How To Use a Marketing Events Calendar In Your Project Management
by Kristin Hilton
Copyright © 2009

How To Use a Marketing Events Calendar In Your Project Management

How many times have you lost track of your launch or promotion dates, only to start working on them at the last possible moment?

If you’ve tried just about every method of organization, and still can’t seem to keep track of your company’s marketing events, a marketing calendar may be the perfect solution.

What is a Marketing Events Calendar?

A marketing calendar is a helpful tool you can use to help chart your company’s marketing efforts and results.

You can design your marketing calendar to your specific criteria. You can prepare your promotions a couple of months, six months, or even up to a year in advance. But what exactly should be outlined on your marketing calendar?

• Individual promotions and events, so you can stay focused on your marketing efforts instead of being distracted with routine tasks

• The cost for each event, so you can clearly see which campaigns are profiting the most

• Results and profits gained by each promotion

A marketing events calendar is absolutely indispensable when organizing your minor (yet important) day-to-day marketing efforts around major company events, such as website launches. It can also be helpful in effective company budgeting.

Why Use a Marketing Events Calendar?

There are many great reasons why you should keep a marketing events calendar. One is that it’s never too early to start preparing your marketing campaigns. Beginning a promotion or advertising an event at the last minute could lose considerable impact, which would be reflected by your sales.

Also, it is nearly impossible for a growing business to keep track of every detail of the marketing month. Your marketing calendar could prevent important tasks falling to the wayside by spreading your company’s attention evenly. As a result, no detail goes unnoticed—and you implement consistency and stability into your marketing plans.

Because a marketing calendar also allows you to assess the worth of your marketing program, you can cut unnecessary costs by eliminating any unsuccessful projects early.

By using your marketing events calendar, you can also adjust your promotions around any holiday. You can set aside ample time to position your company’s product or service as the perfect “must-have” for the occasion. Using branded promotional items can help during the holidays and given away as gifts

Additionally, marketing calendars are excellent tools for measuring your company’s productivity. At a glance, you will be able to observe where your marketing efforts are required the most. This can be helpful in preventing marketing lapses that bring about the “feast or famine” effect plaguing many online businesses today.

I bet you’re wondering, “Why should I use a marketing calendar? What if I just used a list?”

Actually, a marketing calendar eliminates the monotony of a to-do list, which could make each promotion or event seem more like a daunting task instead of a challenging goal.

Your marketing calendar can quickly boost the overall morale of your company, and encourages much more focus from your staff. In turn, this will be interpreted by your customers, who will gladly continue to do business with your company.

How to Implement a Marketing Events Calendar

Marketing events calendars are best established through team effort. Include your staff in the planning of your events. Make it a ritual to meet with them, and schedule all phases and angles of your future promotions together.

Your marketing calendar may be a giant dry-erase calendar that you and your staff can quickly reference or even an elaborate chart with designated columns for certain data.

There is no wrong way to make a marketing calendar—it doesn’t have to be flashy, just straightforward. As long as you and your staff can easily draw information from it, it is successful.

Use Your Marketing Calendar as a Primary Tool in Your Marketing Efforts

A marketing events calendar is a great tool to organize and map your marketing events. It is effective at keeping track of each important detail, and is an excellent way to plan seasonal campaigns in advance. After all, the old adage is true—failing to plan is planning to fail!

Is project management an art or a science? How do I deal with problem employees? How can I improve employee morale and boost productivity? What skills can I develop that will ensure that my projects will run smoothly and to a successful finish. This essay tries to answer these questions, drawing from lessons I have learnt on the job. While the examples I provide are from a software company perspective, most of the article applies to any kind of domain. Being a Project Manager, I have found, calls upon 5 different sets of skills:

• A. Organizational skills
• B. Communication skills
• C. Problem-solving skills
• D. Leadership skills
• E. Team-building skills

A. Organizational skills

Do you consider yourself an organized person who can generate and keep track of multiple documents? If so, you already have one of the most important skills needed as a Project Manager. On the job, I was called upon to keep track of requirements and design documents, contracts, schedules, personnel records, project reports, communication (email) records, hiring history, meetings and status reports. Luckily for me, I have always been a meticulous record-keeper (since I don’t trust my memory ), and this saved me from being overwhelmed.

B. Communication skills

This does not refer to just giving presentations, but to various forms of written and oral communication. A Project Manager is expected to produce high-quality project planning and design documents, and send out meeting agendas, updates, status reports and courteous and effective email. A good manager, I observed from my peers, is able to get his/her ideas across clearly and in a non-confrontational manner, without seeming to impose views on subordinates. This is a skill I am still learning. Good negotiation skills also fall into this category.

C. Problem-solving skills

A good manager has the knack of seeing the big picture for any problem, while others may miss the forest for the trees. I was frequently called upon to analyze a problem, research and compile a list of alternative solutions, determine the best course of action and get it implemented by my team. The trick is to never lose sight of the big picture – the overall problem we are trying to solve.

D. Leadership skills

This one is not easy. It is tricky to get your team to go with your idea without making them feel that the idea is being thrust on them. The team looks to the Project Manager to provide direction and vision. To be able to do that, I had to work constantly towards enhancing my knowledge – breadth of knowledge is very important, but depth is important too – superficial knowledge fools noone. A manager must earn the respect of his/her team, and the best way to do that is to lead by example.

E. Team-building skills

This is an often-neglected area, forgotten in all the excitement of project deadlines. But the effort spent motivating a team to perform to the best of its ability is worth its weight in gold. Four easy points to remember are: reward achievements, provide feedback, recognize strengths and provide challenges. 

Instead of talking in generalities, let us follow the lifecycle of a project step by step, and see how these skills come into play. A Project Manager is involved in all of the following 5 phases of a project.

• Phase 1: Scoping the project
• Phase 2: Planning the project
• Phase 3: Launching the plan
• Phase 4: Monitoring progress
• Phase 5: Wrapping up the project