An SMS marketing calendar for the year: seasons, paydays, back to school and year end

SEO & Marketing·· 11 views· 4 min read

The short answer: an SMS marketing calendar is a sheet with the year's campaigns, month by month: the seasons that matter to your business, paydays, back to school, special dates and the end of the year. With it, you write texts in good time, schedule campaigns in the SMS Center and avoid sending three offers in the same week.

The seasons that matter to almost everyone

Season Campaign idea Who benefits most
Start of the year New goals, enrolments, "new year, new look" Gyms, driving schools, training centres, salons
Back to school School supplies, uniforms, tutoring, school transport Stationers, clothing retailers, private schools, tutors
Valentine's Day Dinner for two, flowers, gifts Restaurants, bakeries, florists, perfumeries
Women's Day, Mother's Day and Father's Day Gifts and experiences, on your country's dates Retail, salons, restaurants
Paydays Monthly shopping, offers at the end and start of the month Supermarkets, grocers, retail in general
Public holidays Special opening hours, plans for the day Everyone: at the very least, announce your hours
Black Friday One-day or weekend discounts, at the end of November Retail, electronics, online sales
Christmas and year end Orders for the festivities, opening hours, gifts, hampers Almost everyone

How to build your calendar

1 Open a sheet with the 12 months and mark the seasons that make sense for your business. You do not need to use all of them.
2 Plan one or two campaigns a month at most for each group, plus the occasions you cannot miss. See how often to send.
3 For each campaign, note the group, the offer, the deadline and the send date.
4 Write the texts one or two weeks ahead, send a test to your own phone and schedule them in the SMS Center. The best days and times are in when to send.
5 At the end of each month, record the result of each campaign. Next year, repeat the ones that worked and drop the rest.

Credits for the busy season

Busy seasons such as the end of the year pack several campaigns into a few weeks. Add up the credits for all of them before you buy: the entire quantity is charged at the price of the tier it falls into, so a bigger purchase can lower the price per SMS. See SMS credits and price tiers and whether credits expire.

Examples for the most common seasons, with the parts in square brackets to replace with your own details:

Season Message
Back to school [COMPANY]: 10% off school supplies until the end of the month. Bring your school list! Opt out: [PHONE]
Payday [COMPANY]: monthly basket with 5 essentials, this weekend only. Opt out: [PHONE]
Year end [COMPANY]: order your year-end cake now. Orders until the 28th on [PHONE].
Announce holiday opening hours even without an offer. A short message saying you close early saves customers a wasted trip, and they remember it.
In busy seasons, every business is sending. Send a few days before your competitors, with a clear offer, instead of arriving on the day itself among dozens of messages.

With your calendar ready, all that is left is scheduling. See SMS Marketing and the price tiers.

See the SMS Marketing page

SEE ALSO

How to plan an SMS marketing campaign: list, message, cost and timing

Business SMS by sector: retail, clinics, schools, deliveries and more, with example messages

Best days and times to send marketing SMS, by type of business

How often to send marketing SMS without wearing out your list

SMS for events and launches: the invitation, the reminder and the last call

Birthday and loyalty SMS: rewarding regular customers without overdoing it

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