The Coach’s Magic Communications Calendar

I don’t know about you, but on a rather regular basis I have a lot of communicating to do – a weekly ezine, a blog to post to 2-3 times a week, social media tweeting and posting, email correspondence. And those are just the daily, ongoing, get connected and stay connected activities.

Then there are all my other writing projects – articles, press releases, sales pages, shopping cart copy, speaker sheets, program materials, informational products, bios, video and audio scripts, website copy, reports, author resource boxes, autoresponder sequences, guest blog posts, signature talks. The list goes on.

I happen to be a fairly quick, fairly organized writer because I’ve been writing for a while now. But there is no way – and I do mean no way – I wouldn’t get hopelessly confused, inundated, and overwhelmed if it weren’t for my Magic Communications Calendar.

What is my Magic Communications Calendar?

Drum roll please.

You will need an 8”x11” Monthly Wall Calendar, the kind of calendar that’s spiral-bound at the top with one month on each page.

Here’s what to do with it when you get it.

1. The last day of every month, make 1 copy of next month’s calendar.
2. Write on the calendar everything you’re doing you want to tell people about:
   1. Teleclasses, teleseminars, etc. that you are hosting or in which you are participating as a guest speaker
   2. Special events, conferences, contests, telesummits, challenges you are hosting or in which you are participating
   3. New products, programs, services, coaching packages you are launching
3. Make 4 copies of the calendar you’ve just filled out and label them Blog, Ezine, Social Media, and Other Writing Projects.
4. Blog Calendar
   1. Enter all your blogging deadlines on your calendar (the publication day for each post, when each post needs to be finished in order to make your pub date, etc.).
   2. Decide what each post is going to be about and make a note of it on yourcalendar.
   3. Coordinate what you blog about with your activities that month. For example, if you are doing a teleclass on time management, you’ll want to write 1 or 2 blog posts about time management to build interest in the subject and to promote your teleclass.
5. Ezine and Social Media Editorial Calendars
   1. Follow a similar process for your ezine and social media communications.
   2. To continue our example of your time management teleclass, you want to write an article in your ezine about the subject as well as tell your readers about your teleclass and give them a link which takes them directly to the info/registration page.
   3. Be sure some of your tweets and social media posts are quick time management tips. And of course you will be letting your social media friends know about the class itself.
6. Other Communications Projects Calendar
   1. Other communications projects you might want to enter on this specific calendar could include sales pages for programs and products, signature talks, e-books, website copy, program handouts, autoresponder sequences, giveaways, etc.
   2. You could also use this calendar to track large writing projects that are broken down into phases or stages and span a long period of time, for example a full-length book.

Depending on how much communicating you’re doing and how many communications avenues you’re using in your coaching business, you may be able to combine some or all of your calendars. Do what works best for you.

It probably took me longer to write this article (about 30 minutes, 45 with editing) than it will take you to produce and use your monthly communications calendars. In just 30 minutes, you will have created a tool that will:

1. Keep your communications activities organized, focused, consistent, and on time;
2. Tell you what you are writing about and why;
3. Ensure you are getting your message out there and letting people know what’s going on in your business and how you can help them; and
4. Save you time and effort every time you sit down to write.

That’s a pretty terrific return on your investment of 30 minutes of your time every month and approximately $10.00 of your money once a year.