When building a marketing calendar, it's worth it to consider all the information you want to include first. This way, you can create a calendar that is a source of truth for your campaigns and deliverables. Using a campaign template can help you organize this information faster. Here are 8 steps you can use to build a marketing calendar or template:

1. Choose a time period for the calendar, with defined start and end points and key milestones throughout

2. Identify a target audience and their needs and interests

3. Decide channels for the content you will create

4. Account for unexpected changes to your plans

5. Create themes and topics for your marketing calendar template's content

6. Do research on keywords and your existing data to help set goals

7. Assign teams and individuals to each phase and task on the marketing calendar

8. Evaluate results as you go and adjust as necessary

You need the marketing calendar to increase accountability, stay on track, meet goals, prevent overlaps, improve visibility, and stay on budget.

A marketing calendar can have varying content per business; nonetheless, it usually has a campaign overview, list of projects, timeline or schedule, names of people responsible per task, progress tracker, and deadlines.