Speaker 1: Are you a marketer who's having a hard time keeping up with deadlines, divvying out tasks, and staying organized? You need a marketing timeline, and you've come to the right place. Hello world. Mike Ploeger and VisMe back with you to once again try and change the world, or at least try to change the way that you're marketing. If you don't have a marketing timeline, you might as well be heading down a wooden roller coaster with no brakes. In other words, you're in for a bumpy ride that likely won't end very well. You need organization. You need communication. You need accountability and collaboration. A marketing timeline will set you on a path toward accomplishing your marketing strategies. In this video, I'll share the six steps you can take towards creating your own marketing timeline, as well as share a handful of templates that are on VisMe right now that will allow you to create your own without any shadow of a doubt. Shall we? The first thing that you'll want to do is analyze your current marketing workflow. Break up the individual tasks and consider if they're optimal for your goals or slowing down the process. You want to take only the most efficient steps when going through your marketing timeline. If something takes a lot of time, but doesn't see a lot of return, it may be time to scrap that action from your timeline. Are you ready for our first example? This timeline will take you through an entire design process in an infographic that's clear and concise. You see the process laid out very simply in the circle, but then you can learn more about each stage in the descriptions underneath. It's a great way to stay sharp and not skip any stages if you're in need of a reminder. The second step that you'll want to take is listing your marketing goals. Write them down. What are you hoping to achieve? Perhaps you're looking to increase your website traffic, or improve sales within a certain demographic, or just simply build awareness. But don't just think of tangible goals. Maybe you're looking to monitor your competition more or stay on top of trends. By writing these things down or even sharing them with your coworkers, you'll have a constant reminder of what you're trying to accomplish, in turn, achieving success faster. Example number two would be a great marketing timeline for those looking to update their websites. It's nothing crazy, and it doesn't have to be. Simple task titles noted alongside when they need to happen. Week one to two is initial contact. Three to four is contracting proposal. Five and six is time for website design and development. Again, a simple infographic like this can make all the difference in you staying on track or falling behind schedule. Next, it's time to set your strategy. Determine the product that you're marketing, what your budget is, and what steps you're going to implement in your campaign. As we've seen already, Visme has an array of templates to help you understand what a marketing strategy looks like. Let's take a look at this one, for example. It lays out every turn of the campaign itself and what needs to be done. The goals are top center. Elements fill the bottom. The concept map is customizable to fit your needs, but it likely has elements that will help you understand how to build a marketing strategy. Go into the Visme dashboard on your computer, search marketing strategy, and take a look through the options to see what you can find for yourself. At the bottom of the last concept map, I showed you various elements of marketing campaigns. Paid advertising, email marketing, influencer marketing, social media. Step four is when you decide which of these actions you're moving forward with. For more money, but faster results, paid advertising is a good route to take. Don't have the budget for that? Try search engine optimization, or SEO. You'll drive more traffic to your business, but it could take months to see a change. A content marketing campaign is another option as well. This could be free on your social media, but requires creative thinking and smart use of keywords to reach larger audiences. Consider your options, pick what's best for you, and move on to step five. But first, should we peek at another example? How about a roadmap? They guide audiences along a journey of activities through text and images. There's a beginning and an end, and an understanding of what to expect along the way. You can edit this one on visme.com. Once you have your campaign mapped out, it's time to set a completion date. This can be an aspirational date, setting your goals high, or an absolutely no later than date. You'll want to create a sense of urgency, while also allowing enough time to complete your tasks properly. Have meetings with your marketing team beforehand if you need to better understand how long everything may take. An open line of communication is important to maintain through every step of the marketing timeline. Here's another example of a timeline infographic that you can use right now. This specific one shares the steps for product design. Every step has a short headline, followed by a brief description. This may help you or your team with specific notes that are important to remember as you proceed. The sixth and final step in creating your marketing timeline is to track your strategy's success. Again, open line of communication. Throughout the entire process, check to make sure you're on track in terms of your goal date. Are there any problems that you can assist with? Maybe a new idea has sprouted that you should consider implementing. Any marketing project is a team effort. Everybody should work together to not only create the timeline, but stay on top of it. Ladies and gentlemen, bon appétit. In other words, time for you to feast on your own marketing timeline. Again, don't hesitate to consider starting with Vizme. You'll find all the templates that we shared today on our website, and hundreds more that are bound to be helpful. Please like this video if you learned even one thing, and as always, if you want to learn something new tomorrow, you'll subscribe to our channel. We'll catch you next time. With Vizme, I'm Mike Ploeger, helping you make information beautiful.