The New Year is an ideal time for nonprofits and businesses to reflect on their past public relations efforts and set the foundation for a successful year ahead. A well-thought-out PR plan in the new year can help you connect with your audience, grow your brand and achieve measurable goals. Here are 5 tips for PR planning for the upcoming year.

New Year Evaluation

Before planning your next PR strategy, assess past efforts.

• Which campaigns were the most successful: Analyze the metrics such as engagement rates, media coverage and audience reach to understand what contributed to their success. Were there specific tactics, platforms, or timing that played a crucial role?
• What messages did your audience find most impactful: Investigate feedback, responses and sentiment analysis from your audience. Identify themes or messaging styles that connect well. Then explore how you can build on these elements in your future communications.

Identify PR Target Audiences

Understanding your target audience and their interests is crucial for New Year PR plan success.

• Media Outlets and Journalists: Engaging with the press can amplify your message and increase visibility in the new year. Build connections with journalists and understand the types of stories they cover. This will help you communicate your objectives effectively and garner much-needed media attention. 
• Community Partners: These are organizations that contribute their time and resources to your cause. Recognize their commitment and the specific ways they wish to engage. You will foster a sense of community and encourage deeper involvement.

Concise PR Messaging

Your messaging should be clear and convey a compelling narrative that aligns seamlessly with your mission and values in the new year.

• Emphasize the impact of your work: Clearly articulate the positive changes your organization creates in the community, showcasing specific outcomes and success stories that demonstrate your effectiveness. 
• Inspirational action: Motivate your audience to take meaningful steps, whether it’s donating, engaging with your organization, participating in fundraising events or sharing your message through media channels. Create a sense of urgency and importance that encourages them to get involved. 

New Year PR Content Calendar

Consistency is vital in public relations, and an organized content calendar for the new year can serve as your guiding tool.

• Press release dates: Mark your calendar with key dates for releasing press statements about major announcements, such as product launches, partnerships, or significant milestones. This ensures that you capitalize on timely news cycles.
• Media outreach deadlines: Set clear deadlines for contacting journalists and media outlets. This includes pitches and follow-up plans, ensuring that your team can collaborate effectively and securely establish valuable media connections.

PR Media Metrics

Finally, taking time in the new year for monitoring your progress using robust analytics tools is essential for evaluating the effectiveness and success of your public relations strategies.

Track of media coverage and impressions. Keep a close eye on the extent and frequency of your media coverage, as well as the total impressions generated. This will help you gauge how widely your message is being disseminated and your brand’s reach across various publications.

We’ve all been there staring at a blank content calendar wondering what on earth to post next. Social media moves fast, and staying consistent can feel overwhelming. But here’s the important truth: you don’t need a big idea to show up online. You just need to know where to look when inspiration runs dry and what to post when you have nothing to post. 

As marketers, it’s our job to turn even the simplest moments into valuable, scroll-stopping content. Creativity isn’t always spontaneous. It’s built from reliable strategies you can pull from anytime. 

1. Repurpose What Already Works 

One of the most overlooked content strategies is simply revisiting your existing work. 
Your old posts, blogs, client questions, or even past presentations can become new content with a fresh angle. 

• Turning a long blog into a short tip 
• Reposting a high-performing graphic with updated context 
• Sharing a “throwback” post you still use today.  

Repurposing gives proven ideas new life and saves you time when you’re drained and don’t know what to post. 

2. Share Micro-Wins or Micro-Lessons with your posts 

You don’t need a huge story to offer value. Especially when you don’t know what to post. Small moments can be just as powerful. A simple observation, a quick mistake you learned from, or a recent client insight can spark a genuine connection. 

• “One thing I learned this week…” 
• “A mistake we used to make (and how we fixed it)” 
• “A question clients keep asking us lately…” 

These micro-stories feel authentic, human, and relatable — especially on days when you don’t have a bigger narrative to tell. 

3. Show the Process, Not Just the Outcome 

When you feel stuck, look at what’s already happening around you. Behind-the-scenes content builds trust because it shows the real work behind the brand. 

You can share: 
• A brainstorming snapshot 
• A before-and-after moment 
• Tools your team uses daily 
• A peek at how a project comes together 

People connect with processes because they reveal the side of your brand that isn’t polished or staged—it’s real. 

Final Thoughts on “Posting When You Have Nothing to Post” 

Creative ruts happen to everyone, but they don’t have to break your consistency. Repurposing ideas, sharing small lessons, and showing your process are all strategic ways to keep your audience engaged even when inspiration is low. 

There are real, intentional methods behind staying visible online, especially during slow weeks. By focusing on value, authenticity, and relatability, you can create content that resonates, even when you feel like you have nothing to say. 

Are You Ready To Fill Your Fall Content Calendar?

As a marketing professional, the new season also has me thinking about how I can incorporate fall content into my content marketing strategy and content calendar. We all can agree that a good plan includes taking advantage of what is happening around you to develop content that inspires and is relatable.

If you’re anything like me, the triple-digit weather in DFW didn’t stop you from grabbing the bins of pumpkins from the attic weeks ago. Let’s hope you didn’t have a minor accident with the sheetrock like I did. (But that’s a story for another day!)

Fall Content Ideas to Help You Get Started

A few of my fall content favorites include cooler weather (I know it’s coming soon!), pumpkins, lighting candles, cozy sweatshirts and blankets, football, costumes and fall festivals. The list could literally go on and on.

Let’s spend a few minutes discussing how you can add a cozy autumn vibe into your fall content approach that will elicit a positive response from your followers.

Fall Inspired Blogs

Your audience loves getting a peak into the personal lives of the team. That could mean sharing an article highlighting your teams’ favorite fall activities. You can also consider featuring everyone’s favorites, from scary movies to fall date night ideas and Thanksgiving recipes. The options are endless.

Autumn Themed Pictures

A simple idea is to post a Happy Fall message with a picture of leaves changing colors! But consider taking it a step further. Do you have an office Halloween or Thanksgiving party? If so, take pictures at your events and share them on your social media platforms. Want to go even further? Create a poll and let your audience vote for the team member with the best Halloween costume. 

Season Inspired Questions and Polls

Engage your audience with questions. Topics can range from favorite Halloween candy to favorite Fall travel destinations or what someone is thankful for. It doesn’t need to be overcomplicated; it just needs to be fun. You can also create a relevant hashtag for your post and encourage followers to use it when they comment.

Seasonal Discounts

If you have an ecommerce store, you don’t have to wait until after Thanksgiving to have a sale. Consider offering a 31% discount on Halloween or a coupon good for the month of October. It’s never too early to start shopping for the holidays.

Giving Back

Thanksgiving is about the act of giving and expressing gratitude. We all know of a story where someone has paid for the coffee or food of the person in line after them. How about incorporating an act of kindness in your social media strategy. Consider sending electronic gift cards to the first five people who comment on your post. You can also donate to the charity of your choice when you reach a set number of likes or shares on your post.

Fired Up For Fall Content!

I hope you found these fall content idea starters helpful. What other ideas can you share?

It is probably safe to assume your company has a marketing plan. That’s document detailing the strategies to market your products and services to the defined target audience. However, do you find your company falls short in executing the plan? That’s where the Content Calendar comes in!

Let’s face it, priorities change, and problems come up. Next thing you know, it is six months down the road, and you have forgotten what was in the original plan, let alone followed through with implementation. And this lack of follow-through can negatively impact your business.

Follow Through on your Plan with a Content Calendar

One way to eliminate this situation is by developing a content marketing calendar. By definition, it’s a tool that helps you plan and execute your marketing strategy. It turns your plan into actionable deliverables.

Creating a marketing content calendar may seem daunting at first, but in its simplest form, consider it a living, breathing document used to plan your content. The amount of detail and layout can vary according to your organization’s preferences. At a minimum, it should contain a separate column or tab for your platform(s), content to be published, and the publishing date.

How to Create a Marketing Content Calendar

It may seem overwhelming but consider these key pieces of information as you start to plan your content calendar.

• What marketing platforms do you use? Social media, email marketing, blog posting. No matter what platforms you utilize, it’s most efficient to keep track of your content in one document.
• Determine how often you publish content. Do you post to your social media channels three times a week? Do you send a monthly email or maybe a weekly communication? How often do you write blog articles? Twice a month?
• Create your content calendar. It’s recommended to plan your content at least one month in advance using either an excel spreadsheet or a Google Sheet. Create a separate tab for each marketing platform (social media, email marketing, blog articles, etc.). For social media, create a new tab for each month of content.
• Plan your content. Consider key dates to promote your product or service. Do you have an upcoming product launch or event? Are there specific holidays or national days you want to highlight?
• Build out your calendar. After you’ve answered all the questions above, add those items to your content calendar. Plug your content into the assigned content tab for each month or week.

Next Step: Executing Your Content

The next step is to add additional levels of detail. Consider the supporting images and content needed for each social post, email, blog article, on your content calendar. Assign ownership and build out timelines. Who is responsible for image creation, content development, social media posting and building and launching emails?

Now it’s time to see the benefits of your hard work pay off. Publish your content and monitor your results using analytics. Find out what content and images generate the greatest response and what fell short. Test your messages and images. Change your content accordingly. Be creative and…HAVE FUN!!! It all starts with a good content calendar.