SOR 55: How Detailed Should Your Marketing Calendar Be

A marketing calendar could be a loose outline written on a napkin or a detailed planner that outlines what you should be doing each hour - what's the right level of detail?

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I talk a lot at Sold Out Run about the importance of having a marketing calendar for your theatre productions. (At least if you care about people seeing them.) But what goes on it? You can download the template I use and start making changes, but how far do you need to go with those changes?

The 10-second answer is to make it as detailed as you need to. The 15-minute answer is this episode of the podcast.

In this episode:

• do you need a calendar – usually the answer is yes because there is some new variable (audience, tactic, team member) in the mix
• calendar formats – I use a simple spreadsheet, but you can also use a grid calendar or Gantt chart. It depends what types of details you’re trying to organize
• when a calendar is too complex – if you avoid looking at the calendar because you don’t want to get confused, your calendar has too much detail

Items mentioned:

• Gantt charts – a way of visually representing the sequence of tasks – great for emphasizing steps A and B need to happen before we can start on step C
• Marketing calendar template – this is the simple spreadsheet I start with on each show before I start customizing if for each production

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