FEBRUARY2017

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Important Dates to Remember

Groundhog Day

President’s Day

Rosa Parks Day

Margarita Day

Superbowl

Mardi Gras

Valentine’s Day

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There’s no rest for the weary marketer because February presents many opportunities to communicate with subscribers. Take this month to flip through this calendar to get a 2017 marketing plan in place.

BEGINNERSBegin to play around with segmentation – how can you group your contacts? Location? Purchase history? Age? Gender? Start with small segments, and you’ll see a big difference.

PROSLook at your results from your holiday campaigns. What actions are your new contacts taking? Are they buying, or just browsing? It’s important to keep recently acquired prospects engaged.

TIPSè Plan your content calendar (use this one as a starting point!)

so you know what you want to promote and accomplish each month.

è Make sure your emails don’t just ask for money. Here are ten ideas to give subscribers what they really want.

è Great emails don’t just push sales, they add value. Here are ten ideas to give subscribers what they really want.

COMMON THEMESBlack History Month | American Heart Month | Love

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PLANNING DATES | FEBRUARY

Design Superbowl email

Send Valentines promo email

Plan March email campaigns

Design Valentines email

Send monthly newsletter

Analyze February email results

MARCH2017

MARCH2017MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN

Important Dates to Remember

Employee Appreciation Day

St. Patrick’s Day

International Women’s Day

Daylight Savings

National Goof Off Day

Pi Day

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March is light on official holidays, so use this month to have fun with emails to engage with your contacts. Send out emails for obscure or amusing holidays to add some spice to the inbox or add intrigue to your promotions.

BEGINNERSStart building a regular sending schedule so your subscribers can expect regular communications. Once a week is a great place to start.

PROSBegin to rest contacts who haven’t opened your emails in a year. Don’t send them emails for six months and then work a re-engagement campaign into your plan just before holiday sending amps up again.

TIPSè Use March to clean and organize your list. Rest contacts, re-

engage, and implement new segments.

è Send out a preferences email if you need help from contacts about what they want from you. Give them a chance to tell you how many emails a week they want from you or types of content in your emails.

è Implement a monthly newsletter to keep subscribers abreast of goings-on and upcoming items of interest.

COMMON THEMESSpring Cleaning | Women’s History Month | Luck

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Make Up Your Own Holiday Day

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PLANNING DATES | MARCH

Send preferences email

Send a one-day-only promo

to “lucky” subscribers

Analyze March email results

Send monthly newsletter

Plan April email campaigns

APRIL2017

APRIL2017

Important Dates to Remember

April Fool’s Day

Easter

National Beer Day

Volunteer Recognition Day

National Sibling Day

Earth Day

Moment of Laughter Day

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April is a hardworking month for businesses and organizations alike. Few people are checked out on vacation and most are in work mode. Use this month to push sales, close deals, garner donations, and promote your brand.

BEGINNERSCheck that you have your social accounts linked to your emails, so that email subscribers stay in touch on social media as well.

PROSPersonalize more than just the first name to make emails feel more personal just by tracking actions of subscribers and targeting messages.

TIPSè Think of new ways to grow your list – partner with another

organization, attend a new event, or create a social campaign that spreads your brand name.

è Work to create a new piece of content that has real value to your subscribers.

è Once you create a new piece of content, plan how you’re going to get it out there so it works for you – making revenue and earning new followers.

COMMON THEMESNature | Fresh Start

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Arbor Day

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PLANNING DATES | APRIL

Easter promotional email

Send Easter last minute email

Plan May email campaigns

Send monthly newsletter

Send donation request email (nonprofits)

Analyze April email results

MAY2017

MAY2017MON

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TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN

Important Dates to Remember

Star Wars Day

National Wine Day

Cinco de Mayo

Ramadan Begins

National Teacher’s Day

Memorial Day

Mother’s Day

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May is all about appreciation; so let that theme shine through to customers, donors, or employees. Run exclusive promotions to make people feel especially appreciated. This is an important month to get people engaged before the summer vacation months.

BEGINNERSFamiliarize yourself with calls-to-actions and buttons to maximize conversions from emails.

PROSStart testing in emails – using .gifs, emojis in the subject line, time of day or day of week you send. This could make a big difference in conversion and learning more about your base.

TIPSè In July, the Canada Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) law takes

its next step. Everyone must re-opt into your emails – even if you’re a US-based company. Plan email reconfirmation into your sending schedule over the next 2 months.

è Create urgency by offering extra special savings if subscribers buy by the end of the month.

è If you’re a nonprofit, try to earn donations by promoting messages of love and appreciation.

COMMON THEMESOutdoors | Weddings | Memorial Day

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PLANNING DATES | MAY

Send Mother’s Day promotional email

Send monthly newsletter

Plan June email campaigns

Analyze May email results

Send Mother’s Day last minute email

Send Memorial Day sneak peek

promotional email

Send Memorial Day promotional email

JUNE2017

JUNE2017MON

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Important Dates to Remember

National Doughnut Day

Father’s Day

D-Day

National Selfie Day

Best Friend’s Day

Take Your Dog to Work Day

Hug Holiday

Flag Day

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June can be a slow month for business, so it’s essential to keep your brand in the inbox and in front of subscribers, even if they may be on the road.

BEGINNERSTry a new email design or template as your yearly halfway point to mix things up and keep readers visually interested.

PROSAnalyze the performance of your personalization or sending tactics. Did any result in an uptick in sales or conversions?

TIPSè Use June to run contests or giveaways to keep customers

and contacts involved with your brand.

è Summer messaging is light and fun, so stay with that theme in your messaging.

è June might also be a slow time for other businesses, so you can also market products or ideas to keep consumers busy in the slow months

COMMON THEMESSummer | Vacation | Graduation

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PLANNING DATES | JUNE

Send Father’s Day promotional email

Send monthly newsletter

Send CASL reconfirmation email 2

Send Father’s Day last minute email

Send CASL reconfirmation email 1

Plan July email campaigns

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Send Fourth of July sneak peek email

Analyze June email results

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JULY2017

JULY2017SAT

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Important Dates to Remember

Canada Day

Hammock Day

Independence Day (USA)

International Day of Friendship

Fried Chicken Day

Hug Your Kids Day

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July brings feelings of patriotism across several countries. Use this to your advantage whether you’re B2B, B2C, or nonprofit. For US-based companies, the Fourth of July is a major promotional holiday. There is fine line between trying to sell and being respectful, so make an effort not to push too hard with sales.

BEGINNERSMake sure you have a welcome email set up in iContact. Just like a handshake, this is how you first introduce your brand to new subscribers.

PROSDo you have landing pages to collect subscribers or conversions? Here are 5 tips to get you started.

TIPSè If July is your slow season, try building out these budget-

friendly marketing ideas. è Use free time to brainstorm winning marketing emails that

matter.

è Work on creating content that is helpful and meaningful to your base.

COMMON THEMESHeat | Patriotism | Travel

PLANNING DATES | JULY

Send Independence Day

celebration or promotional email

Plan August email campaigns

Send CASL reconfirmation email 3

Send final notice for CASL reconfirmation

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Send monthly newsletter

Analyze July email results

AUGUST2017

AUGUST2017MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN

Important Dates to Remember

Ice Cream Sandwich Day

Senior Citizen Day

Friendship Day

Women’s Equality Day

Middle Child Day

Eat Outside Day

Left Hand Day

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August is a great month for email marketing – from back-to-school deals to prepping for Labor Day promos, there’s a lot to talk about. Plus, with many people returning from vacation, your regular audience will be refreshed, relaxed, and ready to listen.

BEGINNERSTest out some sending tactics before the holidays approach. Try new subject lines, personalization with names, or day of the week you send emails.

PROSTry out marketing automation software now if you want to implement in time for the holidays. Try iContact Pro free for 30 days.

TIPSè For education organizations, August is the busiest month of

the year. Are you ready?

è End of summer is a great time to get into podcasting as another medium to spread your content and brand.

è Are you measuring the right data on your content marketing?

è By this point in the year, you should’ve sent a newsletter on every day of the week. Which day had the best results?

COMMON THEMESBack to School

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PLANNING DATES | AUGUST

Start trial of marketing automation

platform, like iContact Pro

Send monthly email

Send Labor Day promotional sneak peek email

Send a back to school email

Plan September email campaigns

Analyze August email results