A marketing calendar is a planning tool that helps marketers to organize and plan marketing activities, campaigns and content to keep the execution organized and consistent.
Here is a marketing calendar example:
A well -designed marketing calendar keeps the whole team on track by clearly putting every step in important marketing campaigns.
Marketing calendars also tell you who is responsible for each marketing task. And when each task is to be completed.
5 marketing calendar templates for different marketing channels
Different types of marketing calendars planning and execution for specific marketing efforts.
Here are five of the most common types of marketing calendars (including sample marketing calendar templates) to get started.
Editorial Calendar
An editorial calendar (also known as a content calendar) maps all the content you plan to create, the timelines and team members who are responsible for each piece.
This keeps your team on the same page and helps you publish content on time.
Use this editorial calendar template to coordinate and plan your content.
This editorial calendar template has the following items:
- Actually the release date
- Blog post (or draft) Due date
- Blog topic
- Author
- Measure keywords
- Target group
- Offer or Call Action (CTA)
Social Media Marketing Calendar
A well -organized calendar on social media helps you maintain a consistent posting plan and coordinate content across all your social media profiles.
It also gives you a clear overview of what you plan to send and when you can see holes in your schedule.
Use this social media marketing calendar template to organize content across all your social channels.
This social media calendar template includes:
- Which platforms do you plan to publish content on (Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.)
- Submission dates
- Content titles
- Supporting copy
- Links to visual assets
- Additional notes
To further streamline social media planning, try Semrush’s social poster.
The interactive calendar of the tool allows you to plan content for a whole year. And plan posts across multiple platforms directly within the tool.
E -Mail -Marketing Calendar
An E -Mail marketing calendar helps you plan, plan and organize your E -Mail campaigns, such as newsletters, product releases and promotional offers.
It also shows you how often and when you plan to send e emails to your lists. So you know if you contact your list too much or too little.
Use this E -Mail marketing calendar template to schedule your campaigns in an organized view.
This E -Mail -Marketing Calendar Template includes the following:
- Your scheduled broadcast dates
- E -Mail -topic
- E -Mail’s subject line
- E -mail’s bodycopy
- Links to pictures
- CTAS
Marketing campaign calendar
A marketing campaign calendar maps the activities in connection with your overall marketing plan, coordinates different channels and ensures that everything is launched at the right time.
It helps you plan launches and prevent overloading your audience or team.
Keep your campaigns organized and track all your marketing campaigns with our free marketing campaign calendar template.
This marketing campaign calendar template includes spaces to:
- Your campaign start and end dates
- The specific marketing activity
- Your campaign name
- Who the team leads is for the campaign
- Which channel (s) your campaign is moving on
- Your Marketing KPIs and Goals
Holiday Marketing Calendar
A holiday marketing calendar includes key dates and seasonal events that matter to your business and audience, such as Black Friday, Back-to-School season or your company’s anniversary.
This type of calendar is crucial to getting seasonal campaigns in order well in advance.
Use this holiday marketing calendar template to start planning.
This holiday calendar template includes spaces to:
- Holiday names and dates
- Campaign Message
- Marketing channels
- Budget
How to build your marketing calendar from the bottom
Here’s how to build a marketing calendar that meets your needs and goals.
1. Choose a tool to build your marketing calendar
Choose a tool to build your calendar based on your business needs.
For example, you can build your marketing calendar quickly and easily on Google Sheets for free. Especially if you use one of our templates.
But tools such as Asana and Clickup offer more advanced features such as messages, task tracking and automated workflows.
When choosing a tool to be used for your calendar, ask yourself the following:
- What is my budget?
- Is the tool easy to use and navigate?
- Will users be notified of calendar changes?
- It is integrated with our other tools and platforms?
- Will it improve team communication and organization?
You can also decide to prioritize tools that have useful features such as:
- Color coding To quickly see different types of content
- Custom tags to group -related items
- More views (eg daily, weekly and monthly)
- Status updates to track progress
- Filters To quickly find specific channels or campaigns
2. Choose your primary marketing channels and formats
Choose your primary marketing channels and content formats to make sure you know how to customize your marketing calendar.
For example, if you want to focus strongly on social media, create a social media calendar instead of an overall marketing campaign calendar.
Some channels and formats you may be able to incorporate include:
- Your blog
- Your profiles on social media
- E -Mail
- Paid social media and search ads
- Events and webinars
3. Build the basic structure of your calendar and add tasks
The next step is to include important elements for tracking and organizing your marketing activities.
Start with the following items:
- Campaign plans: When each marketing activity starts and ends
- Tasks and ownership: Who do what
- Marketing channels: Where the marketing activity takes place
- Key dates: Important events such as launches, campaigns and holidays
- Resources: How much budget and what assets you need for each campaign
You can add more items later based on your specific needs.
Then make sure that each campaign is divided into any related task needed for completion. Including reviews and approvals.
For example, here is a potential timeline for creating a blog post:
- Three days for the author to examine, plan and write
- Two days for editorial review
- A day to revisions from the author
- A day to create image creation
- A day for final review
Your timelines vary based on content type and team size, but having standards like this helps keep projects moving.
4. Assign Ownership
Each task on your marketing calendar needs a clear owner who will complete their share and pass on the project to the next phase.
In the process of creating a blog post, assign a clear owner to the following tasks:
- Writing the blog post
- Editing the content
- Handling of revisions
- Creating the images
- Completes a final review
- Publishing the content
5. KEEP YOUR MARKETING CALENDAR UPDATED
Keep your marketing calendar up to date to make sure it acts as the source of truth for all marketing efforts.
To do so, please request that team members mark tasks complete as soon as they finish.
This is an example of a workflow to keep your calendar updated:
- Writers Send Completed Draft Editing Team by sharing a document link in the calendar and notifying the editors
- Editors send edited drafts back to the authors by marking a box in the calendar and notifying authors
- Authors use revisions, share a new link (if necessary) and notify the final reviewers
- Final reviewers send the drafts of the publishing queue by marking a box in the calendar and notifying the publisher
- Publisher pushes the contents live and marks it as published in the calendar
This workflow all holds on the same page and is informed of the status of each project.
This transparency helps team to see bottlenecks quickly and adjust timelines if necessary.
Streamline Marketing Activities with an Organized Calendar
A marketing calendar helps you perform your strategy more effectively and reduces the odds of making mistakes.
Then download one of the free templates above. And make sure you have the tools you need to perform each project.
For example, SEO tools that can help you get visibility in search results.
A free semrush test gives you plenty of options, including the keyword’s magic tool (to find expression, your audience enters in Google) and position tracking (to see where your content appears in search results)/