Most companies I’ve dealt with don’t have a marketing calendar. One of the key reasons for that is they have never heard of one and have no idea of the value of a marketing calendar.
What is a marketing calendar?
A marketing calendar is a 12 month description of what you plan to do from a marketing perspective. It will have what tactic will be used in each month. So you may have as one item: Google Adwords $500/mo for each of the 12 months. You also might include: May - Advertise in trade journal $2,500, June - Advertise on Trade Association’s website $750, etc.
It enables you to plan each campaign and media 12 months at a time. You may choose to have a monthly effort in all of your media or you may choose to only advertise quarterly in each publication.
This is a good place to add each trade show you plan to attend and the associated budget.