Want to Streamline Your Marketing Efforts? Try a Calendar.

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Hi friends!

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There are so many marketing tasks that organizations are told they should do.

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Social media, emails, blogs and articles, flyers, newsletters…

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It can feel impossible to keep up with — especially with everything else your nonprofit is responsible for juggling every single day.

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Luckily, there’s a simple strategy I always recommend to help you get all of your marketing efforts in order:

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A marketing calendar.

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What’s a marketing calendar?

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A marketing calendar is exactly what it sounds like — a strategic calendar that hosts all of your marketing efforts, no matter how big or small.

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It helps your nonprofit stay on top of every single one of your marketing efforts, acting as a checkpoint to ensure every event and initiative gets the spotlight it deserves.

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With a marketing calendar, you can visually see all your marketing efforts in one spot, instead of navigating between 15 separate calendars for social media, event marketing, newsletters, and every other campaign you’re working on.

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A marketing calendar also helps you plan ahead of time, visualizing all of your videos, photos, newsletters, and event registrations over the next few months (and making it easier to spot any gaps that need to be filled).

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What can I add to my marketing calendar?

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✔ All of your individual content calendars

Compile all of your existing marketing calendars, from your social media calendar and email marketing schedule to your event marketing plan, email newsletter schedule, and everything in between. Make sure it’s in one spot so it’s easier to manage.

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✔ Follow-up tasks after events and programs

Instead of writing “send thank you emails” on a sticky note that gets lost at your desk, add it right to your marketing calendar. It’s easier to remember that way, plus everyone with access to the marketing calendar can see the task and pick it up if you can’t.

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✔ Regular updates and maintenance tasks

Updating your website and social media pages is a key part of your nonprofit’s marketing, so why not give them the time they deserve? Add regular updates and maintenance tasks straight to your marketing calendar so they never get missed or forgotten.

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✔ Lists, keywords, strategies, and goals

While these things don’t necessarily need to live on the calendar itself, it’s helpful to have these parameters close by. Consider adding an extra tab on your calendar doc or linking an external strategy doc so you can access everything you need with a single click.

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Consider your marketing calendar a work in progress

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If you’re like me, you’re super organized and love to plan ahead…

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But marketing isn’t always that easy.

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Events change last minute, campaign ideas pop up, and it can be tricky to keep track of everything going on.

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So, consider your marketing calendar a “living document.”

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It’s going to be a work in progress, and it’ll change all the time — but that’s where regular reviews come into play.

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Make time in your own calendar to check up on (and update!) your nonprofit’s marketing calendar.

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Has your most recent promotional campaign been added? Is there too much time between this month’s social media posts or emails? Do new follow-up emails need to be added and sent out?

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The more updated you keep your marketing calendar, the more useful it’s going to be for you, your team, and your volunteers — and that’s exactly what it’s made for!

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Ready to get ahead on your nonprofit’s marketing calendar?

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Reply to this email and let’s chat about getting your 2026 marketing calendar started.

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All the best,
Catrina

Catrina Ossmann, Clever Ideas Marketing®, works with nonprofits and community organizations to increase awareness and reach with consistent and effective marketing.

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© 2025 Catrina Ossmann - Clever Ideas Marketing®