This is how most brands plan their promo calendar:
*ding*
“Hey Yen, can we connect for a quick call?”
“Can I ask what you want to discuss first?”
“I want to finalize the July promo calendar. Plz let me know once you are available.”
“Okay. But can you first let me know what the main thing is that needs to be discussed live? Because most stuff can be discussed asynchronously, and anything that requires live discussion, I want to be prepared first.”
“CEO wants us to set the marketing calendar for July. The ad team has set priorities, and there are specific things we want to target for certain segments. So… we need to plan on which day what emails will go out.”
“Can you give me a list of any product launches, important holidays you want to cover, and the other team’s priorities? I want to have an idea before hopping on the call.”
“Yeah… we don’t have all the product launch dates for July. We’re doing a July 4th promo. The offer and scheduling will be confirmed tomorrow.”
(I peek at the calendar: June 24… less than a week left)
“But what are we gonna discuss if we don’t have the product launch date, July 4th promo detail, and… pretty much anything required to start planning?”
“…I’ll let you know after tomorrow’s meeting.”
…
..
.
One week, 385 back-and-forth discussions later –
A: “Yen, this is the final plan…”
B: “Change of plan. We should do this as the final plan…”
A: “But we need…”
C: “Yeah, I also need…”
A: “Yen, can we do this plan instead?”
B: “Actually, I want to prioritize this other product…”
C: “Why can’t we start the 4th of July promo TODAY?”
A: “Yen, this is the final, final, final plan…”
B: “Wait. But there’s some problem with this inventory…”
D: “Yen, please proceed with this final, final, final, final, final plan.”
Me: “…I still don’t have any estimated product launch date. Also, can someone finally confirm the official 4th of July open/close cart time?”
CEO: “Guys – one of you should own this. This needs to be planned way in advance, and not last minute.”
This is how most 7 to 9-figure e-commerce operates.
I’ve even worked with 200M+ e-commerce who have multiple marketing teams… STILL running in similar chaos.
And you wonder why it’s so stressful?
Why is the whole team playing catch-up every month?
This is why.
Now you know what you should NOT be doing…
Tomorrow, let me show you a better way to create a promo calendar without driving yourself crazy.
(while maintaining flexibility for changes)
To be continued…
– WYH