Mapping out campaign timelines and promotional dates is essential.

A marketing calendar is exactly what it sounds like; a plan that covers your marketing activities for the duration of the campaign. Having a plan in place that outlines your marketing activities in the lead up to the campaign assures that a steady stream of promotion enters the marketplace, keeping you in the minds of your current customers while bringing in new ones.

There are "3 major keys to a successful Marketing Calendar"; Create unique posts, post them consistently and identify your key Platforms.

1. Consistency
2. Unique posts
3. Key Platforms
4. Double-down on what's working:  

• Who is your audience? 
• Do you want them to engage, promote, or redeem prizes?
• How frequently will you promote your campaign? 
• What types of media will you use?
• Which Social Media platforms are best suited?
• What resources do you have on hand that can enhance your campaign? Do you have prizes you can give out?
• Are there people in your company that could be great promoters? 

Mapping content on a calendar-
Your content calendar should contain:

• The name of the project
• Project live date
• Posting dates and times
• Social platforms colour coded
• Accountability listed (who is in charge of what?)
  
  Basic Campaign Cycle:

You campaign cycle should consist of 3 steps:
Plan > Launch, and Promote

• Plan: If you haven’t gathered by now, good Marketing is 80% research and planning. Like Benjamin Franklin says, “If you Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail” Proverbs 29:18 also says, “without vision, people perish”
• Launch: Once your Timeline is established, the campaign is ready to go live
• Promote: With the campaign running, the designated content is ready to be promoted across all allocated streams (and remember to double-down on what's working best) 

Once you’re on the other side of your campaign and the Marketing Calendar is complete, make sure to review your results, and whether or not you are successful is good information to be kept and recorded in order to revert back with future campaigns. This will help you map out with ease in the future on what works and what needs to be changed.

You’ve now completed the 5 stage instructional videos outlining Gamification Marketing, click on some of our other resource content to learn more.

Was this helpful? Did you like it? How can I improve? Let me know! :) - Jonny Shannon