Stop Posting Randomly: How Launch Planning Transforms Your Social Media Strategy

Ever feel like you’re just posting randomly on social media, hoping something sticks? That’s where launch planning comes in. A well-thought-out launch isn’t just about selling a product or service—it’s about creating a strategic content plan that builds momentum, connects with your audience, and drives real results.

In this episode, Ruthie Sterrett shares how to map out your launch and campaign calendar so your social media marketing works as part of a bigger picture strategy. You’ll learn how to plan your content with intention, guide your audience through awareness and decision-making, and ensure every post leads to your ultimate business goals.

If social media feels like a chore, or your content isn’t converting, this conversation will help you connect the dots between launch planning and marketing success—so you can finally show up with purpose and strategy.

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@ruthie.sterrett
@theconsistencycorner

Transcript

Ruthie Sterrett (00:00.642)

Listen friend, you do not need a brand new offer in order to launch something. But you do need launches on your calendar. And you do need to sometimes pause before that launch. So we're gonna dive into that today. And I'm gonna be totally transparent. I have like 10 minutes to record this episode. So it's gonna be a quick one. I gotta go get the kiddo from golf camp and get to a doctor's appointment. So.

we're gonna talk about why launching strategically is very helpful for your social media marketing and what a launch actually is. So a launch is really what I would call a campaign. Oftentimes a launch is a new thing. Like you are launching a new thing into the world, a new offer, a new resource, a new freebie, whatever it is, a new product. But a launch can also be

what you would maybe call a campaign, where it is a visibility campaign with purpose. We have specific content or a specific topic that we're talking about. We have a specific product or offer or service that we're working towards. And we create content that takes the customer on a journey through awareness, nurture, and conversion. And oftentimes, if it's like a service,

or a higher ticket product, that launch starts off with a mini launch of a free resource or a lower ticket service. And what's cool about launches after your offer suite is really nailed down and you're like, these are my services, these are my products, this is what I'm selling, we can create a roadmap for the entire year of when are we going to talk about specific offers.

so that we can create a content plan that is easier to follow. And I know it feels like, oh my gosh, I can't map out the entire year. Sometimes just mapping it out is enough to spur some ideas and you don't end up using the plan that you thought you were gonna use, but you come up with an even better and newer plan. So one of the things that we do with our clients in onboarding is we look at your launch calendar and your campaign calendar.

Ruthie Sterrett (02:21.138)

And sometimes our clients come to us and don't have that. Like they've been like, I just talk about different offers whenever I feel like it, or I decide to launch and do it the very next week. And yes, you can do messy launches like that. Absolutely. But the real work that happens behind the scenes of planning a launch does a couple of things. Number one, it opens your eyes to what do your clients really need?

What content do they need to hear from you in order to make that decision to say yes? And it really helps you go through the entire customer journey and ecosystem of the content that they're maybe seeing on social media, the emails that they're reading, the sales page that they're seeing on your website, the checkout page, all of those things, you're looking at it holistically and not just throwing up social media posts saying,

Buy my thing, download this thing. We're looking at it all as an ecosystem. And it's a lot of work. To be totally transparent, I had planned on relaunching the agency in July. And I relaunched the podcast in June, finished up that podcast launch, which was a lot of work to be fair, and was like, okay, here's the to-do list for relaunching the agency. And was like, Ruthie.

you are out of your freaking mind if you think you are going to get all this work done in three or four weeks. So I pushed it back to September and here I sit mid August, early August and I'm thinking maybe I need to push it back again. But I, that's a self-imposed deadline and my decision around September has to do with where my ideal client is in their journey, where they are in their life, where they might be in decision-making processes. So

giving myself that longer runway to create the content for the launch is the best decision that I've made for myself because it gave me some freedom and for my clients because I was able to step back and look at the launch more strategically and with more of a like holistic perspective. And so now I'm supporting my clients with that same kind of guidance and perspective.

Ruthie Sterrett (04:40.652)

So here's the thing about launches and funnels and why we think about all this stuff is if your funnel isn't ready, your content has nowhere to go. And we want your content pointing to different spots in the customer journey. Now some content and a lot of content actually is there to build awareness and nurture your audience. But we need to know that.

as we're building out our content of again, what are our business goals in this quarter, in this month, in this week with this post that all lead back to the bigger business goal of whatever we are campaigning around in this window. So as your social media manager, I need visibility into that entire campaign calendar. I need to know what offers and services are we talking about when.

what is happening in your ideal client's life that relates to what you do and how you serve them. And then we build messaging campaigns around those things. And I help our clients do that too. We strategize together and say, what's our offer suite? What services do we provide? What freebies do we have? What does our clients need from us? And if we're marketing to moms,

Let's really look at the calendar in terms of what's happening in her life. Is she in back to school mode? Have we entered Hello, Thanksmas, which is like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, you know, that crazy blur of the fall. Is she in New Year, New Me mode of like, finally the holidays are over. I can take a break and think about myself. Maybe she's in summer and she's balancing and juggling all the things.

Maybe Mother's Day is a big deal for her because she's a mom. Those are all kind of pivotal calendar moments that we want to look at when we're building out a launch calendar. So when it comes to launch content, what I want you to take away from this podcast is yes, it's a lot of work to create and build a launch or a campaign, but yes, it's incredibly important and effective in making sure that the content we put out into the world

Ruthie Sterrett (07:01.752)

has a job and is pointing to the next step in the customer journey and that all of those steps are built out. So whether you're launching something new, you're bringing back a signature offer, we want to make sure that you have a clear, connected plan in your entire content ecosystem, whether that's podcasts, blogs, email newsletters, LinkedIn newsletters, LinkedIn posts, Instagram posts, reels, stories.

all of those things. And if you're like, my God, you are blowing my mind, Ruthie. Okay, here, here's the good news. We have time, we have time and we can help you. I can take some of this stuff off of your to-do list. And so if you have been thinking about bringing on a strategic partner for social media support, maybe it's time to bring on one that does more than just social media and can actually help you plan all of this stuff out.

And we'll be opening up spots in the corner office, which is our new name for the agency this fall. So stay tuned for that. And if you have questions about launching or campaigns or calendar planning, no joke, this is like my favorite thing in the whole wide world. When I worked in corporate and we would plan 12, sometimes even 18 months in advance, I used to say that I wish my office was like wallpapered in dry erase calendars.

because I love nothing more than to get out a big old calendar and start plugging in dates and figuring out campaign themes and how they're gonna work and how one campaign plays into the next campaign and how all of this works within the customer's decision-making cycles. So I totally nerd out on this stuff. And you can find me on Instagram over at the consistency corner.

If you have questions about that and let's kind of talk through it, I'm happy to brainstorm in the DMs. But thank you for being here. And I think I hit my time limit. I'm like under one minute of what I needed to do to get this podcast done, to get out the door and get some of the mom stuff done on my to do list. So thanks for being here. I'll see you next week.