Creating a Simple Marketing Calendar for Your Chapter

Marketing your chapter can feel overwhelming — especially when you’re juggling events, members, sponsors, volunteers and your day job. But here’s the good news: with a simple marketing calendar, you can take the stress out of promoting your chapter and stay organized all year long.

You don’t need a complicated system or fancy software — just a clear plan that helps you stay on top of what needs to be promoted and when. Let’s talk about how to create a simple marketing calendar that works for any chapter leader.

Why Your Chapter Needs a Marketing Calendar

When you’re busy leading a chapter, marketing can easily become reactive — sending last-minute emails or scrambling to post event reminders. A simple marketing calendar helps you:

• Avoid last-minute promotion panic
• Communicate consistently with your members
• Make sure no event or opportunity gets missed
• Keep your entire leadership team on the same page
• Spread out the workload so you’re not doing it all yourself

Step 1: List Out Your Chapter's Key Activities for the Year

Start by writing down everything your chapter will be doing over the next 12 months. This list will serve as the foundation for your calendar.

Common activities may include:

• Monthly or quarterly meetings
• Special training sessions or workshops
• Hosted courses
• Sponsorship promotions
• Volunteer recruitment
• Committee Meetings
• Annual reporting deadlines
• Networking Events
• AMPP or industry-related events

Having these activities mapped out allows you to plan your promotions well in advance.

Step 2: Choose Your Marketing Channels

Next, decide where you’ll share your messages. Not every promotion needs to go everywhere, but it helps to know your available tools.

• Email
• Social Media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
• Chapter Website
• AMPP Chapter Communities
• Flyers or printed handouts
• Word-of-mouth at events
• AMPP.org Events Calendar
• Other tools your chapter uses

Using multiple channels helps ensure your message reaches as many members as possible.

Step 3: Set a Consistent Promotion Timeline

One of the biggest benefits of a calendar is mapping out when you’ll start promoting each activity. A consistent timeline makes it easy to stay ahead of deadlines.

Here’s a simple sample promotion schedule for events:

• 6 weeks before: First event announcement (email + social post)
• 3 weeks before: Reminder email and additional social post
• 1 week before: Final reminder email and “last chance” post
• Event day: Live post or story to highlight the event
• After the event: Share photos and a quick recap

You can adjust this schedule based on your chapter’s needs and how far in advance members typically plan.

Step 4: Assign Responsibilities

Marketing doesn’t have to fall on one person. Assign specific tasks to members of your team to share the workload.

For example:

• John: Write and schedule email promotions
• Sarah: Post on social media and share event reminders
• Emily: Update the website and take photos at events
• Michael: Design flyers and graphics using Canva

Clearly assigning responsibilities helps ensure nothing falls through the cracks.

Step 5: Use a Simple Calendar Format

You don’t need expensive software to create a marketing calendar. Many people successfully use:

• Google Sheets
• Outlook Calendar
• Google Calendar
• Excel
• A printable calendar
• Shared online documents or project management tools

Your calendar should include:

• Dates
• The activity being promoted
• The type of promotion
• The person responsible
• Notes or links to any materials needed

Quick Sample Marketing Calendar

Final Thoughts

You don’t need to be a marketing expert to promote your chapter effectively — you just need a plan. A simple marketing calendar keeps you organized, reduces last-minute stress, and helps you stay consistent in communicating with your members.

Start small, keep it simple, and adjust as you go. The key is consistency — not perfection.

Have question or need help getting started? Reach out to chapters@ampp.org. We are here to help!

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