Planning and scheduling: How to develop a marketing calendar for posts and promotions

Published by Incomedia in Guides and Tips · Tuesday 21 Oct 2025 · 10:15

It’s not your job, but you still need to take care of it.

Think about this: you’re a business owner - a shop, a restaurant, a small enterprise, or an association. You have a website, created with WebSite X5, and you know that nowadays being online is crucial.

However, between shipping, phone calls, and a thousand other tasks, you end up on Friday asking yourself the same question: “I had to publish something…but what?”

If this scene looks familiar, you’re not alone.

Communicating online doesn’t only require creativity, but also a good degree of organizational skills. And those who aren’t involved in marketing for their business might need a simple and sustainable strategy more than anything else.

Here’s where two important allies come into play: planning and scheduling. With a good marketing calendar, you will know exactly what to publish, when, where, and why - whether it’s a social post, a seasonal promotion, an e-mail to a customer, or a website update.

The good thing about it is that you spare time, communicate more cohesively, and reach the right people at the right time with the right message.

In this article, we will see:

What planning and scheduling mean (and why you need both).
How to build a simple yet efficient calendar.
Which content should you plan (even if you’re out of ideas)
and what tools can help you communicate better, with less stress and more results.

Planning and scheduling: What they are and why they are important

Now that you know how useful it is to have a method for managing online communication, let’s get to the heart of the matter: what exactly is a marketing calendar?

And more importantly, how do you build one?

It all starts with two key concepts: planning and scheduling.

They may sound like synonyms, but they’re not. To create effective communication—even if you’re not a marketing professional—it’s important to know what sets them apart and how they work together.

Planning: deciding what, when, and why to communicate

Planning means setting your objectives, understanding your target audience, deciding what to communicate, and when.

It’s the stage where you organize your ideas, choose the right channels, and define an overall vision that aligns with your business.

Concrete examples:

Launching a new product in March? You can prepare a series of dedicated content.
Want to take advantage of holidays to offer promotions? It’s better to start early.
Have a blog or a recurring column? Decide topics and timing in advance.

At this stage, you work on content, channels (social media, website, newsletter), tone of voice, and goals.

It’s time to use your brain to design a clear, sustainable strategy that fits your resources.

Scheduling: are: organizing when and where to publish

Scheduling is the operational part: it’s about setting dates and times, planning posts, sending newsletters, and setting up promotions on your website.

This is where tools and software come into play: you can use a shared calendar, social media platforms, or, if you use WebSite X5, take advantage of its built-in blog features.

In short:

Planning tells you where you want to go.
Scheduling helps you get there, step by step.

When they work together, they save you time, reduce improvisation, and improve the quality of your communication.

How to build an efficient marketing calendar

Given that planning and scheduling help you communicate more effectively, let’s see how to actually build your marketing calendar.

Even if you’re starting from scratch, it’s a task well within your reach. All you need are a few tools, a bit of method, and some careful planning to create a system tailored to you.

1- Choose the format that better suits you

To create a marketing calendar for planning your various activities, there is no single perfect model: you can freely choose the calendar that is easiest for you to use.

Just to mention some of the most well-known and widely used tools, you could start with:

An Excel or Google Sheets spreadsheet.
A digital calendar like Google Calendar.
Software for planning and scheduling activities (Trello, Notion, Asana…).

The important thing is to choose a tool that doesn’t complicate your life: it should be quick to update, visual, and shareable if you work in a team.

For example, let’s assume we are working with Google Sheets to create a simple monthly calendar. We can start by setting up a table with the following columns:

Day – to indicate publication date or day of the week (e.g., Monday 7, Tuesday 8…).
Channel – to specify where the content will be published: Blog, Instagram, Newsletter, Facebook, Website, etc.
Content – to insert a title or brief description of the content: “New Product Post,” “Blog Article,” “Valentine’s Promo,” etc.
Goal – to state what you want to achieve with that content: visibility, sales, website traffic, loyalty…

Then, we can use rows for the days of the week and tabs for the months. Even a table this simple already gives you a clear view of what to do, where to publish, and with what objective.

lank monthly marketing calendar in Google Sheets with ready-made headers

An example of a Google Sheet marketing calendar, ready to be filled out

2- Define the publication frequency

The second step is to understand how much you can (realistically) publish.

Remember: it’s better to post a little consistently than a lot and then disappear for weeks.

Here are some basic ideas of what you could include in your marketing calendar:

1 social post per week + 1 newsletter per month;
or 2 blog articles per month + 1 seasonal promotion each quarter;
or: 1 regular column every Friday + scheduled offers based on events.

A weekly marketing calendar draft for blog, newsletters, and social media.

There is no right frequency for everyone: consider your goals, your audience, and the time you have available, and find your own pace.

3- Organize the activities visually

A messy calendar is useless. It should be a working tool that gives you a clear overview at a glance.

Here are some tips to help you optimize your marketing calendar and keep everything under control:

Use color codes (e.g., red for promotions, blue for newsletters, green for articles).
Assign roles if you work in a team (who writes, who publishes, who reviews).
Add notes or deadlines to know what needs to be done and by when.
Always leave some buffer for unexpected events or last-minute posts.

Complete editorial calendar in Google Sheets with colors, roles, and notes

A complete marketing calendar: colors, roles, and notes help work clearly and in synergy.

Good organization saves you time, reduces stress, and allows you to communicate more clearly and professionally.

Ideas for Content and Promotions to Plan

By now, you’ve understood how to build your marketing calendar.

The next step is deciding what to include: which content, which initiatives, and which key dates to mark.

A good calendar doesn’t just help you remember when to publish—it also becomes a tool to add variety, rhythm, and consistency to your communication.

Ideally, alternate between:

Valuable content, such as articles, columns, and newsletters;
Seasonal content tied to events, launches, or special offers;
Recurring content, like monthly promotions or weekly tips.

Here are some practical tips to start filling your calendar right away.

Planning promotions

The marketing calendar is a true ally for organizing promotions effectively. This way, you can prepare in advance, avoid last-minute rushes, and communicate your offers efficiently across all channels.

If you’re temporarily running low on ideas, here are some ready-to-use suggestions to include in your promotional calendar:

Seasonal and recurring promotions

Holidays and themed days are great opportunities to create targeted offers.

According to recent studies, over 30% of online sales take place during the last months of the year, coinciding with events like Black Friday and Christmas. Promotions during these periods work because people not only expect them, but actively look for them. They are also more attentive to communications and more willing to spend, both for themselves and for others.

In addition to official holidays, there are themed days—international or national observances dedicated to specific causes, sectors, or values. There’s something for everyone, from Earth Day to Dog Day or even Pasta Day. These occasions are excellent opportunities to connect your brand to relevant values or themes and offer themed promotions.

Once you’ve identified the event to focus on, you can plan content or a promotion—just like we did in this mini marketing calendar with some key dates you shouldn’t miss.

2025 Mini-Marketing Calendar - Don’t miss these dates

The key dates to plan efficient seasonal content and promotion throughout the year

Of course, you can take these ideas and adapt them to your sector.

The important thing is to start marking these occasions in your calendar and decide in advance whether to plan content, a promotion, or both.

Launches and updates

Whenever you introduce a new product or service, or roll out a significant update, it’s worth planning a dedicated communication.

No need for big productions: a well-crafted post, a targeted newsletter, or an effective landing page can be enough to generate attention and curiosity.

You can also create a small launch plan, building anticipation in the days leading up to it and using multiple channels (social media, website, email) to maximize impact.

Examples of content:

Teasers on social media with a countdown or “coming soon”
Demonstration videos
Offers exclusive to newsletter subscribers
In-depth or comparison blog articles (e.g., “What’s new in the latest version”)

The key is not to improvise: mark planned launches and build a consistent, engaging communication around them.

Recurring offers

Some occasions recur regularly and you can plan well in advance: end-of-season sales, welcome offers, “tell a friend” promotions, renewal discounts, “x products for x euros” campaigns, and so on.

The strength of these offers lies in their repeatability: you can automate them, test them over time, and improve them based on previous results.

Including them in your marketing calendar allows you to:

Plan them (copy, graphics, emails…)
Differentiate them from seasonal promotions
Communicate more clearly and consistently with your audience

💡 Pro tip: Whenever possible, link recurring offers to strategic moments for your sector (e.g., beginning of the month, seasons, local holidays, tax deadlines).

Planning contents

Promotions are essential, but they cannot (and should not) be the only type of content in your communication.

A good content marketing calendar also includes informational, educational, and relationship-building content: these are the pieces that build trust, generate long-term interest, and foster a lasting connection with your audience.

Here are some strategic content types to include in your marketing calendar, depending on the channel and objectives.

Blog articles and evergreen content

The blog is one of the most effective tools for improving your search engine ranking, boosting SEO, and providing valuable content to your audience: you can use it to better tell your story, explain what you do, and show how you work.

Planning your article publications helps ensure consistency and makes the most of seasonal or recurring content.

You can publish:

Practical guides and tutorials related to your field
In-depth articles or case studies
Articles related to events, seasons, or frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Updates on what’s happening in your business

👉 If you use WebSite X5, you can schedule post publications directly from the software, without the need for external plugins. Learn how to set up an editorial calendar for your blog with WebSite X5.

Newsletters and exclusive content

Sending newsletters should also be carefully planned.

Besides being a great tool to keep your audience updated, newsletters have a valuable advantage: they reach people who have chosen to receive your communications directly.

Subscribers to your mailing list have already shown interest in what you offer: by creating consistent and well-planned newsletters, you can build loyalty, inform them, and turn them into customers.

You can schedule:

Monthly newsletters with updates from your website or blog
Emails tied to recurring events, launches, or limited-time offers
Content exclusive to subscribers (previews, discount codes, downloads, etc.)

💡 A good email marketing calendar helps you maintain a consistent rhythm, avoid overlaps, and communicate more effectively.

Social media content

Social media is often the first point of contact between your brand and people. Additionally, if you already have a website, integrating social media directly into your pages can act as a bridge between your site and your followers: by sharing articles, promotions, and updates, you drive traffic to your site and increase visits.

That’s why your presence on social platforms must be consistent, recognizable, and well-organized.

Without an overview, it’s easy to lose track. With a good social media calendar, however, you can keep everything under control. It helps you post regularly, maintain visual and tonal consistency across content, take advantage of strategic dates, and engage your audience with varied content. In this way, you can build a community and showcase your work.

Here are some useful content types to plan:

Regular series (e.g., “Monday Tip,” “Product of the Week”)
Behind-the-scenes content, testimonials, quotes, polls
Content tied to thematic days or seasons
Short videos, carousels, quizzes, announcements, and practical tips

🎨 If some content repeats over time, you can use pre-made graphic templates to speed up post creation.

Tools that help you communicate better

We’ve talked about calendars, ideas, content, and promotions.

But there’s one ingredient that can truly make a difference in your daily work: the tools you choose to manage your marketing.

With the right tools, you can:

Stay better organized
Save time
Communicate consistently
Reduce the stress of day-to-day management

Your “kit” to start with the right foot

In reality, you don’t need a team or an agency to start communicating effectively online.

You just need to build a small, basic system, tailored to your needs, that you can rely on each week.

Here’s a realistic example of a simple yet effective starter setup:

Organizing a content plan

Suggested tool: Google Sheets or Notion
Example: Monthly table with posts, newsletters, promotions

Creating graphics easily

Suggested tool: Canva or similar tools
Example: Visuals for social media, banners, newsletter images

Scheduling blog posts and promotional pages

Suggested tool: WebSite X5
Example: Scheduled posts, landing pages for seasonal offers

Collecting subscriptions or leads from the website

Suggested tool: WebSite X5 forms
Example: Contact or newsletter sign-up forms

Sending newsletters

Suggested tool: External tools (e.g., MailerLite, Brevo…)
Example: List management, automated email creation, and sending

What if your tool was (already) WebSite X5?

If you’ve already chosen to use WebSite X5 to build your website, you’re on the right track.

In fact, you already have most of the tools you need to communicate online professionally and stress-free.

The software is designed specifically to help people like you – entrepreneurs, freelancers, artisans, professionals – manage their online presence independently, without needing to learn coding or rely on multiple external tools.

With WebSite X5, you can:

Build your website or e-commerce store with all the necessary features
Write and schedule blog articles, maintaining consistency and visibility over time
Create promotional pages or landing pages for seasonal offers and launches
Manage products, coupons, and discounts directly in the integrated store
Use special objects, like ADV Calendar, for time-sensitive initiatives (e.g., Advent Calendar)
Collect sign-ups or inquiries via customizable forms

💡 And with the MagicText feature, you can even get content suggestions thanks to the integrated AI – perfect when you’re short on ideas or time. Discover all the features of WebSite X5.

WebSite X5 is not (just) software for building websites: it’s a practical solution to work more efficiently, communicate consistently, and establish a truly unique online presence.

Conclusions: Better planning for more efficient communication

A marketing calendar is not a rigid framework to follow, but a compass to guide you.

Whether you’re promoting a store, an e-commerce site, or a personal project, having a clear vision of what to publish, when, and why allows you to:

Communicate more consistently and professionally
Avoid stress and last-minute improvisation
Maximize the value of every piece of content, post, and promotion

The good news is that you don’t need to be an expert to get started.

All you need is a well-structured calendar, a bit of method, and the right tools for you – including WebSite X5.

With WebSite X5, you can create your website, blog, or e-commerce store and have a solid foundation on which to build content, promotions, and effective communication strategies.

If you haven’t done it yet, discover more about WebSite X5 and start growing your online presence today.