Building A Marketing Campaign Timeline

Originally published June 22, 2022. Updated August 6, 2024

Experienced marketers know that planning, creating, and executing marketing and advertising campaigns independently is not enough. Creativity is equally important; teams need systems, processes, and tools to execute ideas. 

Great teams can muster effective messaging, impeccable project management, and ruthless resource management.

Focus and synergy in messaging are vital in integrated marketing communication plans. Each touchpoint should be strategically positioned to support your strategy. 

Good project management is essential for meeting your intended timelines. Deliverables must be finished on time, and relationships with your stakeholders must be maintained. 

Finally, resources power everything. Whether they’re financial resources, informational resources, manpower resources, etc, they need to be available when they’re needed so that your teams can continue their work without interruption.

You’ll want to use a marketing timeline to stay on top of all these.

WHAT IS A MARKETING TIMELINE?

A marketing timeline is a tool that allows you to list your marketing activities and the points in time at which you plan to conceptualize, produce, and release them.

Marketing campaigns usually comprise several initiatives: social media campaigns, content marketing plans, website updates, events, etc. Your creative project timeline will consolidate your efforts and indicate when they’ll be worked on.

You can opt to create separate marketing timelines for each channel. So, for one campaign, you may opt to have a digital marketing timeline, event timeline, and content timeline available if these are your key channels. However, it’s advisable to also make a timeline where they’re all visible. This will allow you to inspect how each channel can work together.

Laying your plans down on a marketing campaign timeline helps you, your team, and your clients track what needs to be done and when.

HISTORY OF MARKETING TIMELINE

Marketing boomed during the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. With several innovations and the rise of mass production, consumers started to purchase more products and businesses have started to compete to gain more profit.

The craft evolved gradually as new strategies, approaches, and channels were introduced, from newspapers to television and now through social media, PR, events, and more.

Project management, on the other hand, has existed for as long as humans have undertaken collaborative group endeavors, such as the Great Pyramid of Giza in 2570 BC. 

While there are no clear records of when marketing professionals started incorporating project management tools and methods in executing campaigns, it’s safe to assume that this was during the mid-1980s, when project management tools were made more accessible.

MARKETING TIMELINE FORMATS

Quarterly vs Annual

The most common marketing plan formats are quarterly and annual. These time frames allow you to plan and strategize around realistic goals. Actionable plans are good for morale and decision-making. 

At the same time, quarterly and annual are long enough periods to observe and maximize trends.

Instead of picking one or the other, you may opt to use both: start with annual goals and break them down into quarterly goals for shorter-term goals that support your long-term objectives.

Gantt Chart

The format we’d most recommend for your marketing timeline is a Gantt chart. A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar graph where you can outline your initiatives and plot when activities start and end.

A Gantt chart gives you an idea of what your team is doing at any given moment. This allows you to synchronize your efforts and spot possible issues you can preempt.

Your chart can be as simple or sophisticated as you want it to be. You can also opt to do it manually using free tools such as Google Sheets. However, if you want the utmost flexibility, it’s recommended that you use project management software such as Workamajig.

Calendar

Using a calendar format can feel no different than writing down your to-dos on your calendar or planner. This can be easier to follow during day-to-day operations. However, it can make it difficult to gauge resources and assignments.

Here’s a marketing timeline example (specifically for social posts) in the calendar form:

While you can use this independently, using it alongside your Gantt chart is also an option. For example, instead of sharing your whole Gantt chart with your stakeholder who wants to see your social media postings for the month, you can plot them on a calendar for easier visualization.

Table

Your marketing timeline on a table is a straightforward list of campaigns or projects and their corresponding dates and durations.

Here’s a marketing timeline example in a table form:

A marketing timeline table is more compact than a calendar and a Gantt chart. It’s a good tool to give stakeholders a bird's eye view of your team’s initiatives. You also have an option to add columns for persons in charge, due dates, dependencies, etc.

The information here is easy to absorb. However, the amount of data it can communicate is also limited. It’ll take an extra mental step to see any overlapping efforts.

HOW TO MAKE A MARKETING TIMELINE

Iron Out Your Marketing Plan

You must first have your plan down pat before you can start laying out a marketing timeline.

Start by doing a situational analysis. From there, build your strategy. Is there a specific type of messaging that you want to go for? A new market segment you want to target? A new demand you want to create? Once you’ve determined your strategy, you can start laying down your plans. 

Consider trends that may be relevant to your target audience. Pick the channels that will make the most impact, especially if you have a limited budget. For example, if you’re targeting Gen Z, your plan might include establishing your brand’s presence on TikTok. For a B2B audience, maybe work on more blog posts.

With your campaign plans in place, that’s when you can start plotting them on your marketing campaign timeline.

Pick Your Preferred Method Or Format

The previous section already discussed the formats you can choose from. Choose between quarterly, annual, or both! 

It’s advisable to use a Gantt chart. But when sending reports to specific stakeholders, consider their calendars and tables, as applicable.

You can create your marketing timeline in many ways. The most straightforward method is to start from scratch, which allows you to customize every part of it. 

However, if you’re pressed for time, you can consider using a marketing timeline template or project management software for agencies like Workamajig.

At the end of the day, the “right” format will be determined by what you need and what your team and stakeholders will respond to the most.

Plot And Adjust

As you plot your plans on your marketing campaign timeline, you’ll realize that you’ll have to make adjustments along the way.

When brainstorming, it’s common to have ideas that are bursting with energy. But as you start putting them down on your marketing timeline, you start to be confronted with the reality of constraints—especially time.

When this happens, don’t panic. It’s normal. It’s better to confront them now rather than after you’ve already committed all the initiatives to your client.

Another reason you’d want to adjust your plans is to synergize your channels. For example, if you’re taking an integrated marketing approach, you may find that launching your new product teaser the same week as your key influencer’s birthday allows you to work on a birthday giveaway contest initiative. This can justify rescheduling your product teaser release to a different date.

Maximizing timings and releases is another way to increase the effectiveness of your communications. Welcome these changes and use them to your advantage.

Keep Your Marketing Campaign Timeline Alive

Getting new information during execution is normal for project and campaign management.

Internal information can be related to your team’s capacity and availability of resources. External information can be the market’s response and trending topics that can add (or remove) marketing opportunities for your team.

For example, you can capitalize on the sudden blowup of an influencer who is a proud user of your product. At the same time, it may be wise to consider putting promotional posts on hold in the case of a grave national tragedy to avoid looking tone-deaf and apathetic.

It’s good practice to be receptive to new information. In fact, it’s advisable to evaluate efforts after each run to see what parts work, don’t work, and what you can improve. Constantly learn about your audience. What makes them tick? What excites them?

As you learn new things, embrace agility and ensure your marketing timeline is also flexible. Project management software such as Workamajig can help you stay ready to respond to new changes and challenges.

How can Workamajig help you with your marketing campaign timelines?

Plotting your digital marketing plan on a timeline helps you keep track of your team’s efforts, plan for resources, and ensure an effective integrated marketing plan.

While creativity is a major factor in marketing campaign development, systematic planning, project management, resource management, and execution are also crucial. For this, you need robust project management software that can provide all those things.

Workamajig is a PM software designed just for creative teams. We offer:

• Project management software
• Resourcing software
• Finance & Accounting software
• Task and time management software
• Plus, any other function you’ve dreamed of having!

Find out how we make agency life way easier here.