You may have heard about it by different names, but it’s basically the same thing: Retail Promotions Calendar, Marketing Calendar, that matrix of squares on the bosses’ desk he dotes over like a mystic oracle… that thing.

What is it?

Basically, it’s not what it is that’s as important as why you need one (meaning you need one because there’s important stuff you ought to be doing!).

As you might have guessed, it has something to do with marketing you do throughout a year. However, we’re not talking about the plain, vanilla sale most retailers have a couple times a year (after Christmas or some other shopping spike) to sell-off leftover stuff – we’re talking about carefully calculated and planned marketing that can be predicted a year (or more) out.

This isn’t just about physical retail either – it applies to online merchants who may or may not even have inventory (applies to print-on-demand equally as much).

A sale is a sale. You don’t have to always have a reason but boring stores have boring sales and boring sales happen in boring stores. Boring results usually follow. It’s fine to put products on sale because it’s Spring, or in honor of your business’ five-year mark – that’s fine – go for it.

However, a promotional calendar is more than a list of upcoming sales – it’s a coordinated, planned series of steps that happen weeks or months prior to a date landing. You could be prepping for a calendar date for Summer while it’s snowing outside during Winter. It’s about planning and preparation – and all that goes into it.

Think about one item on a Calendar we can all relate to: The 4th Quarter Christmas shopping season (or, as my politically incorrect peers call it “Holiday Festivus Purchasing Period”). No matter what you call it – there is a holiday or two that bring out, what is likely to be, your largest spike in sales during that time that will rival any other time of year – and it’s worth getting ready for.

The “sale” approach (which we’re not talking about) would be to simply put a sign up on your window or website saying “Holiday Sale! Everything Reduced” and then lower your prices. That’s a sale.

What we’re talking about is something to think about months ahead of time and could include any or all of the following (or more!):

* Holiday graphic makeover for online store designed and uploaded on set date.
* Holiday or seasonal graphic banners need to be created.
* Price reductions calculated and planned for adjustment on a set date.
* Online (or physical) advertising purchased, bid on, again – all set to take place on a certain date.
* Online advertising keywords/ad words determined well in advance – don’t just throw the word “gift” into a search engine and call it marketing.
* Events related to the holiday – interviews, kiosks, seminars, parties, shows, exhibits, press releases, community-driven opportunities, etc. All these things have to be planned to hit in time to not only gain momentum and target the shopping audience but also so that they don’t conflict with one-another or better yet… build upon the momentum of the last event.
* Co-venture arrangements (deals you strike with another company or individual that are mutually beneficial)… gotta’ plan these things to work on schedule, too.

It does no good to wait until November to hire a graphic artist to redo your online storefront for that holiday-theme when the artist is probably booked solid until next year.

It does no good to bid on Google ad words too late to take advantage of a solid run for seasonal/holiday search terms.

It will also do no good to miss community sales, causes, or other events that might afford you the opportunity to sell a little (or at least drum up some publicity) if you didn’t get an entry form turned-in on time or don’t have enough inventory/stock to bring with you to sell because you did it at the last minute.

It’s all about the planning.

I have this giant dry-erase board in my office. I brainstorm calendar events 3-6 months out ahead of time (although I have major, yearly points worked out too – but those are always “must do” items… such as Christmas). I’ll look at my standard, retail calendar (I’ll post that below) and plot backward all the steps any given idea for a promotion would require and then draft a plan of real, individual steps to take toward getting there. I’ll scribble in dates, in reverse, for ad placement and how much time a newspaper or magazine needs and any deadlines involved. I’ll plot backward any timeline I need to create graphics or art for an ad or promotion. I’ll block out vacation time or family events and then backtrack accordingly the time I need to allot myself a realistic chance of getting things done for that date.

It’s not unusual for me, like I mentioned, to have snow on the ground outside but I’ll be planning a Spring or Summer sale complete with website redesign, promotional graphic banners, art, product designs, product assortment, you name it… all ready for warm, US weather before the flowers even begin to bloom.

When you’re in a global market you also need to factor in that cold and hot seasons are different around the globe. Do you want to promote year-round or not? Do you want to reflect local seasons but still leave global shopping available (eg. Keeping tank tops and swimsuits available even in December for our Australian shoppers?).

Either way, ads take time to create, purchase, place, and deadlines exist. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with you have multiple things going on such as a Spring sale promotion combined with a local Spring exhibition at the local event arena where you want to have a sales booth, and then a month later a Summertime fair kiosk where you’ll need local, Summer products to sell which need to be ordered and stocked well ahead of time. A marketing calendar is invaluable because it will have a few dates on it for the holiday/event… but it’ll have far more dates on it that reflect the planning and sequence of events you need to do to get there.

A good calendar can help you focus, plan, set goals, keep on task, stay on target and help avoid dropping the ball when you are juggling several at once.

Now that I’ve bean the concept into your head five ways from Sunday, here’s a good, starter list to help you forecast notable, retail points in a year:

January

* Super Bowl
* New Years Eve
* New Year (and any resolution excuse for a promo!)
* Martin Luther King
* Back to School
* Bank Holiday (UK)

February

* Ground Hog Day
* Mardi Gras
* President’s Day
* Valentine’s Day
* Daytona 500
* February Sweeps for Television
* Black History Month

March

* St. Patrick’s Day
* Passover
* Easter
* First Day of Spring
* March Madness
* Academy Awards

April

* Baseball Opening Day
* Good Friday
* April Fool’s Day
* Taxes (spend those returns!)
* Earth Day
* PGA Master’s Golf
* Prom

May

* Cinco de Mayo
* Mother’s Day
* Victoria Day (Canada)
* Memorial Day
* Spring Bank Holiday (UK)
* Kentucky Derby
* Season Finales for Television
* Teacher Appreciation Week

June

* Father’s Day
* Flag Day
* School Graduations / Summer Vacation
* First Day of Summer
* U.S. Golf Open
* Wimbledon

July

* Canada Day
* Independence Day
* Summer Fun

August

* Back to School
* Tax-Free Sales Events
* End of Summer

September

* Labor Day
* NFL Opens
* First Day of Fall

October

* Columbus Day
* World Series
* Thanksgiving Day (Canada)
* Red Ribbon Week
* National Boss Day
* National Book Month
* Halloween
* National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (US)

November

* Election Day
* Veteran’s Day
* Thanksgiving Day
* Black Friday (Busiest Shopping Day)
* November Sweeps for Television
* Winter Sports

December

* First Day of Winter
* Christmas
* Boxing Day
* New Year’s Eve

Lastly, never forget that your own business or community will likely have many, many great opportunities to mark a promotion on the calendar… grand opening, anniversary of opening, local parade or festival, musical group/band touring dates, weather-related, and so on. Sometimes, creating your own date of celebration can not only be fun and a great excuse for a promotion – it could take on a life of its own and become a yearly ritual and even recognized as something special online or offline.

No matter what though, you have to plan ahead to get all the pieces to fall into place when they need to be.