How to Create a Marketing Calendar (+ 5 Templates)

Feb 11, 2025 04:59 PM - 1 month ago 51724

A trading almanac is simply a readying instrumentality that helps marketers shape and schedule trading activities, campaigns, and contented to support execution organized and consistent.

Here’s a trading almanac example:

Color-coded trading almanac illustration pinch cardinal campaigns and events for illustration New Year Sale Launch, blog posts, Instagram updates, and newsletter distributions.

A well-designed trading almanac keeps the full squad connected way by intelligibly laying retired each measurement of important trading campaigns.

Marketing calendars besides show you who’s responsible for each trading task. And erstwhile each task needs to beryllium completed.

5 Marketing Calendar Templates for Different Marketing Channels

Different types of trading calendars readying and execution for circumstantial trading efforts.

Here are 5 of the astir communal types of trading calendars (including sample trading almanac templates) to get you started. 

Editorial Calendar

An editorial calendar (also known arsenic a content calendar) maps retired each the contented you scheme to create, the timelines, and the squad members responsible for each piece.

This keeps your squad connected the aforesaid page and helps you people contented connected time.

Use this editorial almanac template to coordinate and schedule your content.

A blank blog trading almanac template.

This editorial almanac template has the pursuing elements:

  • Actual people date
  • Blog station (or draft) owed date
  • Blog topic
  • Author
  • Target keywords
  • Target audience
  • Offer aliases call to action (CTA)

A well-organized social media calendar helps you support a accordant posting schedule and coordinate contented crossed each your societal media profiles.

It besides gives you a clear overview of what you scheme to station and when, truthful you tin spot gaps successful your schedule.

Use this social media trading almanac template to shape contented crossed each your societal channels.

A blank, play societal media trading calendar.

This societal media almanac template includes:

  • Which platforms you scheme to people contented connected (Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.)
  • Posting dates
  • Content titles
  • Supporting copy
  • Links to ocular assets
  • Additional notes

To further streamline societal media scheduling, effort Semrush’s Social Poster.

The tool’s interactive almanac lets you scheme contented for an full year. And schedule posts crossed aggregate platforms straight wrong the tool.

Social Poster instrumentality has a trading almanac position pinch drafted societal posts.

Email Marketing Calendar

An email trading almanac helps you plan, schedule, and shape your email campaigns, specified arsenic newsletters, merchandise releases, and promotional offers.

It besides shows you really often and erstwhile you scheme to nonstop emails to your lists. So you cognize if you’re contacting your database excessively overmuch aliases excessively little.

Use this email trading almanac template to scheme your campaigns successful 1 organized view. 

A blank email trading almanac template.

This email trading almanac template includes the following:

  • Your planned nonstop dates
  • The email topic
  • The email’s taxable line
  • The email’s assemblage copy 
  • Links to images
  • CTAs

Marketing Campaign Calendar

A trading run almanac maps retired the activities related to your wide marketing plan, coordinating different channels and ensuring everything launches astatine the correct time.

It helps you scheme launches and forestall overloading your assemblage aliases team.

Keep your campaigns organized and way each your trading campaigns pinch our free marketing run almanac template.

A blank trading run almanac template.

This trading run almanac template includes spaces for:

  • Your campaign’s commencement and extremity dates
  • The circumstantial trading activity
  • Your run name 
  • Who the squad lead is for the campaign
  • What channel(s) your run will tally on
  • Your marketing KPIs and goals

Holiday Marketing Calendar

A vacation trading almanac includes cardinal dates and seasonal events that matter to your business and audience, specified arsenic Black Friday, the back-to-school season, aliases your institution anniversary.

This type of almanac is important for getting seasonal campaigns successful bid good successful advance. 

Use this holiday trading almanac template to commencement planning.

A blank vacation trading almanac template.

This vacation almanac template includes spaces for:

  • Holiday names and dates
  • Campaign message
  • Marketing channels 
  • Budget 

How to Build Your Marketing Calendar from Scratch

Here’s really to build a trading almanac that meets your needs and goals. 

1. Choose a Tool to Build Your Marketing Calendar

Choose a instrumentality to build your almanac based connected your company’s needs.

For example, you tin build your trading almanac quickly and easy connected Google Sheets for free. Especially if you usage 1 of our templates.

But devices for illustration Asana and ClickUp connection much precocious features for illustration notifications, task tracking, and automated workflows.

When choosing a instrumentality to usage for your calendar, inquire yourself the following:

  • What is my budget?
  • Is the instrumentality easy to usage and navigate?
  • Will users get notified astir almanac changes?
  • Does it merge pinch our different devices and platforms?
  • Will it amended squad connection and organization?

You whitethorn besides determine to prioritize devices that person useful features, specified as:

  • Color coding to quickly spot different types of content
  • Custom tags to group related items
  • Multiple views (e.g., daily, weekly, and monthly)
  • Status updates to way progress
  • Filters to quickly find circumstantial channels aliases campaigns

2. Select Your Primary Marketing Channels and Formats

Select your superior trading channels and contented formats to guarantee you cognize really to customize your trading calendar.

For example, if you want to attraction heavy connected societal media, past create a social media calendar alternatively of an overarching trading run calendar.

Some channels and formats you mightiness incorporated include:

  • Your blog
  • Your societal media profiles
  • Email
  • Paid societal media and hunt ads
  • Events and webinars

3. Build Your Calendar’s Basic Structure and Add Tasks

The adjacent measurement is to see basal elements for search and organizing your trading activities.

Start pinch the pursuing elements:

  • Campaign schedules: When each trading activity starts and ends
  • Tasks and ownership: Who's doing what
  • Marketing channels: Where the trading activity is taking place
  • Key dates: Important events for illustration launches, promotions, and holidays
  • Resources: How overmuch fund and what assets you request for each campaign

You tin adhd much elements later based connected your circumstantial needs.

Next, make judge each run is surgery down into each related task that’s needed for completion. Including reviews and approvals. 

For example, present is simply a imaginable timeline for creating a blog post:

  • Three days for the writer to research, plan, and write
  • Two days for editorial review
  • One time for revisions from the writer
  • One time for image creation
  • One time for last review

Your timelines will alteration based connected contented type and squad size, but having standards for illustration this helps support projects moving smoothly.

4. Assign Ownership 

Every task connected your trading almanac needs a clear proprietor who will complete their information and walk the task to the adjacent phase.

For example, successful the process of creating a blog post, delegate a clear proprietor for the pursuing tasks:

  • Writing the blog post
  • Editing the content
  • Handling revisions
  • Creating the images
  • Conducting a last review
  • Publishing the content

5. Keep Your Marketing Calendar Updated 

Keep your trading almanac updated to guarantee it serves arsenic the root of truth for each trading efforts.

To do that, petition that squad members people tasks complete arsenic soon arsenic they’re finished.

This is an illustration of a workflow for keeping your almanac up-to-date:

  • Writers nonstop completed drafts to the editing squad by sharing a archive nexus successful the almanac and notifying the editors
  • Editors nonstop edited drafts backmost to the writers by checking a container successful the almanac and notifying writers
  • Writers use revisions, stock a caller nexus (if needed), and notify the last reviewers
  • Final reviewers nonstop the drafts to the publishing queue by checking a container successful the almanac and notifying the publisher
  • The patient pushes the contented unrecorded and marks it arsenic published successful the calendar

This workflow keeps everyone connected the aforesaid page and informed astir the position of each project.

This transparency helps teams spot bottlenecks quickly and set timelines if needed. 

Streamline Marketing Activities pinch an Organized Calendar

A trading almanac helps you execute your strategy much efficaciously and reduces the likelihood of making mistakes.

So, download 1 of the free templates above. And make judge you person the devices you request to execute each project.

For example, SEO devices that tin thief you summation visibility successful hunt results. 

A free Semrush trial gives you tons of options, including the Keyword Magic Tool (to find position your assemblage enters successful Google) and Position Tracking (to spot wherever your contented appears successful hunt results)/

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