Email Applied: The Perfect Date

Are you ever at a loss for what to include in an upcoming email campaign? Calendars can be a very useful tool to keep your emails fresh, lively and timely. Let's examine what should be in your calendar and how detailed it should be for the short and long term.

There are several elements to a successful calendar planning system:

• holidays that you can leverage;
• internal events such as new product launches, seasonal events and planned marketing offerings; and
• ensuring there's a variety and cadence to the products and promotions you feature.

Taking Advantage of Holidays
Holidays are important buying times, but there are also psychological factors at work. People look forward to holidays, and they're generally in a better mood and more receptive to offers and product ideas around holidays. You're well aware of the big holidays and buying occasions during the year, and I'm sure this is part of your overall plan.

However, there are plenty of additional opportunities you can take advantage of. Here are some examples:

• Daylight savings time is hardly a biggie. Brookstone featured self-setting clocks, which is a perfect tie-in, and Disney ran a sale with the promo code "Daylight."
• Barneys New York sent an email after the most recent presidential inauguration featuring clothing from a high-end designer with the headline, "We love Isabel Toledo! And we love that Mrs. Obama loves Isabel too."
• Hewlett-Packard took advantage of a recent Super Bowl to feature a wide-screen TV in its email campaign with the headline, "Reach out & touch the big game!"
• Sears sent a geo-targeted email with the subject line, "Heavy snow is forecasted in your area - be prepared." This smart marketing move serves as a timely alert for customers and a value-added service, but it also sells. The email promoted snow blowers, snow tires, shovels and more.
• Road Runner Sports used April Fool's Day to launch a sale with the subject line, "Runner! New INVISIBLE Running Shoes Are Outta Sight!" The email went on to explain that invisible shoes aren't real, but this offer is. The promotion was 10 percent off plus free shipping.

Think outside the box and make things fun and interesting for your subscribers. Make sure your planning calendar includes all the major holidays and other quirky events that you might take advantage of. There are many online calendars you can access to spur your thinking. One that I like is ButlerWebs; it gives you weekly and monthly observances.

Once you've identified the holidays and events you'll include in your marketing efforts, put them on the calendar and determine how many emails will go out in support of a particular holiday.