Choosing the right date can be the difference between a successful event or a halfway decent one. With this 2024 Key Dates Calendar you’ll be sure to get it right every time.
Plan ahead, stay ahead
What a difference a day makes. If you’re an event planner, you know how true this is.
You can define your event goals, get a budget approved, book the ideal venue and design a great marketing campaign, all to have it fall apart when you realise your event is on a bank holiday. With most people already daydreaming about their long weekend escape, you’re unlikely to get many RSVPs.
This 2024 Key Dates Calendar includes all holidays in the UK and Ireland, so you won’t have to worry about making that crucial planning mistake.
Be a guest at your own event – we will take care of all the details
Planning ahead – that’s just one way we can help you. We are your best-in-breed team of marketing and events experts, with years of experience managing conferences, business and networking events, awards and gala dinners.
Securing a convenient date that doesn’t clash with public holidays or other big events is key to ensuring a great turnout and a successful event. But as our clients have often told us, keeping on top of these dates across the UK and Ireland can prove quite tricky! That’s why we have developed a key dates events calendar so that you can set the stage for success this year.
Copy the Grey Dog events agency approach to annual planning
In the world of event planning, timing is everything. You can meticulously set event goals, secure a budget, book an ideal venue, and design a stellar marketing campaign, only to realise later that your event coincides with a bank holiday. Facepalm emoji.
With Grey Dog’s 2024 Key Dates Calendar, which features everything from industry conferences and trade shows to major holidays and cultural events across the UK and Ireland, you can avoid crucial planning mistakes and ensure maximum attendance for your event.
Maximise your event marketing strategy
Timing is equally crucial for marketing your event. Knowing key dates and events allows you to discover the best times to schedule your marketing emails and social posts to capture the most engagement. Don’t let your efforts go unnoticed when your target audience is out of office – leverage our events calendar for strategic planning.
Setting your event marketing strategy up for success
Success is not accidental; it is the result of intentional actions. Use our key dates calendar as a springboard for setting achievable goals, planning impactful campaigns, and cultivating meaningful relationships. As you embrace the opportunities presented by each date, you’re not just marking days on a calendar – you’re crafting a narrative of success.
Let an events agency like Grey Dog handle the details
Planning and executing events takes a lot of time and time and effort, and you may prefer to outsource the complexities of launching and managing a successful event so that you can focus on other areas of your business. Helping you plan ahead is just the beginning of how we can assist you.
At Grey Dog, we pride ourselves as your go-to team of marketing and events experts. With years of experience managing conferences, business and networking events, awards, and gala dinners, we ensure that every detail is taken care of, allowing you to be a guest at your own event.
Planning an event in 2024 and need some support? We’d love to hear from you!
As we approach the summer holidays, thoughts of Christmas seem distant, but savvy businesses are already laying the groundwork for their end-of-year celebrations. July, with its quieter business and events calendar, presents an ideal opportunity to get ahead with planning your Christmas parties, incentive trips, and awards ceremonies. Here’s why starting your festive preparations now can lead to greater success and less stress later.
Why the summer months are perfect for planning end-of-year events
Beat the rush and secure top venues
The most sought-after venues book up quickly for the holiday season. By starting your planning in July, you’ll have your pick of locations, ensuring you can secure the perfect space for your event.
Benefit from cost savings
According to the latest Cvent PULSE survey, a persistent challenge for event planners is rising costs for goods and services, along with budget constraints and airline pricing.
Taking early action also comes with the bonus of early bird discounts, allowing you to gain significant savings on venues, catering, and entertainment, so you can stretch your budget further. What’s more, with more time, you can also research and negotiate better deals, potentially allowing for higher-quality elements within your budget.
Time to get creative
With the pressure of imminent deadlines off your shoulders, you have the luxury of time to brainstorm unique ideas. Whether it’s an innovative theme for your Christmas party or a memorable location for your incentive trip, early planning allows for more creative and impactful event concepts. In need of inspiration? Check out this comprehensive list of 200 event ideas from Skift.
Not only can you get creative with the event itself, but having some time to get more creative with marketing campaigns boosts interest. Plus, giving guests plenty of advance notice will also increase the likelihood of good attendance.
Meanwhile, early planning allows time to consider and accommodate special requirements, dietary needs, and accessibility issues, improving the overall guest experience.
Avoid last-minute stress
The final quarter of the year is often hectic. By tackling your event planning now, you’re freeing up valuable time later when you’ll likely need it most. This proactive approach can significantly reduce stress levels for you and your team and avoid last-minute rushes. Plus, it allows for more flexibility to adjust; if unexpected changes occur, you have more time to pivot and adjust plans without major disruptions.
Effective Christmas planning in July
End-of-year events are excellent opportunities to reinforce company values and celebrate achievements. By planning now, you can ensure your events align perfectly with your business objectives for the year, creating more meaningful experiences for your team.
To ensure your corporate Christmas events are a resounding success, here’s what you should be doing in July:
Set clear objectives
Define what you want to achieve with your end-of-year event. Is it team bonding, client appreciation, or celebrating yearly achievements? Clear goals will guide all subsequent decisions.
Establish your budget
Determine how much you’re willing to spend. Include all potential costs: venue, catering, entertainment, decorations, and any travel or accommodation if necessary.
Form a planning committee
Assemble a diverse team to bring different perspectives to the planning process. Assign roles and responsibilities clearly.
Begin compiling your guest list. For large corporations, determine which departments or levels of staff or clients will be invited.
Develop your theme and concept
Brainstorm potential themes or concepts for your event. This will influence many other aspects of planning, from décor to entertainment.
Research vendors
Start researching and reaching out to potential vendors for catering, entertainment, décor, and any other services you’ll need.
Publish save-the-date communications
Send out a save-the-date notification to your guests. This is especially important for events that may require travel.
Gift planning
If you plan to give out corporate gifts, start brainstorming ideas and researching suppliers.
Assess risk
Conduct a preliminary risk assessment. Consider potential issues like weather (for outdoor elements) and start thinking about contingency plans.
Sustainability considerations
Think about how to make your event more sustainable. This could involve choosing eco-friendly vendors or implementing waste reduction strategies.
Technology needs
Assess any technology requirements for your event, such as audio-visual equipment or event apps.
By tackling these elements in July, you’re setting a strong foundation for your end-of-year event. This proactive approach allows ample time for creative development, thorough research, and thoughtful decision-making, ultimately leading to a more polished and successful event.
At Grey Dog we understand that every business has unique needs when it comes to event planning. That’s why we offer a range of event packages designed to suit different scales and complexities:
Our basic package is perfect for businesses new to large-scale event hosting or those planning smaller gatherings. It covers essentials like venue sourcing, basic AV management, and operational support.
For more complex events, our mid-tier package offers comprehensive management including content production, marketing support, and full event branding.
Our premium package delivers full-scale management for high-impact events, featuring extensive AV capabilities, high-profile speaker recruitment, and sophisticated marketing campaigns.
No matter the scale of your event, starting your planning in July sets the stage for a successful and stress-free festive season. Ready to get started? Get in touch [INSERT LINK] with us today, and let’s make your end-of-year events truly memorable.
A well-crafted content marketing plan acts as a compass, guiding you through the intricacies of strategic communications. However, putting an effective content marketing plan together can easily become overwhelming and time-consuming. Many factors come into play, from business objectives, target personas to current trends and competitor analysis. Unfortunately, many businesses often end up posting content reactively, leading to inconsistency and a lack of clear messaging.
This comprehensive guide unveils the secrets to creating an effective content marketing plan. Bonus! We’re offering you a free content marketing plan template to jumpstart your planning.
A step-by-step guide to creating a content marketing plan
What is a content marketing plan?
An effective content marketing plan considers various factors, including your marketing objectives, target audience, and current trends. By clearly listing content topics and then mapping these topics onto your objectives, you gain:
Inspiration repository: avoid content creation bottlenecks by having a reservoir of ideas.
Objective alignment: ensure that every piece of content contributes directly to your business objectives.
Clear direction: streamline your content strategy by visualising how each piece fits into the overarching goals of your marketing plan.
Targeted communication: tailor content to meet your audience’s awareness stage for deeper engagement.
Holistic strategy: gain a comprehensive view of content distribution across different buyer’s journey stages.
Continuous improvement: leverage insights to refine and optimise your content strategy over time.
Efficiency: ultimately save time and resources.
Step 1: Keep track of your ideas
The first pillar of a successful content plan lies in compelling ideas. Use the Grey Dog Content Planning Template as a centralised hub to keep track of the content ideas you’ve garnered from:
Analysing what type of content performs well
Questions or pain points from your target audience
Trends that are top-of-mind for your industry and audience
Keywords you wish to optimise for SEO
Competitor content analysis
Team ideation sessions
Using this bank of content ideas ensures that no creative spark is lost and ideas are ready for evaluation and implementation.
Jot down your ideas in the first column of your ideas bank.
Step 2: Define your content pillars
Once you have your bank of ideas, categorise them into content pillars—your core topics. Communication on core topics allows you to build consistent brand awareness. Most businesses typically have three to four content pillars.
Edit the drop-down menus. Click on the dropdown and then the pencil icon to edit the dropdown options to suit your needs.
Step 3: Map your ideas onto marketing objectives
Strategic content planning requires a seamless alignment between your content and business objectives. You need to consider the goal of your marketing communications. We have four main objectives in marketing: brand awareness, consideration, conversion and retention.
Brand awareness
Do you need people to become aware of your brand and the product or service you offer?
Consideration
Do you need to persuade people who are already interested in your service or product with more information?
Conversion
Do you need to fully convince people who have shown interest in your product or service to purchase?
Retention
Do you need to nurture your customer base?
Step 4: Understand your target audience’s awareness stage
Understanding your audience’s awareness stage is pivotal for crafting content that resonates with your target personas. Our template incorporates a feature that prompts you to categorise content based on the awareness stage of your target audience.
Different types of content suit the various stages of the customer journey.
Step 5: Break the year down into quarters
Note any special days, upcoming events, partnerships or planned campaigns for each quarter. The Grey Dog Key Dates Calendar will come in handy here!
Assign overall objectives, target audiences, themes and sub-themes to each quarter, providing a clear, strategic view of your plan for the year.
Step 6: Make monthly plans
It’s time to get granular! With your quarterly strategic framework in place, you can now easily plan and visualise your content calendar month by month, ensuring a consistent and cohesive narrative. By mapping out topics, formats and go live dates, you ensure that every piece of content serves a purpose.
With your quarterly strategic framework in place, it’s time to get granular! Map out topics, formats, and go-live dates. The Grey Dog Content Planning Template allows you to easily plan and visualise your content calendar month by month, ensuring that each piece of content has a purpose and you maintain a consistent and cohesive narrative.
The monthly plans are also where you can keep track of individual items for each campaign or content theme as you move into the execution phase. Use the filter feature to see the status of individual campaigns or content themes at a glance.
You can filter alphabetically or by dropdown option.
Step 7: Execute and iterate!
Congratulations! You’ve now mastered the art of content planning. It may seem counterintuitive, but you have completed the bulk of the work. With a good plan in place, it is far easier to transition from ideation to execution, creating content that aligns with your business objectives and caters to your audience’s unique journey.
We hope you enjoy using the Grey Dog Content Planning Template as a flexible planning tool, point of reference and tracker throughout the year.
Ready to dive in?
Click the button, below, where you will get a Google Sheets link to the Grey Dog Content Planning Template. Make a copy, rename and adjust the template to suit your needs from there!
Since the launch of the large language model, ChatGPT, in late 2022, the marketing landscape has undergone a massive transformation. Since the use of AI in marketing is seeing rapid technological advancements and consumer behaviour is evolving, it’s more crucial than ever for business owners and entrepreneurs to stay ahead of the curve. Let’s take a closer look at some of the key marketing trends that have emerged and how they are playing out in consumer culture.
Consumer culture and brand innovation
While significant attention has been given to data-driven marketing, AI, and other technologies, creating brand awareness based on a clear strategy remains crucial. AI-driven efficiency cannot be denied; however, the challenge now is for companies to find the right balance between emerging technologies and proven brand-building methods.
In this sense, ‘innovation’ extends beyond adopting new technology. As Nicki Morley, Head of Thought Leadership at Kantar, emphasises: “successful brands share five key characteristics: consumer-centricity, strong brand foundations, category leadership, sustainability focus, and a willingness to be brave through testing and learning.”
Google’s content quality rater: optimising content for SEO
Google’s latest update seeks to reduce low-quality, unoriginal content in search results by 40%. While Google’s EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) framework has existed for a decade, but this year, Google added an extra ‘E’ for ‘Experience.’
This implies that content that is memorable, creative, and attention-grabbing that aligns with buyer needs and drives lead generation is essential. On the one hand, as Ogilvy predicts, AI is an indispensable ally in this regard, enabling brands to sift through extensive consumer data and craft hyper-personalised content at an unprecedented scale and speed.
However, adding the human touch is key for authenticity. While the excitement of adopting new technology and the efficiency it bring are undeniable, brands must strike a balance by infusing AI-generated content with a human touch through face-to-face videos, stories, and anecdotes fostering trust and engagement with their audience.
Making user experience a priority
In tandem with generating high-quality content, these updates have also underscored the importance of delivering exceptional user experiences (UX). According to Beymard, 39% of users stop engaging with a website if loading time is too slow and 90% of users stop using an app due to poor performance. Businesses that prioritise UX optimisation, seamless navigation, and engaging, buyer-centric content will reap the rewards in terms of higher engagement and conversion rates.
Social media trends
As a social media report by Hubspot points out, social media platforms have swiftly integrated AI capabilities, from TikTok’s personalised feed customisation to Instagram’s AI-generated stickers and LinkedIn’s AI-powered profile assistance. As AI capabilities continue to evolve, brands will be able to leverage these tools to drive productivity and creativity in campaign conceptualisation, copy generation, short-form video and visual content creation.
Meanwhile, there is a growing shift towards raw, unfiltered content that resonates with audiences craving real, entertaining, and personality-driven experiences. As mentioned, brands who incorporate a human touch into AI’s content creation capabilities will likely witness increased engagement and brand loyalty.
With numerous channels available, creating a holistic brand experience is crucial. Businesses that adopt an omnichannel approach, leveraging multiple touchpoints with consistent messaging across digital and in-person interactions, are fostering well-rounded brand awareness that forges stronger connections with their audiences.
Face-to-face interactions are regaining prominence in B2B marketing. Engaging booth experiences, activations, and events play a vital role in fostering connections and building trust with potential clients. It is wise for businesses to prioritise developing robust virtual and hybrid event strategies to complement their digital efforts.
For an in-depth look at mastering an event, please see our latest webinar.
Conclusion
Embracing AI as a strategic co-pilot while maintaining a human-centric approach, prioritising user experiences and personalization, and delivering authentic, omnichannel brand experiences will be key to staying ahead of the curve.
Need help adapting your marketing strategy to the latest trends? Our team of experts is here to help you navigate the ever-evolving landscape and position your business for success.
