Marketing Planner with Calendar & Timeline
Setup Instructions
How to Use the Google Sheets Marketing Planner Template
The Google Sheets Marketing Planner Template is designed to streamline your marketing efforts by helping you plan, organise, and visualise your content across all your advertising platforms. Below is a comprehensive guide to using each sheet effectively.
1. Planned Sheet
The Planned sheet is the hub for recording and managing all your marketing activities, whether they are active right now or planned for some point in the future. You can list all your marketing plans here even if they are just an idea. The status of the event will determine its state within the life-cycle of your marketing planner.
Columns Overview:
Content: This is a general title or name for the marketing event.
Type: Use the dropdown menu to select the marketing platform (e.g., Facebook, Email, YouTube, etc.). There are over 20 options available and this list can be edited from the Settings sheet if you can’t find the specific option you need.
Post Text / Headline: This is the specific post text or heading you wish to use for the marketing campaign. It will be useful for social platforms like X, Instagram, TikTok or for an email subject to name a few.
Details / Notes: This is an internal note about the specifics of the marketing campaign, such as why you are doing it or any exclusions, etc.
Owner: Assign a responsible person for the task. The list of names is managed from the Settings sheet. You can add up to 100 people to this list.
Status: Update the status of each task using the dropdown menu. Statuses include:
New
In Progress
Under review
Published
Suspended
Paused
Completed
Archived - This status will move the row to the Archived sheet.
Start Date & End Date: Specify the timeline for each activity. The Start Date determines if the event appears on the Calendar, while both dates are used on the Timeline to show when an events starts, how long it lasts and when it finishes.
File: You can attach Google files from your Drive here for quick access to any supporting documentation.
Retrospective: This gives you an opportunity to add some notes about how the marketing campaign went. What went well, what went badly, ideals for next time, etc. You can look back at this in the ‘Archived’ sheet to ensure the next time you run a similar campaign you avoid any mistakes.
Automatic Actions:
When the Status is set to “Archived,” the row is automatically moved to the Archived sheet.
Both the Planning and Archived tables are automatically sorted by the Start Date column to maintain chronological order when events are moved to or from the ‘Archived’ sheet.
Events can be moved back to the ‘Planned’ sheet when in the ‘Archived’ sheet by changing the status from ‘Archived’ back to any other status.
2. Archived Sheet
The Archived sheet stores all completed or no longer active tasks. This is a historical record of all your past marketing activities.
Events are automatically moved here when their status is set to “Archived” in the Planning sheet.
Events can be moved back to the ‘Planned’ sheet when in the ‘Archived’ sheet by changing the status from ‘Archived’ back to any other status.
The data in this sheet is sorted by the Start Date column to keep it organised for reference.
You can edit any data in the Archived sheet just as you would in the Planned sheet, including the retrospective column. This is crucial for reflecting on your efforts to ensure the next time you can make them even better.
3. Calendar Sheet
The Calendar sheet provides a visual overview of your marketing activities for any given month and year. This is only a visual representation; you cannot edit data on this page, but you can filter the results.
Viewing Options:
In the top right, select the desired month and year to view all planned activities for that period. You can simply type the year in, such as 2024 or 2025. This calendar is fully dynamic and perpetual.
Each day can display up to 5 events. If more than 5 events exist, the day will indicate how many additional events are scheduled.
Filtering:
Use the filters to narrow down events by Status, Type, or Owner.
Colour Coding:
Each marketing type is assigned a unique colour, making it easy to identify events at a glance. These colours are managed within conditional formatting rules for the Calendar and Timeline sheets.
Today’s Highlight:
The current day is automatically highlighted for quick identification.
Daily Breakdown:
A filterable panel to the right of the calendar provides a breakdown of all events for a specific day, along with their statuses.
4. Timeline Sheet
The Timeline sheet offers a comprehensive view of events, showing their duration and progress in a Gantt-style chart. This is only a visual representation; you cannot edit data on this page, but you can filter the results.
Columns Overview:
Content: This is a general title or name for the marketing event
Type: Indicates the marketing platform (e.g., Facebook, Email, etc.).
Owner: Specifies the person responsible for the task.
Status: Displays the current status of the task.
Start Date & End Date: Defines the task’s timeline.
Days: Shows the total number of days from the Start Date to the End Date where an end date exists.
Progress: A Sparkline chart visualises the progress from the Start Date to the current date.
Remaining: Displays the number of days left until the End Date.
Gantt Chart:
Located on the right side of the sheet, the Gantt chart visually maps tasks across the timeline. Days are broken down by date, day name, and week number.
The chart is colour-coded by marketing type.
You will also see a breakdown of Events displayed above the timeline so you can see at a gance your current activity for the following timeframes.
Total
Past
Active
Upcoming
Filtering:
Narrow down the view to specific events based on filters like Type, Owner, Status, or date range.
By default, the Start / End dropdown is set to ‘All’ - This will display all events, but you can change this to filter by Start or End date, or events that do not have an End Date.
The Period dropdown can be changed to quickly filter by periods, such as ‘This week’ or Next Month’, etc. and the dates below will automatically update accordingly. You can also choose ‘Custom’ to enter your own date range.
5. Settings Sheet
The Settings sheet contains key configurations for the planner.
Owner List:
Add or update names in the Owner column (Column D). These names will appear in the dropdown menus in the Planned, Archived, Calendar and Timeline sheets. Up to 100 Owners can be used.
Status List:
There is a range of statuses in column B, which can be adjusted. However, two key status is ‘Archived’. This should not be changed as it is used specifically for automating moving events between the Planned and Archived sheets. Up to 100 Statuses can be used.
Type:
There are 26 predefined marketing types shown in column C. These can be amended, removed or added to as required. Up to 100 types can be used. If these are changed, you will need to review the conditional formatting associated to these names for the Calendar and Timeline as these names are hard-coded.
Other Settings:
Additional configuration options that support the functionality of the template can also be found here (Columns H to M), but it is not recommended to change these as they will effect the functionality of the sheet.
6. Data Collation Sheet
The Data sheet (Hidden by default) acts as a backend tool to collate and organise data for the Calendar and Timeline sheets.
Automatically populated based on the information entered in the Planned and Archived sheets.
Used to drive dynamic visualisations in the Calendar and Timeline sheets.
Tips for Success
Regular Updates: Keep the Planned sheet up to date to ensure the calendar and timeline reflect the latest information. Mark events as Archived when the event is in the past to only show current events on the timeline. The Calendar will show past, present and future events by default.
Filters: Use filters in the Calendar and Timeline sheets to focus on specific tasks or individuals.
Settings Maintenance: Periodically review the Settings sheet to ensure dropdown menus and other configurations are accurate.
Sheet Protection: Some sheets have protection applied to them to prevent unintential changes. Any cells within a locked sheet that can be edited have been excluded from the protection. The protection can be removed if required, but this is not recommended.
By following this guide, you’ll be able to maximise the efficiency of the Marketing Planner Template and ensure all your marketing efforts are well-organised and effectively visualised.