Adam: Here's what nobody tells you about marketing calendars. The plan is almost never the problem. We see great January calendars all the time. By March, most of them are dead. Not because the ideas were bad, but because the busiest week for marketing is also the busiest week on the trucks.
Welcome to Pest Control Marketing That Actually Works, the podcast for pest control operators who want real growth, not empty promises. I'm Adam Bennett.
Elisabeth: And I'm Elisabeth Pallante. We're from Cube Creative Design, and for over twenty years we've helped pest control companies stop wasting money and start growing.
Adam: Today's episode is Creating a Marketing Calendar That Actually Gets Executed. Here's what we're going to answer today.
Elisabeth: Number one, why do most pest control marketing calendars die by March? Number two, what's the smallest calendar that still grows your business? And number three, what do you do the week you fall behind? Because you will.
Adam: So let's start with the part most operators get wrong.
Elisabeth: Our first question: why do marketing calendars die by March?
Adam: Honestly, I'd say the biggest reason they die is that you made it too big. You made it look really great, but it's just too big to execute.
Elisabeth: My quick take is that no one wants to do it or has the time, which is kind of the same thing you're saying. There's just too much else.
Adam: And if you don't assign it an owner, right? You've got all these tasks, it's too big, and you haven't told anybody who's doing what.
Elisabeth: It's a timing trap. Owners build the plan in the slow season, then spring hits, and the person who made it is back on the truck. The plan is just floating out there in no man's land.
Adam: Right. That week we said, "We're going to do social media, we're going to do a video, we're going to do some really great posts." Then all of a sudden nobody knows who's doing what, and nothing gets done.
Elisabeth: We've seen some really good plans and some decent plans, but execution is the problem. If you're planning a forty-item calendar, it's going to break the first time someone gets sick.
Adam: That's right. You have no time to service your clients, let alone take pictures and video to show others what you've been doing. A lot of calendars get written with "we're going to assign this to the office" or "assign this to marketing" instead of Kelsey or John. Not putting a name on it. I don't think that works.
Elisabeth: No. When it's that general, everybody's busy, and everybody sees it as a low-priority item for another day and another person. Not their job right now. They need to answer the client who just called. So you need to get specific and not try to tackle too much. It's better to have a smaller amount that actually gets done than huge dreams that stay dreams.
Adam: Here's how I picture it. You're sitting in a meeting in January talking about what you're going to do for marketing. The person in the office says, "I can post a picture. I can make sure we're posting a video once a week, maybe a couple of times a week." That sounds great. Then March hits and that same person says, "Are you kidding? I have so many phone calls to answer. I don't have time for that."
Elisabeth: Right. And it's interesting, because paid ads are the easiest thing to keep on a calendar. You just leave them running. You do need to check in on them, but you can keep them running. Owned content is the thing that dies without a calendar, and it's the thing that compounds. That's why making the plan, listing it out, and being specific about who's doing it really matters.
Adam: Absolutely. And knowing what you're going to target. If you have ads running, which is great, especially when things get crunched, make sure they're running at the right time. You want termite ads running at a certain time and mosquito ads at a certain time. You don't want mosquito ads running in February, because the mosquitoes aren't there and nobody's searching for them. You'd be paying for people who aren't ready for mosquito season. So make sure your plan matches the seasonality. That's why the plan is important.
Elisabeth: And make sure it doesn't die in January or February. A calendar that dies then misses the whole point, because ideally you're working at least ninety days ahead of that market. You're talking about rodents coming in for the fall back in July. In January, you're typically talking about termites, like you mentioned. So you want to keep pressing on through the busy season.
Adam: And that's where working with an agency can be useful. I'm not just saying that because we're an agency. You've got somebody who's kind of your part-time marketing person, making sure the content schedule actually runs so you don't have to.
Going back to the ads, Elisabeth, a lot of clients pause their ads. Pausing your ads for a few months can raise your cost per lead 30 to 50 percent on a restart, especially with Google Ads, because it has to go through a warm-up period to find your audience again. So I'd say never pause your ads. Just scale back the budget a little so you keep that ad rolling and keep that audience there.
Elisabeth: That's really important. We see that pausing and restarting happen a lot, and it really hurts the client.
Another piece to this: some operators don't actually need a calendar yet. If the website isn't converting, if it isn't clear and easy for people to contact you, a calendar just schedules traffic to a leaky page. You really want to fix your site first.
Adam: Absolutely. Your calendar didn't fail because the plan was bad. It failed because nobody's name was on it in April. So create a plan, put a name on it, and follow through. I know that sounds easy.
Elisabeth: So easy.
Adam: So, Elisabeth, what is the smallest calendar that really works?
Elisabeth: I'd say one thing every month. If you can crank out a blog or a geographically specific landing page, like pest control near Radford, Virginia, or wherever you are, if you can do one thing a month, that's the smallest calendar that still adds value. What's your take?
Adam: I'd also add one Google Business Profile post a week and a review ask after every job. That's super important. You can go back to Episode 5 to hear what we said about that.
Elisabeth: Right, and that would be your weekly rhythm.
Adam: Right, and that would be for the office, I guess.
Elisabeth: So that's your weekly rhythm. Then your monthly rhythm could be one piece of content that answers a real customer question. Like, "Do I have carpenter ants? Do I have termites?" Something very specific that we see a lot. And if you wanted to add to that, you could do one email to your customer list. Actually, I'd say you don't need to email your list monthly. Maybe every three months.
Adam: Yeah, I'd definitely say quarterly.
Elisabeth: So your weekly beat is your Google Business Profile post. Your monthly beat is a piece of content that answers a real customer question, or a landing page for a specific area. And your quarterly beat is a seasonal push, like email marketing. Honestly, we don't see enough clients doing that. Email would be a great thing to do quarterly.
Adam: Absolutely. Elisabeth, you're talking about content. Where do these content ideas come from?
Elisabeth: Well, Google. If you look up a question on Google, that's the easiest way. You can look up "How do I tell if I have termites?" or "Is this a hornet's nest?" or "What kind of ants are these?" or "How do I get rid of ants in my kitchen?" Any time you Google something like that, you'll see a lot of other suggested questions right beneath it. If you're planning your own calendar, I'd start there.
And honestly, talk to your techs, because they get these questions all the time. The person listening to this has probably gotten these questions all the time too. You've got a wealth of information in the FAQs you've heard over the years.
Adam: Absolutely. And ask your office person what callers are asking, especially during certain seasons. "Do I have termites? What does that look like?" That's content right there. You answer the question, so when people start searching for it, your website or your Google Business Profile pops up.
Elisabeth: Right. And there's a seasonality to that too. You'll typically get more termite questions in March, depending on where you're listening from. So try to tackle those before people are actually asking. Plan it ninety days ahead. If they're asking in March, talk about it in January.
Adam: Google Business Profile upkeep runs about ten minutes a week. Aim for two to five new reviews a week. That's a pretty easy week. And email returns about thirty-six dollars for every dollar spent. So what you said about emailing your customers, Elisabeth, that's the easiest way to make quicker money, honestly. You're going back to your current customers, and it costs less to re-engage them.
Elisabeth: So cheap, so easy. It doesn't have to be long. It's better if it's short and to the point. It's a good touch point.
And speaking of content, fifteen to twenty-five strong pieces, refreshed regularly, are going to beat two hundred thin pieces. You don't want to let them sit for years without refreshing them. Put real value in those pieces. Write something you'd want to read. That's the baseline.
Adam: So weekly, monthly, quarterly. Keep those three beats in your plan and keep it consistent. That's going to bring you more value than creating a plan in January and then doing nothing.
Elisabeth: A hundred percent. Our third question: who actually does it? Who executes this plan?
Adam: Right. Not just "the office" or "marketing."
Elisabeth: And more specifically, we've gotten the question, should the owner own any task?
Adam: That really depends on whether the owner is also an operator who's out servicing. Can they take the pictures and videos themselves while they're on the job? Or can they do a ride-along with a tech one day and get some pictures and videos?
Elisabeth: Speaking directly to that question, it's going to depend on what's happening at the business. Bare minimum, I think the owner needs to review what's happening. You want to make sure you're steering the ship in the right direction. If the calendar is running without you, that's fine. Just make sure you're talking about the things you want to talk about, and targeting the parts of your business you want to grow.
We have a lot of pest control clients who, for instance, don't really want to do bed bugs. So don't talk about bed bugs much in your calendar. Hit the other areas you actually want to expand. The owner should be looking at it from a bird's-eye view to make sure it's pointed in the right direction.
Adam: And every item on your marketing plan gets a name. For example, Sarah posts to Google on Tuesdays. Make sure that gets done every Tuesday. Your job as the owner is to spot-check. Did it get posted on Tuesday? If not, go to Sarah and say, "We've got to keep this going." That consistency is crucial, especially with Google, because a lot of times they'll remove posts after seven to fourteen days. So it's important to keep those posts fresh.
Elisabeth: And techs own the in-field pieces: the job photos and the in-person review ask. Techs who ask in person typically get three to four times more reviews. We also mentioned in another episode that sending the review ask by text instead of email gets a much better open rate.
Adam: Something that really helps us internally, and with our customers, is reviewing the plan each month. If you want to know what you're doing in October, you set aside one day the month before and say, "This is what we're doing in October." Batch it by month. That splits it up so it doesn't feel so overwhelming. You're not planning twelve months at once. You're saying, "Here's what October looks like."
Elisabeth: Absolutely. Where this tends to fall apart is when one person owns every single beat. The calendar dies the week they're gone. So put two names on it at a minimum, even at a two-truck shop. That keeps it going.
Adam: A calendar without names is just a wish list. "I wish we had more business." If only we'd put a name on it. We even see that at Cube Creative. Sometimes things don't get assigned internally, and they fall through the cracks. So make sure you put a name on it.
Elisabeth: It's easy to do.
Adam: So, what do you do the week you fall behind?
Elisabeth: It depends on your bandwidth. If you can, it'll serve you to make up what you fell behind on. But honestly, if you fell behind, you're probably busy and you probably don't have the bandwidth. I'd say skip it and move on. Forgive yourself and move on.
And to repeat what we said before, build the next season during this one. Fall pushes get built in the summer. Spring pushes get built in December and January. We say that because of when people are searching, and also because it takes time for Google to index your information. Once you put that blog or landing page out there, it takes time to start getting found.
Adam: That's a great point. We were just talking about SEO last week, and how it takes six to twelve months to really take off. So put your monthly website content out there ahead of time. Then look at your planning horizon. Do a full year of themes, so you know where your content should be for each season. But only schedule the real tasks about 90 days out, to keep it consistent. Past that, you're really just guessing.
Elisabeth: Right. So to sum this one up: if you miss a week, skip it and keep the beat. The streak matters more than the score.
Adam: Absolutely. Here's your one thing this week. Pick your weekly beat: one task, one person's name, one day of the week. Just write it down.
Elisabeth: Then put it on that person's calendar as a recurring fifteen-minute event. Not yours. Theirs. That's the whole fix, and it takes less time than this episode.
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Adam: Okay, Elisabeth, here are three things you can take on your next drive. Did we cover everything?
Elisabeth: I think so. Number one: calendars die from execution, not ideas. They're too big to survive a bad week, and nobody's name is on the tasks. "The office will post more" isn't a plan. "Sarah posts on Tuesdays" is the plan you want.
Number two: the smallest calendar that still grows you is three beats. Weekly is a Google Business Profile post plus review asks. Monthly is one real content piece. Quarterly is the email you send out to your customers. Three is the floor, not the ceiling. Add more only after you've hit all three for three straight months.
Number three: when you fall behind, skip. Don't double up. That's the Skip Rule. Miss a week, drop it, and hit the next one. The clients who survived peak season had a smaller plan, not a better one.
Adam: But don't skip four or five weeks and say, "We're just going to keep skipping." That's not helpful.
Elisabeth: No. You can pick it back up.
Adam: If you want help putting any of this to work, visit marketingthatactuallyworks.ai for your free pest control marketing audit. We'll show you exactly what's working and what's costing you money.
Elisabeth: And if you want to see how your site looks to AI search, get your free Cube Score at thecubescore.com. While you're there, grab our 20-point Pest Control Marketing Checklist too.
Adam: If you got value today, leave us a five-star review. It helps other pest control operators find the show. Next Tuesday, we're talking about chatbots and live chat, and how to convert your website visitors 24/7. Emily Porter is joining us.
Elisabeth: It's going to be good. Thanks for listening to Pest Control Marketing That Actually Works. We'll see you next Tuesday.
