Marketing calendar: plan your year on lead time
Every action carries a lead time nobody counts: print needs three weeks, the local paper plans further ahead than that, an e-mail wants five days. Put the year's moments here with the channel beside them and the calendar works backwards to the day the work starts. That turns Mother's Day in May into a job for this week — and shows you at a glance which quiet month is still empty.
How it works
- 1
Put the moments down
Every day with something to celebrate, sell or fill: public holidays, the town fair, your own anniversary, the week that is always dead. One click adds your country's holidays in one go.
- 2
Pick a channel per action
Print, local press, a partnership, an e-mail, a post, a briefing. The channel sets the lead time, so you never type a start date yourself.
- 3
Read the start date
The calendar works backwards: moment minus lead time. Move the moment and the whole run-up moves with it — which is exactly the mapping nobody keeps in their head.
- 4
Mark your quiet months
Click a month until it says 'quiet'. A quiet month with nothing in it is the finding this calendar exists for, and it says so in as many words.
- 5
Print the year and the month
One sheet for the office wall with all twelve months, and one working list of everything that has to start in the next thirty days, with a box to tick.
Lead time per channel
| Channel | Starts on |
|---|---|
| Partnership | 30 |
| Ticketed event | 28 |
| Local press | 21 |
| 20 | |
| Menu change | 10 |
| 5 | |
| Window or A-board | 3 |
| Social post | 2 |
| Google post | 1 |
| Team briefing | 1 |
Five terms
The words on this calendar, briefly.
- Marketing calendar
- A year's overview of every moment your venue does something towards guests, with the channel, the person responsible and the day the work starts for each one.
- Lead time
- The days between 'we start on it' and 'it is out there'. Print needs around twenty days, an e-mail five, a post two. Lead time belongs to the channel, not to the moment.
- Start date
- The day the work has to begin: the moment minus the lead time. You never type this date; it follows from the two things you do choose.
- Quiet month
- A month your venue itself calls slow. Usually the exact month with nothing planned in it, because nobody thinks about February in October.
- Channel
- How the moment reaches the guest: print, local press, e-mail, social, your window, a partnership. Each channel has its own lead time, and that is the whole difference.
Frequently asked questions
Why not just use a diary?
A diary shows the day itself. You do not need that day — you already know when Mother's Day is. What you need is the day the work begins, and that differs per channel. This calendar works it out and puts it in this week's list.
How solid are those lead times?
They are calendar days, not working days, and they sit on the careful side. Print counts design, printer and distribution together; local press counts a weekly paper's planning. Starting early costs nothing; starting late costs the action.
What if I am late anyway?
The calendar does not delete the action. It says how many days past the start date you are, and which channel still fits in the days that remain. A flyer that can no longer happen is usually still an e-mail or a post.
Why the quiet months?
Because everybody promotes in December and nobody in February. December sells itself; the slow month is the one that makes your year. A quiet month with nothing in it goes straight to the top of the verdict.
Is any of this on a server?
No. The whole calendar lives in this browser's storage and goes nowhere. Clear your browser data and it is gone — so print the year sheet.
Can I add the public holidays automatically?
Yes. One button drops your country's public holidays and best-known celebration days into the calendar with the right date for that year. A day already on the calendar is skipped, so you can press it twice safely.
This is a house plan, not advertising law. What you may promise, give away or discount differs per country and per licence, so it points at your own terms and your accountant. The public holidays come from our own hospitality calendar and are a guide, not an official source.