What’s the key to a successful marketing calendar? Planning!
If you don’t have your 2022 marketing calendar set and ready to execute, there’s no time like the present to get it started.
Not sure how? That’s okay.
Today we’ll tell you all about creating a successful marketing calendar for the year, inclusive of holidays, special days, and events to remember.
What is a marketing calendar?
A marketing calendar, among other things, is any marketing strategy’s saving grace. It should cover all of your marketing plans for the year. They range in complexity depending on your needs. You can purchase marketing calendars, find tools to help you create one, or use a basic spreadsheet.
Whatever your format, you should always have included things like:
- Advertising campaigns
- Holidays and important dates
- Company and industry events or trade shows
- Social media campaigns
- Email campaigns or email blasts
- Product launches
- Promotions
- Blog posts
- Lead magnets
- Videos
- Webinars
- Social media ads
- Other events
Basically, your marketing calendar will display your marketing strategy for the whole year.
Not only does it detail what your marketing activities are, but it should also provide:
- Name of the project
- Deadlines
- Go-live date
- Assignees or parties responsible for each step
- Where your deliverables are in the production stream
- All holidays, vacations, events, and financial quarters
- The results of each marketing effort upon completion
When you know that something will be relevant to your audience at a particular time of the year, you can plan accordingly.
Some examples include:
- Writing a blog post about a new product
- Sending out an email about an event
- Scheduling Facebook ads around a promo
Having the ability to look at a calendar and see exactly what’s going on in your company or industry or throughout the nation will alleviate missing out on golden opportunities.
Not sure what’s going on each month? At the bottom of this post, we’ve included holidays and observations to help you plan out your calendar.
What to think about before you create your marketing calendar
Before you dive into the nitty-gritty, ask yourself a few questions about your audience to ensure you’re providing the best possible content for them, your brand, and the search engines.
Ask yourself:
- What does my target audience (buyer persona) want, need, and like?
- What are my target audience’s interests?
- Where is my audience, and when are they there?
- How do I want my audience to interact with my content?
- What time of the year do I get the most engagement or replies to my CTA?
Understanding your audience is a key element to creating a successful marketing calendar.
Kinds of marketing calendars
What kind of marketing calendar you utilize is just as important as what goes on it. If you’re new to this, you may want to consider trying the free calendars or making one on your own, then upgrade if needed.
Here are a few to choose from:
- PDFs or print outs – these are great to help you start brainstorming out ideas to get you going, but keeping a digital version is much easier to update and keep others in the loop on changes
- Excel Spreadsheets
- Google Docs
- Google Calendars
- Outlook Calendars
- Grab a copy of our Marketing Calendar with Holidays and Hashtags
Creating your marketing calendar
Now that you have the bare bones, you can start filling it in with your company’s content schedule.
If you write weekly blog posts, fill that information in. If you have a monthly newsletter, add it.
Maybe you have quarterly email blasts? Daily social media posts? That should all be delineated. You get the idea.
Next, think about your promotions.
Do you run campaigns during the holidays? Perhaps you have VIP customers you promote to a few times a year.
Plan your strategy, and always be sure to provide enough time for proper management. No one wants to feel rushed through the marketing process. It’s stressful, and your audience may notice.
One of the best things about this process is that you’ll be able to see where gaps in your content are. This is such a great way to come up with opportunities for growth. Have a brainstorming session with your team and figure out how you can fill in those gaps with quality marketing campaigns.
How a marketing calendar helps
Yes, we’ve covered what it is and what you should have on it, but your marketing calendar does a lot for you.
Here are some of its benefits:
- Keeps you organized
- Saves you time
- Helps you maintain consistency with posting
- Keeps you on top of your deadlines
- Provides time for proper review and editing
- Keeps everybody informed of where the content is at any given time
- Shows you what’s happening during that time so you can be relevant with your content
- Allows for think-tanks or brainstorming sessions that up your content game
- Allows for better quality of content
- Allows easy access to how your content is relating to the audience or how the content performed
Depending on how you use your marketing calendar, the benefits are really limitless.
Where to start when creating your own marketing calendar
If you’re into DIY, creating your own marketing calendar that caters to all your needs may be all you need.
You won’t have all the bells and whistles that some of the paid-for calendars provide, but if you don’t need those things, why pay for them?
Grab yourself your free marketing calendar, grab your team, and do this:
- Identify your audience, and where and when to meet them with content they’ll respond to the way you intend (this may take some trial and error, as all SEO does, learning what works and what doesn’t is an ongoing process)
- Invite all parts of your marketing team to give advice, ask them what they want to see on your calendar
- We suggest leaving a space for keywords, making it a no-brainer when your team starts to create the content
- Think about repurposing content and creating evergreen content, and create a home for those items on your calendar
- Prepare to put some time and thought into this in the beginning, but know that it will pay off in the end
Planning for a year of marketing may sound intimidating at first, and we’re not here to minimize that, but once you do it, every year will get easier.
Don’t over-complicate things.
Bend the calendar to your goals, and you’ll be on top of your content all year long.
Before we part, check out the 2022 list below for all the dates you definitely want on your calendar and their hashtags.
2022 National & Global Holiday Calendar Dates with #Hashtags
January 2022
1. New Year’s Day #NewYearsDay
2. Science Fiction Day #ScienceFictionDay
4. National Trivia Day #NationalTriviaDay
5. National Bird Day #NationalBirdDay
13. Clean Off Your Desk Day #CleanOffYourDeskDay
18. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day #MLKDay
20. Get to Know Your Customers Day #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
20. Cheese Lovers Day #CheeseLoversDay
21. National Hugging Day #NationalHuggingDay
24. National Compliment Day #NationalComplimentDay
25. Opposite Day #OppositeDay
February 2022
1. Chinese New Year #ChineseNewYear
2. Groundhog Day #GroundhogDay4. World Cancer Day #WorldCancerDay
9. National Pizza Day #NationalPizzaDay
13. Super Bowl LVI #SBLVI #SuperBowlSunday #SuperBowl
14. Valentine’s Day #ValentinesDay
17. Random Acts of Kindness Day #RandomActsOfKindnessDay
20. National Love Your Pet Day #LoveYourPetDay
21. Presidents’ Day (Third Monday in February) #PresidentsDay
March 2022
1. Mardi Gras #MardiGras
2. National Read Across America Day #ReadAcrossAmericaDay #DrSeussDay
3. World Wildlife Day #WorldWildlifeDay4. National Employee Appreciation Day (First Friday in March) #EmployeeAppreciationDay
4. National Day of Unplugging (First Friday in March) #NationalDayOfUnplugging
7. National Cereal Day #NationalCerealDay
8. International Women’s Day #InternationalWomensDay
8. National Proofreading Day #NationalProofreadingDay
12. National Girl Scout Day #GirlScoutDay
13. Daylight Savings (Date changes annually) #DaylightSavings #DaylightSavingsTime
14. Pi Day #PiDay #InternationalDayofMathematics
17. St. Patrick’s Day #StPatricksDay
18. Red Nose Day #RedNoseDay
20. International Day of Happiness #InternationalDayofHappiness #DayofHappiness
20. First Day of Spring #FirstDayofSpring #SpringBegins #DayofNowruz
23. National Puppy Day #NationalPuppyDay
30. Doctor’s Day #NationalDoctorsDay
April 2022
1. April Fools’ Day #AprilFools #AprilFoolsDay
6. National Walking Day (First Wednesday in April) #NationalWalkingDay
7. World Health Day #LetsTalk
11. National Pet Day #NationalPetDay
15. Good Friday #GoodFriday
16. National Stress Awareness Day #StressAwarenessDay
17. Easter Sunday #Easter #EasterBunny
21. Get to Know Your Customers Day #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
22. Earth Day #EarthDay
23. World Book Day #WorldBookDay
26. Arbor Day #ArborDay
29. International Dance Day #InternationalDanceDay
30. National Honesty Day #NationalHonestyDay
May 2022
1. May Day #MayDay
4. Star Wars Day #StarWarsDay #Maythe4thBeWithYou
5. Cinco de Mayo #CincoDeMayo
6. Space Day #SpaceDay
8. Mother’s Day #MothersDay
12. International Nurses Day #NursesDay
24. National Scavenger Hunt Day #NationalScavengerHuntDay
28. National Hamburger Day #NationalHamburgerDay
29. National Paperclip Day #PaperclipDay
30. Memorial Day #MemorialDay #MDW
June 2022
2. National Leave the Office Early Day #LeaveTheOfficeEarlyDay
4. National Doughnut Day #NationalDoughnutDay
6. National Cancer Survivors Day #NCSD
8. World Oceans Day #WorldOceansDay
8. National Best Friends Day #BestFriendsDa
14. World Blood Donor Day #GiveBlood
14. National Flag Day #FlagDay
19. Father’s Day #FathersDay
21. First Day of Summer #FirstDayOfSummer
24. National Take Your Dog to Work Day #TakeYourDogToWorkDay
30. Social Media Day #SMDay
July 2022
1. International Joke Day #InternationalJokeDay
4. Independence Day #July4th
7. World Chocolate Day #WorldChocolateDay
11. National Cheer Up the Lonely Day #CheerUpTheLonelyDay
17. World Emoji Day #WorldEmojiDay
30. International Day of Friendship #DayOfFriendship
August 2022
5. International Beer Day #InternationalBeerDay
8. International Cat Day #InternationalCatDay
9. National Book Lovers Day #NationalBookLoversDay
10. National Lazy Day #LazyDay
11. National Sons and Daughters Day #SonsAndDaughtersDay
15. National Relaxation Day #NationalRelaxationDay
16. National Tell a Joke Day #NationalTellAJokeDay
19. World Photography Day #WorldPhotoDay
19. World Humanitarian Day #WorldHumanitarianDay
21. World Entrepreneurs Day #EntrepreneursDay
26. International Dog Day #InternationalDogDay
26. Women’s Equality Day #WomensEqualityDay
September 2022
4. World Beard Day #WorldBeardDay
5. International Day of Charity #CharityDay
5. Labor Day (First Monday in September) #LaborDay
6. National Read a Book Day #ReadABookDay
8. International Literacy Day #LiteracyDay
9. Stand Up to Cancer Day #KissCancerGoodbye #SU2C
10. World Suicide Prevention Day #WorldSuicidePreventionDay
10. National Grandparents Day #NationalGrandparentsDay
11. National Day of Service and Remembrance #911Day
12. National Day of Encouragement #DayOfEncouragement
19. Talk Like a Pirate Day #TalkLikeAPirateDay
21. International Day of Peace #PeaceDay
22. First Day of Fall #FirstDayOfFall
27. World Tourism Day #WorldTourismDay
28. National Women’s Health and Fitness Day #WomensHealthFitnessDay
30. International Podcast Day #InternationalPodcastDay
October 2022
1. International Coffee Day #InternationalCoffeeDay
3. National Techies Day #TechiesDay
4. National Taco Day #NationalTacoDay #TacoDay
5. World Teacher’s Day #WorldTeachersDay
7. World Smile Day #WorldSmileDay
10. World Mental Health Day #WorldMentalHeathDay
11. World Sight Day #WorldSightDay
14. National Dessert Day #DessertDay
16. World Food Day #FoodDay
30. National Checklist Day #ChecklistDay
31. Halloween #Halloween
November 2022
1. World Vegan Day #WorldVeganDay
4. National Candy Day #NationalCandyDay
6. Daylight Saving Time Ends #DaylightSavings #DaylightSavingsTime
8. National STEM Day #STEMDay
11. Veterans Day #VeteransDay
11. Remembrance Day #PoppyDay #RemembranceDay
13. World Kindness Day #WKD
14. World Diabetes Day #WDD
15. America Recycles Day #BeRecycled
24. Thanksgiving #Thanksgiving
25. Black Friday #BlackFriday #BlackFridayDeals
26. Small Business Saturday #ShopSmall
28. Cyber Monday #CyberMonday #CyberMondayDeals
December 2022
3. International Day of Persons with Disabilities #IDPWD
4. National Cookie Day #NationalCookieDay
10. International Animal Rights Day #AnimalRightsDay
19. Hanukkah Begins #Hanukkah #Chanukah
21. First Day of Winter #WinterSolstice
23. Festivus #Festivus #AiringOfGrievances
24. Christmas Eve #ChristmasEve #MerryChristmas
25. Christmas #Christmas #MerryChristmas
30. No Interruptions Day #NoInterruptionsDay
31. New Year’s Eve #NYE #NewYearsEve
The marketing calendar takeaway
Starting this organizational habit for your marketing efforts is a huge win. It gives you information that will serve you throughout the year. It does take some time to create and that can be deterring. Don’t let it be! Once you get one or two under your belt, the sky’s the limit for your marketing strategy.
Check out Propel’s 2022 Marketing Calendar so you can make this year your company’s best marketing year to date.
