How to plan a marketing campaign
A fourteen-week autumn campaign: six workstreams, fifteen activities, two reviews, three milestones and an autumn break. Creative produces the assets, hands them to each channel and every channel goes live after one brand and legal review. The three views below show the same plan and stay in step.
Gantt chart: from production to activation
The plan grouped by workstream, with names on the left and colored by stage: Plan, Produce, Review, Activate and Measure.
One chain has no gap between its steps and sets the launch: the brief, the messaging, the Creative concept, the Concept review, Ads and visuals and the Brand and legal review. Everything else waits for part of it or has room to spare: the Landing page, Tracking and QA and the Email sequence are ready before the break, while the ads are still in production.
The yellow band is the autumn break. The plan counts work days, so the break is time off: Ads and visuals is fifteen work days of production, and its bar runs across the break to 9 November. Drag Creative concept one week later and the chain after it moves five work days with it. Ads and visuals keeps its fifteen work days, so it ends on 16 November, and Campaign live moves from 12 to 19 November.
Go-live list: what each channel publishes and waits for
Only the activities in the Activate stage, with what each one waits for.
Each channel goes live on its own handoffs. Paid campaigns need the reviewed ads, tested tracking and a budget; Email sends need the reviewed sequence and the tracked links; the Social campaign follows the Teaser posts, which only need the approved concept. If one channel is not ready, the list shows which handoff it is waiting for.
Flowchart: who hands what to whom
Lanes show the workstreams; each arrow is a handoff.
The Concept review is where the work fans out: creative, web, email and social all start from the approved concept. The Brand and legal review is where it comes back together, so every channel publishes approved copy. A diamond marks work that splits into chains that all run; it is not a yes-or-no branch.
Make it yours
- Choose Open in Tidigar under any view to get your own copy. It is free, needs no account and stays on your device.
- Rename the workstreams to your channels, and remove the ones you do not use.
- Drag Audience and goals to your real start; the work after it follows.
- Move the autumn break to your team's time off, and check when Campaign live lands.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a marketing campaign take to plan? Six to twelve weeks of preparation for an integrated campaign; most of it is production.
Why review everything at once? One brand and legal review before launch lets every channel publish the same approved offer, instead of correcting each one after it is live.
What belongs in the wrap-up? Results against the goals set in the brief, what to keep, and what to change in the next campaign.