There are a lot of people that have a goal to sell their own planner and if this is you, you are in the right place. It's my specialty. I've always had a great love and appreciation for stationery. As a born organiser my planners are like my second home, a beautiful place to empty my mind and put my life in some sort of order. 

Of course, planners are a place of planning but I believe that's not all they should be, they should have more elements to them but not so many that it's over-complicated. I have never created a planner for my clients that they haven't loved and not gone on to sell in fact the opposite is the truth. All of my designs are unique but there is one common theme that runs through them.  They are more than just planners. They are a place where your audience wants to go to learn from you about whatever it is you live by, teach or set out to transform someone's life in some way. When a client approaches me to work with them I don't say "ok what sort of diary would you like?" It's so much more complex.

Firstly if you already have a business this part will be easier for you, you will already have offerings in place and an audience. You are in a primed position and ready to add a planner to what you already do. You need to do a little research in terms of what your audience would like and what would help them further. Try and go on a theme for your planner so if you are a therapist niche down into an area where you think you could help people the most, maybe it's going to be a planner for people who suffer from anxiety and it will help them cope in different ways on a daily basis. Don't forget this doesn't have to be your one and only planner you could have a series. You are an expert in your business and you will know the problems your audience is facing and what is coming up the most, go with solving that problem.

If you don't have a business and you are wanting to start a planner business then there is more work to be done. You need to figure out what you are going to offer to people. What makes your planner different? What do you stand for as a business and a brand and what does your branding look like? Who is your ideal customer and why would they buy from you? This might feel like a lot of work but trust me it will help you design the most amazing product and one that will sell! You don't want to go with something you think is right and find out later it doesn't sell because no one wants it.

Whether you have a business or not this tip applies to planner design in general, how does your audience use planners? It might sound a little odd but you want to tick most of their boxes before you launch, especially if you already have an audience built because these are the people that will buy from you. This could be from size to the amount of pages, does it need to be transportable? Do they like a week across two pages or just one? How much do they want to write in their planner, think about the space you need to give to make it practical.

We all buy with an emotional connection to something or based on results, if you are launching your planner for the first time you won't have any results or reviews. You will need to connect with your audience on an emotional level. Be clear about what you are offering them and this is not a 205 page A5 lilac planner with a week to view pages, no! You can add that to your description so they know exactly what they are getting of course, but you're marketing needs to lead with transformation. What are you really offering them? How are you going to change their lives?

Once you marry together your marketing and an amazing product it will fly off the shelves.

Don't be scared to be bold, different, and stand out this is how you will make your planner and business shine.

If you feel like making your own planner is the way forward but you don't have time to design it to make it a reality or you just don't know how, then I can help. I offer a done-for-you service where we work in collaboration.  You get exactly what you've dreamed of without having to deal with margins, branding, and layouts, what's great about this is I don't get any of your royalties or profit margins, I leave that all for you and over a lifetime of a product that's a lot of money. To find out more click here.

I hope this has been helpful and you are clearer about what you want to design now. If you need more clarity and want to learn more I have written a bestselling book to help you, it's all of my knowledge about planner and journal design broken down for you to follow. Click here for The Ultimate Guide To Planner & Journal Design.

Keep creative!