Marketing Master Calendar Development Best Practices
February 12, 2016 Leave a comment
How to Supercharge your Marketing Operational Effectiveness
Integrated Marketing Planning Calendar
Having developed numerous marketing master calendars for Fortune clients world-wide, here are top 10 lessons learned & best practices for developing a marketing planning master calendar:
1) All involved marketing & supporting departments must have input into the development of, and be fully represented on the master marketing calendar.
2) All the departments represented on the calendar in must understand their responsibilities, deliverables, due dates, inter-dependencies with other departments as well as the metrics that they are being held accountable for in each step in the process.
3) Process Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) shall be in place for each process handoff such that the overall calendar timeline retains tactical delivery integrity.
4) The calendar must be chronologically intuitive (flow left to right for each sequential major marketing event).
5) Process details must be developed for each major milestone represented on the marketing calendar.
6) A process step owner must be identified for each process step with clear articulation of their responsibilities.
7) Calendar post-event reviews must capture marketing event & campaign lessons learned, planned vs. actual metrics, customer feedback, etc.
8) An actively managed marketing best practices knowledge base must be maintained to capture & propagate captured calendar relevant & other best practices & lessons learned to all stakeholders.
9) Marketing executive sponsors & steering committee members must play a role in the development & execution of the master marketing calendar.
10) Periodic calendar process reviews must be conducted to ensure the calendar & critical processes on the calendar are as efficient & effective as possible.
The following are Master marketing calendar and planning best practices examples that I developed for several Fortune 500 clients as represented by this one (of several examples):
Integrated Marketing Planning Calendar
A Best Practice Master Marketing Calendar Represents All Major Events, The Critical Timeline and Major Calendar Development Participants and Stakeholders
Assessment of Current Marketing Capabilities
A Very Honest Assessment of the Current State Marketing Capability along with Gaps and Development Needs is Critical for Future Process Improvements
Integrated Marketing Planning Solution
A Future-State Solution Vision Must Be Established in Order to Achieve Future State Capabilities
Marketing Business Outcomes Meeting Summary
For Each Meeting on The Marketing Master Calendar, Critical Outcomes must be determined for each Calendar Development Meeting Along with Identification of the Meeting Key Owner
Every Stakeholder and Responsible Leader Must Be Represented on Marketing Master Calendar Development Meeting Master List
Marketing Planning Event Cadence Map
Clearly Defined Responsibilities and Outputs Must Be Defined for Each Marketing Calendar Channel
Marketing Roles & Accountability
Clearly Defined Accountability Must Be Defined for Marketing Calendar Development
Marketing Roles & Accountability for Each Functional Area
Clearly Defined Accountability Must Be Defined for Marketing Calendar Development
Clearly Defined Accountability Must Be Defined for Each Functional Area
Clearly Defined Accountability Must Be Defined for Each Functional Area (left Blue Boxes) in the Marketing Calendar Development Process
Marketing Critical Success Factors
Critical Success Factors Must Be Identified in the Master Marketing Calendar Development Process
Marketing Meeting Summary & Next Steps
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