Are you struggling to keep your email marketing campaigns on track and schedule? Do you often create email marketing content and design at the last minute, or do you need to keep track of what emails you need to send and when? If so, it’s time to organize an email marketing calendar.
In digital marketing, you must understand what an email marketing calendar means to differentiate yourself from your competitors. This is because a well-planned calendar can help businesses streamline their email marketing efforts, ensuring that their messages are sent at the right time to the right audience and ultimately leading to higher engagement, conversions, and return on investment.
Let us explore the benefits of using an email marketing calendar and offer you practical tips and strategies for organizing your campaigns like a pro. So, let’s learn how to organize your email marketing calendar successfully!
What Is an Email Marketing Calendar?
An email marketing calendar is a schedule that outlines the timing, content, and marketing goals of your email marketing campaign. It can also be defined as a tool to keep things organized, from email marketing campaigns you have to work on to who is responsible for creating and monitoring them.
Having an organized email marketing calendar can help you stay on track, ensure that your emails are consistent, and improve the effectiveness of your campaign. The calendars should be constantly updated to let your email marketing team know precisely what they need to do.
Why You Need an Email Marketing Calendar?
Below are more reasons why you need an email marketing calendar:
1. Stay Organized and on Schedule
An email marketing calendar can help you stay organized and on schedule by providing a clear overview of your upcoming email campaigns. After all, keeping track of what emails you need to send and when can be difficult without a calendar.
Moreover, it lets you plan your campaigns, set content creation and design timelines, and ensure everything is ready on time. This can help you avoid missing important deadlines and ensure you send emails at the most effective times.
2. Align Your Email Campaigns with Your Overall Marketing Strategy
An email marketing calendar helps you to align your email campaigns with your overall email marketing strategy. By planning your email campaigns, you can ensure they match your business goals and complement your other marketing efforts.
For example, if you have a new product launch coming up, you can always plan ahead with an email campaign to promote it. Additionally, you can align it with your social media and advertising campaigns.
3. Consistency in Messaging and Branding
An email marketing calendar can help you maintain consistent messaging and branding across all your email campaigns. Planning your campaigns ensures your messaging and branding align with your overall marketing strategy. This can help to build brand recognition and promote a robust brand identity that resonates with your target audience.
4. Better Targeting and Segmentation
An email marketing calendar can help you target and segment your email campaigns better. By planning your campaigns, you can identify specific segments of your audience that you want to target and tailor your messaging and content to their needs and interests.
For instance, you may want to create a campaign specifically for subscribers who have abandoned their shopping carts or a campaign targeted at customers who have made repeat purchases.
5. Improved ROI and Performance
Using an email marketing calendar can help you improve the ROI and performance of your email campaigns. The email calendar works by helping businesses plan, organize and execute their email marketing campaigns strategically and on time. It ensures consistency, timing, segmentation, testing, and collaboration in email campaigns, leading to higher engagement, conversions, and customer satisfaction.
By planning your campaigns and aligning them with your overall marketing strategy, you can ensure you send the most effective messages at reasonable times.
This can help increase your open, click-through, and conversion rates, leading to better ROI and performance.
6. Easier to Measure and Optimize
An email marketing calendar can make measuring and optimizing your email campaigns easier. By planning your campaigns and tracking their performance, you can identify areas for improvement and adjust your future campaigns accordingly.
For instance, if you notice that certain types of subject lines perform better than others, you can adjust your future campaigns to incorporate more of those types of subject lines.
What are Different Types of Emails to Include in Your Email Marketing Calendar?
There are different types of email sends that you can include in an email marketing calendar, and some of them include:
a). Newsletters
Newsletters are an excellent way to keep your contacts updated on important industry information or new products and services. They can also be used to circulate company news or generate excitement for your next event.
According to email marketing statistics, customers want to hear from you more than in a weekly newsletter or once a month. Therefore, aim for 2-4 newsletters every month.
b). Promotions
Did you know that 76% of shoppers planned to make purchases on Black Friday in 2022? Popular retail campaigns should always be included on your email marketing calendar.
Planning will assist you in executing effective campaigns while also allowing you to analyze the approach and make any necessary improvements. Test email length, colors, featured products, and subject lines to maximize performance.
c). Events
Do you host online or in-person events, webinars, or podcasts regularly? Depending on the scale of the event, give your contacts 1-12 weeks’ notice about these events. This planning will help to increase attendance and engagement.
Include registration information in the emails, such as ticket prices, venue, registration link, speakers, etc. Also, for credibility, include testimonials from past attendees.
d). Themes
Here, you can send tailored messages that are relevant and entertaining to your readers. Plan your yearly themes to include forthcoming holidays, seasons, and significant pain points your readers deal with.
For instance, if the business is in the wellness industry, you can start a health-focused email series in November about how to keep healthy during the cold and flu season.
e). Launches
Having an email list ready for a launch can help set the tone for demand and excitement about your new service or product launches. Use email to announce the launch, but also plan 3-5 updates on the development process and allow early adopters to be recognized for their involvement.
f). Seasons
Use the many seasons and events throughout the year to engage your readers. For example, if you own a clothing company, you could email your contacts a Happy Winter Season while promoting your coziest socks and winter mittens.
g). Holidays
Holidays are an excellent opportunity to send themed emails to engage your subscribers, so adding them to your email marketing calendar is essential. However, depending on your audience, you should consider adding emails about Christmas, Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, Kwanzaa, or Memorial Day.
h). Automated Email Marketing
Lastly, automated email marketing campaigns can be a great weapon to boost your email marketing efforts. This is because automated welcome emails contribute to the highest percentage of sales, allowing you to collect subscribers, reach out and convert or engage them at the right time. Notably, since creating automated email marketing can be daunting, it’s necessary to check your email marketing calendar to figure out the best timing and segmentation.
How to Organize an Email Marketing Calendar for Your Campaigns?
Organizing an email marketing calendar can be daunting, especially if you’re new to email marketing. However, the right approach can be a simple and effective way to plan and execute your campaigns. Here are some ways you can follow to organize an email marketing calendar for your successful campaigns:
1. Have a Plan
The first step in organizing your email calendar is to start with a plan. Planning ahead will involve defining your campaign goals, objectives, target audience, messaging, and content marketing strategy.
Your plan should also consider the types of emails you want to send, the frequency of your email campaigns, and the overall messaging you want to communicate to your subscribers. This will help you create a clear campaign roadmap and ensure your email marketing efforts align with your overall marketing strategy.
2. Choose a Format
Once you have a plan, you need to choose a format for your email marketing calendar that works best for you and your marketing team. Some common formats include spreadsheets, calendar tools, or email marketing platforms. The format you choose for your email marketing template will depend on your preference and available resources.
If you choose a spreadsheet or calendar tool, include the key elements such as campaign names and themes, dates and send times, content and messaging, calls to action, target audience and segmentation, and metrics and analysis.
If you’re using an email marketing platform like Mailchimp or Constant Contact, you can create an email marketing calendar directly within the platform. This allows you to easily schedule and send emails, track metrics, and analyze results in one place.
3. Set Deadlines and Send Times
Once you have your format, set deadlines and send times for each email campaign on your calendar. This will help you stay on schedule and ensure that your emails are sent at the most effective times for your subscribers. Consider the time of day, day of the week, and time zone of your subscribers when using email marketing calendars and choosing send times.
4. Segment Your Email List
You can do this based on subscriber interests, behavior, demographics, or other relevant factors. This will allow you to create targeted messages and content for each segment and improve the effectiveness of your campaigns.
For example, you can segment your list based on purchase history, email engagement, or geographic location. By applying this tip, you can send more targeted and relevant messages to each group of subscribers, leading to higher engagement and conversions.
5. Track Metrics and Analyze Results
Include metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates for each email campaign on your calendar. This will allow you to analyze the results of your campaigns and make data-driven decisions to improve your future campaigns.
Consider the metrics most important to your marketing goals and objectives and track them consistently. You can use these metrics to identify what’s working and what’s not in your campaigns and make adjustments to improve your results.
6. Review and Adjust
Finally, reviewing your email calendar and regularly adjusting as needed is important. This will help you stay on track and ensure your campaigns meet your goals and objectives.
Look for opportunities to optimize your campaigns, such as testing different subject lines, calls to action, or sending times. By continually reviewing and adjusting your email calendar, you can ensure that your successful email marketing campaigns always improve and deliver the best possible results.
How to Build an Email Marketing Calendar Template
Building an email calendar template can help you streamline your process and ensure everyone involved in the campaign is on the same page. If you are not using an email marketing calendar template, you will need to build one.
The simplest way to build an email marketing calendar is through Google Sheets, a free and user-friendly tool. Then you can share it with the rest of your marketing team.
Here is a step-by-step guide to help you build your own email marketing calendar template:
Step 1: Choose a Platform
The first step in building an email marketing calendar template is to choose a platform. Google Sheets is a popular option as it is free, user-friendly, and allows you to share the calendar view with your team.
Step 2: Create a New Sheet
Once you have chosen your platform, create a new sheet and label the columns with the following headers: Campaign Name, Campaign Goal, Responsible Team Members, Email Marketing Campaign Status, Email Type, Email Topic/Theme, Target Audience, Target Email List/Segment, Email Subject Line (Draft), Tests to Perform, Link to Content Briefing, Send Date, and Send Time.
Step 3: Fill in the Details
After creating the columns, fill in the details of each section. Start with the campaign name and goal, and then add the names of the team members responsible for each task.
Include the email marketing campaign status and important dates from start to completion, such as deadlines and send dates. The email type column should specify whether the email is promotional or a newsletter, and the email topic or theme column should briefly describe the email’s content.
In the target audience column, identify who the email is meant for, and in the target email list or segment column, specify the specific email list or segment to the email that will be sent.
Add a draft of the email subject line to ensure it aligns with the campaign’s messaging and goals. The tests to perform column allows you to plan and execute A/B testing to optimize your email campaign’s performance.
Include a link to the content briefing to ensure everyone involved in the email marketing campaign understands the messaging and content. In the send date and send time columns, specify the exact date and time the email will be sent.
Step 4: Customize the Template
Customize the template to fit your specific needs. You can add or remove columns and adjust the layout to fit your team member’s preferences.
Step 5: Share the Calendar with Your Team
Once the template is complete, share it with your team. This will allow everyone involved in the content calendar and email marketing campaign to access and contribute to the calendar, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
Using these simple steps, you can create an effective email marketing calendar template to help you plan and execute successful email campaigns.
Email Marketing Calendar Optimization Tips
Optimizing your email calendar can help you get the most out of your campaigns and improve your overall marketing strategy. Here are some tips:
1. Use Consistent Email Marketing Calendar Templates
Using consistent email marketing campaign calendar templates for your emails can help your subscribers recognize your brand and increase their trust in your emails. Use a template that reflects your brand’s style and tone and includes your logo and contact information.
Consistency in design and formatting can also improve readability and make your emails more visually appealing.
2. Keep Your Email List Clean
A clean email list means removing inactive subscribers, bounced emails, and spam complaints. This can help improve the deliverability of your emails and ensure that your messages reach your intended audience. Regularly clean your email list to keep it up-to-date and relevant.
3. Optimize for Mobile Devices
More than half of all emails are now opened on mobile devices, so optimizing your emails for mobile is essential. Make sure that your emails are mobile-friendly and easily readable on smaller screens. Use responsive design to ensure that your emails adjust to different screen sizes and keep your content concise and to the point.
4. Use Engaging Email Subject Lines
Your subject line is the first thing your subscribers will see in their inboxes, so making it engaging and compelling is crucial. Use clear and concise language, and create a sense of urgency or excitement to entice your subscribers to open your email. Test different subject lines to see which ones perform best.
5. Include a Clear Call to Action
Your call to action is the action you want your subscribers to take after opening your email. Make sure that your call to action is clear and specific and that it is easily accessible. Use language that creates a sense of urgency or value to encourage your subscribers to take action.
6. Use Automation
Automation can help you save time and improve the effectiveness of your email campaigns. Use automation to send welcome emails, abandoned cart reminders, promotional emails, or other triggered messages. Automated emails have higher open and click-through rates because they are sent at the right time and with relevant content.
7. Use Social Media to Promote Your Emails
Use social media platforms to promote your emails and increase your campaign reach. Share your email content on social media and encourage your followers to subscribe to your email list. You can also include social sharing buttons in your emails to encourage subscribers to share your content with their followers.
Conclusion on How to Organize Your Email Marketing Calendar
A well-organized email marketing calendar is essential for any business looking to run successful email campaigns that drive results. Following the tips and strategies outlined in this article, you can create a structured and effective email marketing calendar that helps you stay on top of your campaigns, save time, and maximize your ROI.
With a well-organized email marketing calendar, you can build stronger relationships with your subscribers, increase brand awareness, and ultimately grow your business. This is essential for success in today’s competitive digital landscape, from setting goals and creating a content plan to optimizing your emails and monitoring your metrics. Good luck with your email marketing campaigns!