Improve marketing productivity: implement a multi-channel marketing calendar

As marketers we are doing more and more. We have more channels than ever before, we have more segments to be close and personal with, and we need to respond to market conditions faster than ever.

Marketing is also working with the sales team, the customer service and subscriptions team, the web team and so on. If marketing doesn't communicate what is going on there are all sorts of things that can go wrong, from sending out a communication to the same vertical segment through to not informing the subscriptions team of that new promotional offer. And what if things change? You know, that new campaign to address your competitor's recent great offer or product launch. All of a sudden we have to fit that in instead. Does everyone know the current up to date plan?

The key to avoiding some of these pitfalls is a holistic marketing calendar that clearly shows people what is going on. What campaigns are in market and those that are planned for next month? What are team members working on, and is there a slot that could be used to squeeze in that urgent campaign? An integrated online calendar makes up for those emails being ignored or someone being left off the copy list.

A survey of more than 200 senior marketers revealed that:

• 51% said their biggest challenge is managing multiple projects
• 28% did not know what their colleagues were doing
• 36% suffer from a lack of co-ordination

The answer to this problem is an integrated marketing calendar. Not just a calendar, but comprehensive views of all campaigns in market as a Gantt chart or an interactive wall planner, views of teams, their workloads and tasks. The ability to collaborate together from a central calendar, avoiding the need for emails and inbox chasing. All of this with integrated marketing workflow driving actions and next steps, reminding you that you have something to do, all in one place. A view across everything, and we mean everything, from POS, emails, social media, above the line advertising and a new product launch. A calendar that unifies the past, present and future and supports the end to end marketing process from ideas, planning, execution, production and measurement.

If you have problems in co-ordinating and sharing the bigger marketing picture, or want to make a step change in your marketing productivity, this is where we would start.