Why a Digital Marketing Calendar Matters

Digital marketing is vital for every business today but it can be sporadic, interrupted and disorganised. Particularly if you don’t have a dedicated team within your organisation you may find that marketing efforts often get pushed far down the To Do list. Well-organised digital marketing can make a difference to everything, from sales to customer relationships, so having a clear plan in place can be very impactful. It requires a little investment in time and effort but putting a digital marketing calendar in place will give you the advantage of a clear and confident plan.

The first step – strategy

If you’re keen to establish a digital marketing calendar for your business the first step is to outline the strategy that will underpin it. You’ll need to identify a number of key pieces of information for this including:

• Annual digital marketing budget
• Your audience
• How often you want to promote the business
• Channels that you will target e.g. social media, email, articles etc
• Times of peak demand
• The resources you have available to support marketing e.g. a photographer

Creating the calendar

There are plenty of options out there – including those integrated into Google and Microsoft – to create a digital marketing calendar that is also connected to email and any productivity software that you might already be using. Use these to plan in the activities that you want to ensure get done for the business on the dates that it’s important to do them. That might be setting a reminder about producing an email campaign or posting on social channels. You can also use spreadsheets to keep track of the activities that you’re engaging in, and when. Whatever you’re using, make sure that you’re tracking projects, dates, who is responsible and the results of your efforts so that you can see what’s working and what isn’t.

Filling the calendar in

Start plotting in all the various activities that you’re planning for the year ahead with as much relevant information as possible. This should include realistic timelines, especially for larger projects that are going to take more work and involve more people from across the business. Make sure that you’re well prepared for your peak times – Christmas campaigns, for example, should be organised months in advance and not at the last minute – give yourself options to stimulate growth in slower times too. Once you’ve started to fill in the calendar you’ll be able to see where there are gaps in your digital marketing and where you might need to come up with ideas or get some outside help.

Track everything

A digital marketing calendar is a great way to get organised but it will also give you an insightful look into what marketing channels are working for you and where campaigns have been successful – as long as you’re tracking your results. Doing this means you end up with a year of insights and a much clearer idea of where to invest a marketing budget to get the best results going forward.

From organising your digital marketing efforts to tracking results, a digital marketing calendar is a vital tool. Iconic Digital is a full-service digital marketing agency in London helping brands build relationships with their customers. To find out more about Iconic Digital’s award-winning digital marketing services get in contact today on 020 7100 0726.