2018 Event Calendar – You’re welcome!
If you’ve ever woken up late for work and wished you’d organised your ‘next day’ outfit the night before – you’ll know how panic feels. Flapping around in a disorganised state is far from enjoyable and as poor time management in the marketing world can result in missed opportunities, it’s essential to stay ahead of the game – but how? With an event calendar, of course!
Whether you’re a financial services company or a craft shop, you need to get ahead with your campaign planning and there’s something here for everyone! We’ve compiled a list of all the top dates to look forward to this year, so take a look and get your social diary in order – you can thank us later.
1st January – New Year’s promotions
New Year’s promotions can begin on December 27th but all marketing materials should be prepared in December ready for an urgent go-live.
14th February – Valentine’s Day
If you’re selling flowers, gifts, perfumes, clothes or pretty much anything else then you need to care about Valentine’s Day! Plan your Valentine’s Day marketing activities in January. Run your ads at the start of February and increase ad spend around the 10th February.
11th March – UK Mother’s Day
Plan all Mother’s Day marketing activities in February and increase ad spend at the start of March.
17th March – St Patrick’s Day
Prepare for St Patrick’s Day in February. Run campaign ads around the 5th March. Increase ad spend around the 10th March as this give you a week to really build excitement.
1 April – Easter Sunday
Easter is one of the biggest events of the year, so get your Easter marketing calendar in order around February/March. Start running ads mid-March and increase ad spend towards the end of the month.
17th June – UK/US Father’s Day
To be as organised as possible, think about Father’s Day at the end of May/start of June. Increase your marketing spend on 1st June.
4th July – Independence Day
If this holiday is relevant to your business model and target audience, you should start preparing at the end of May. It’s a significant event for Americans and a great time to create tailored campaigns.
July/August – school holidays
As the kids break up from school, your summer campaigns should be in full swing. Start planning these around May ready to release promotions/ads in June onwards. As summer is around three months long, you should also stagger your summer marketing efforts to keep consumers interested.
September – back to school
While many companies start their back to school adverts from July, this can be off-putting for families who are embracing the holidays and don’t want to think about buying stationary and uniforms. For this reason, it’s a good idea to prepare you campaigns in July but to not release them until the end of July beginning of August. Ramp up ad spend around mid-August if you’re targeting children returning in September.
3rd September – Labour Day USA
Plan in August and ramp up your ad spend during the last week of August.
31st October – Halloween
With Halloween spending breaking records and the holiday becoming more popular than ever before, it makes perfect sense to run a Halloween campaign. As this is one of the biggest events of the year, start planning in August/September and run your promotional material during the first week of October. Increase ad spend around 15th October.
22 November – Thanksgiving
If your target audience celebrates Thanksgiving and you believe a campaign would be beneficial, start putting a series of marketing activities together in August.
23rd November – Black Friday
Start planning this in August alongside your Thanksgiving campaigns.
26th November – Cyber Monday
Preparation for Cyber Monday also needs to begin in August.
2nd December – 10 December – Hanukkah
While the planning stages of Hanukkah may begin in August, you should finalise details and promotions in October ready to run your campaign the Saturday after Cyber Monday.
25th December – Christmas
As one of the biggest Christian holidays of the year, you can start planning for Christmas in August. Make sure all festive promotions, events and campaigns are finalised in October. Start running campaigns after Cyber Monday and increase ad spend during advent.
31st December – New Year’s Eve
Start planning in November, but don’t release any marketing material until the 27th December as the minds of consumers will be solely on Christmas.
Planning your 2018 content and social media marketing strategy is really important. You don’t need to make a campaign out of every holiday but pick the ones that are right for your industry. Need to plan some great campaigns this year? Then get in touch today.
