel Tunnel officially opened
15 August 1914 – Panama Canal officially opened
9 November 1989 – The day the Berlin Wall “fell” as East Germany reopened the border with West Germany
31 December 1964 – British driver Donald Campbell breaks the world water speed record to become the only person to break both the land speed record and the water speed record in the same year
I’ll update this post as and when I come across other noteworthy event and occasions.
But for the time being this should be enough to get you started on a sales-boosting, profit-pulling marketing calendar for 2014!