FREE 2023 Marketing Calendar Template for Small Business

Let’s get straight to the point. You are here because you are looking for that FREE marketing calendar template. Right? Well, surprise! We’re not going to make you scroll for miles to find it. Or wade through a huge sales pitch to get it. We know you’re busy. So you can CLICK HERE to download the template.

BUT, before you dive into using the marketing calendar template, the following three points will help you tons. No big sales pitch. Just helpful information:

What is a marketing calendar?

A marketing calendar is a planning tool that helps you map out your marketing activities for the entire year. Think of it as your personal yearly planner, but for business purposes.

It will include important dates like key sales events, promotions, or holidays. It includes a monthly overview so you can plan out activities on social, email, website, ads, and more. It has a detailed view where you can list out exact campaigns, projects, blog posts, emails, and more.

There are multiple options when it comes to marketing calendars. You can print a PDF version to start writing out all your activities. You can use a free digital version like this one from Relly. There are also apps like CoSchedule which cost money but are worth the investment.

No matter which option you choose, the point is you need to start organizing your activities on a marketing calendar.

Why is a marketing calendar important?

A marketing calendar is important because it serves as your mission control and helps you organize and visualize the execution of your marketing strategy.

“The most organized teams are also the ones reporting results.” – CoSchedule

But you’re here for the important stuff, like how it will help your business grow.

First off, imagine sitting down and mapping out your entire year in 1-2 hours. It’s true, it can be done. You might be saying, “well I don’t have two hours to sit down and map out my entire year.” But what if we told you it will save you time and headaches down the road? Giving you back more time to spend on other important to-dos on your list?

How?

By spending time mapping out your marketing calendar in advance, you will never have to worry about what to post about, email about, or write about because you took the time upfront and mapped out your entire year.

But Relly, how does that help my business grow?

Instead of just throwing content out in the world for the sake of throwing content out, your marketing calendar turns your content into a strategic approach. Whether it’s a social post, a blog article, an email, or an ad. It is designed to support your business goals, like lead generation, sales, and lead nurturing.

As a result, each piece of content can connect with your audience on a deeper level. Serving their problems and pain points.

All because you spent the time to know your audience and what kind of content to put out in the world.

What to include in a marketing calendar.

We make what to include pretty simple with our free digital marketing calendar. But whether you download our free version, want to make your own, or plan to use an app like CoSchedule, here is a list of things to know and include:

• Your Ideal Audience: A place to document your ideal audience to help you and your team understand who your content should be speaking to.
• Your Business Goals: So you can list out why you are creating content in the first place.
• Primary Messages/Themes: List out the overarching messages your topic ideas will cover.
• Topic Ideas: Get specific with the type of content you will produce. Ex: Q&A, testimonials, case studies, etc.
• Ad Campaigns: Map out your campaigns, your ad spend, the goals, and which platform they will be advertised on.
• Social Posts: You will need to map out the content you will create for Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, etc. each month.
• Email Newsletters: List out the email campaigns, purpose, and intended audience (or segment) you will be sending the email to.
• Blog Posts: The articles you will write, like this one, that serves your ideal audience questions and pain points and the keywords you will be optimizing for.
• Color Coding: To help you visualize your different content types.

Want a behind-the-scenes look at the marketing calendar we created for small businesses that our team of industry experts designed to help you grow your business? Watch this quick walkthrough with Relly Founder, Maria Grimm.