Build An Email & SMS Marketing Calendar To Drive Sales and Engagement In Q1 2025

Email and SMS marketing success isn’t about sending messages when you feel like it. 

(at least not if you’re trying to produce more sales for your brand…)

The brands that dominate their niches all have one thing in common heading into every new quarter: a well-crafted email & SMS campaign calendar. 

A campaign calendar is just a calendar of emails and texts that you plan in advance to send to your audience. It allows you to do a couple great things quickly & easily:

• Avoid last-minute scrambling to create campaigns.
• Align your emails and SMS messages with your overall marketing goals for the quarter
• Keep your entire team on the same page, so every campaign runs smoothly.

Without a calendar, your strategy is reactive. With one, you take control.

How To Construct Your Calendar

Plan Weekly Sending Days:

• Decide how many emails and SMS messages you’ll send each week. 
• For most brands, 2–4 emails and 1–2 SMS messages is a good starting point.
• Pick your days where each campaign will go out

Example:

• One of my brands sends out an email every Monday and every Thursday, with an SMS campaign every Friday.
  
  

Schedule Key Campaigns:

Identify your product launches, restocks, and seasonal promotions on the calendar. Work backward from there to plan teaser campaigns for the weeks before, during, and after your main releases. Aim for 1-2 special events per month. These can be:

• Restocks
• New product launches
• Flash sales
• Exclusive offers
• VIP only deals

Integrate Seasonal Trends:

Align your campaigns, product launches, and sales to match the behavior and desires of your customers. Write emails and texts that speak to the season for your customer – showing them how buying your brand’s products can help them in this current season. 

Basic Examples: 

• Clothing Brands: In winter, focus on cozy items like hoodies and jackets. In summer, highlight t-shirts and shorts.
• Basketball Gear: Focus on selling & promoting on-court gear and outerwear during the season (winter). In summer, focus on training gear, shorts, tees, etc. – things hoopers where when it’s hotter.

Dedicate Time Every Thursday or Friday to Update Your Promotional Calendar

Your audience and your marketing are dynamic. Adjust your calendar based on campaign performance, stock levels, and any unexpected opportunities.

Don’t Rely Too Heavily on Discounts & Deals To Drive Sales

Promotions like flash sales or discount offers can bring immediate revenue, but over-relying on these campaigns is unsustainable. The goal is to balance these with campaigns designed for steady engagement from your audience.

The other thing you have to remember is that if you use too many deals or discounts, your audience will come to expect them. Eventually, they will avoid buying products from your store until they know they can get a deal. It’s a vicious cycle, don’t work your way into it. Only run 1-2 discount events per quarter. 

Use Your Promotional Calendar To Deliver The Right Message To The Right Audiences & Customer Segments

For brands that have more advanced email & SMS capabilities, segment-specific messaging can help increase customer retention rates and sales. Here’s how we go about this with all of our clients:

• VIPs (3+ purchases over time): Offer exclusive first access to sales or higher discount tiers. These customers are your most profitable, so making them more discount offers is less harmful.
• First-Time Buyers (only 1 purchase over all time): Make them a follow-up offer for a complementary product based on what they bought. If you can get them to make another purchase, you increase your profit on that customer.
• Lapsed Customers (haven’t purchased in 90+ days): Use win-back campaigns with enticing offers to re-engage them. 

The easiest way to do this is with a tool like Notion. Using Notion’s database capabilities, you can filter your calendar by segment to ensure the right message reaches the right audience.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Creating Your Promotional Calendar

Don’t fall into these traps:

• Not Planning Ahead & “Winging It”: Thinking 30–60 days ahead is non-negotiable here. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
• Ignoring Customer Preferences: Focus on what your customers want to buy now, not just what you want to sell.
• Lack of Segment-Specific Strategy: Generic messaging leads to bad copywriting and poor engagement. If you want to grow your brand, you have to speak differently to each segment.
• Team Misalignment: Ensure everyone involved knows what’s happening to avoid confusion.

Ready To Create Your Campaign Calendar? Use Our FREE Notion Campaign Calendar Template

We’ve done the heavy lifting for you. Use our pre-built Notion template to plan your campaigns like a pro:

• Track key dates, assets, and segments in one place.
• Create tailored views for VIPs, first-time buyers, and other customer groups.
• Collaborate seamlessly with your team.

🔗 Download the Notion Template Now

🔗 Here's A Loom Explainer on How To Plan Your Email Calendar

‍