January is the optimal time to start planning your 2020 marketing calendar. When deciding on your campaign ideas for the year, it's useful to have a clear overview of all key events. This will help you keep track of which holidays are coming up, as well as everything you need to do to get your business prepared.
January is the perfect time to start planning all your campaign ideas for the coming year.
We've created some great resources which will certainly come in useful to you when putting together your marketing schedule for the year.
Get your hands on a 2020 email campaign planner (based on our team's own content marketing plan!), plus a 2020 marketing calendar jam-packed with the most important dates.
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Make the most of your free resources:
Once you have downloaded your free 2020 marketing calendar, you can skim through all the most important dates, holidays and sales periods coming up in 2020. Use these dates and any others you want to include to fill out your 2020 email campaign planner.
Throughout the year, you can note down todos, campaign ideas, important links, etc. and keep track of all your campaign planning in one useful document. We've already provided you with some useful links to help you get started.
Getting to work on your first campaign
Ready to get started on your first email campaign of 2020? Check out the Mail Designer 365 workflow! Build your campaign using the creative tools in Mail Designer 365. Then, upload your design drafts to Mail Designer 365 Approval to get feedback and ideas from your team members.
Once your team has approved your campaign, you can go ahead and export directly to use with your ESP.
Want more inspiration for 2020? Keep reading to discover more unique and exciting holidays your business can get involved in this year...
12 BONUS dates that you need in your 2020 marketing calendar
Stuck for fresh ideas or looking to build a marketing campaign different to everyone else's? To go alongside the must-have dates in your 2020 marketing calendar, here are some slightly more obscure or unheard-of dates to inspire you to create even more unique and interesting email content for your customers.
January 20th: Blue Monday
Officially named the most depressing day of the year, Blue Monday always falls on the third Monday in January. As marketers, you can be clever and do your best to take advantage of this otherwise miserable day and give your customers something to smile about.
Get your readers out of the Blue Monday slump with a fun campaign.
February 29th: Leap Year Day
2020 is another leap year; meaning February has an extra day this year. This is a great chance to get creative and think of a promotion to offer customers exclusively on February the 29th. Remember to try and create a sense of urgency here by reminding customers it's just for one day.
March 8th: International Women's Day
International Women's Day is a great opportunity for you to celebrate your female customers and colleagues. A marketing campaign giving back to women's charities or simply an email recognising the day would be highly effective way to show women your appreciation.
Celebrating International Women's Day is a great way to show your female customers your appreciation.
April 23rd: World Book Day
If you sell books or e-readers, World Book Day could be a great opportunity for you to launch a promotion. If not, consider holding a special reading event or share your team's favorite books with your customers to encourage them to read more.
May 4th: Star Wars Day
Calling all Star Wars fans: May the fourth be with you! Depending on which business you're in, this unofficial holiday might be a little bit out there. However, with a little creativity, some of you may be able to pull off a fun campaign to put a smile on your readers' faces.
June 20th: Summer Solstice
The longest day of the year is certainly a special day and, with it being right at the start of summer, it can be used as an excuse for a summer sale or promotion. Alternatively, you could consider holding a special event to celebrate with your customers. This could be great themed event for a bar or restaurant.
Celebrate the longest day of summer with a solstice-themed event.
July 24th: Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony
The Summer Olympics are considered by most as the world's biggest sporting event and an event which brings dozens of nations together. No matter your field of business, there's bound to be a way you can stay on topic and incorporate the olympic theme into your campaigns this summer.
August 8th: International Cat Day
Cats are an internet sensation and a funny cat meme or video can be the ideal addition to liven up an otherwise standard email campaign. Of course, if your business is related to cats in any way, or you are a cat charity, then this is a very important date for your diary.
Cats make everything better. Celebrate International Cat Day with a fun, cat-themed campaign.
September 12th: International Programmers' Day
This is one for all the software and tech firms out there... Show appreciation for your fellow programmers by giving a nod to them in your email campaign! Try offering a discount on new software which developers may find useful, or provide programmers with early access to your beta releases. They'll definitely appreciate you going the extra mile for them.
October 1st: International Coffee Day
This is one for café, and restaurant owners, or any other vendors or retailers selling coffee. Make the most of this one-off celebration with a fun promotion or event.
Apart from celebrating the delicious drink, International Coffee Day also concentrates on promoting fair-trade and supporting the overseas industries behind the production of coffee. This is also a great thing to mention in your campaigns (learn more.)
Everyone loves a good cup of coffee! Why not launch a campaign around it this International Coffee Day?
November 11th: Singles' Day
Originating in China, Singles' Day is a day dedicated to celebrating single people and is now massively growing in popularity. Many businesses use this as an opportunity to offer discounts and great deals to their customers. In particular, this holiday is popular with younger people in China, the UK and the USA.
December 10th: World Human Rights Day
Why not use the last month of the year to draw attention to a good cause? Take a break from festive sales emails to promote values such as equal rights, peace and tolerance. Holding a special event, launching a product and donating the profits to human rights organisations, or simply raising awareness are all great ways to get involved.
Getting started
We hope we have given you some ideas and inspiration for your 2020 marketing calendar. Alongside the regular holidays and events in your planner, these events should give you some fresh and interesting new subject matter to create engaging emails with in 2020.
Don't forget to check out our free resources for your 2020 marketing calendar. The extensive email campaign planner and downloadable events calendar are both completely free and a great way for you to get your campaigns organised this year.
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What we love: The offer is made super prominent in the header of the email design. This paired with bright product photos and useful pricing information makes it really effective for shoppers looking for the best deal.
What we love: The deep red theme of this email design is perfect for the romantic occasion. The bold headline also takes centre stage and speaks directly to the reader.
What we love: Using a classic brush font in the header is a great way to illustrate the Valentine's theme. The use of bright pink eye-catchers to draw attention to special offers and promotions is also very effective.
What we love: The giant headline does a great job of capturing the customer's attention. In addition, the red CTA (call-to-action) button contrasts well against the plain white background; making it super clickable.
What we love: Think pink! Even if you don't do much in the build up to the big day, a simple Valentine's Day themed sale can be all you need to celebrate with your customers. The huge love heart is a great eye-catcher and the contrasting CTA buttons work really well.
What we love: This Valentine's Day email campaign stands out thanks to the fun illustrations of hearts and stars. Red and pink accents throughout the design also play well to the Valentine's Day theme and perfectly advertise their seasonal collection.
What we love: The message may be simple, but the design is so sweet. Taking a time out from all the sales-emails sent around a big holiday is a great way to show customers your appreciation. The "Love" headline made up of their charms is also super creative.
What we love: Red roses are a time old symbol of love and romance; making them the perfect feature image for this campaign. The use of red in the headline and call-to-actions also works great in the design.
What we love: This Valentine's Day email campaign by one of the biggest names in the industry definitely turns heads thanks to its bright pink background and love heart design. Including a 
What we love: The black background in this design makes the red and pink accents even more prominent and helps turn up the heat. Again, the use of red roses is perfect for Valentine's Day and providing gift ideas is a great way to help shoppers who may be struggling to choose!
This fun design by Boohoo also adopts a clear cyber theme. The bright pink GIF is great at drawing attention the the message of the campaign and the design as a whole is certainly unique enough to win over customers.
This monochrome design is basically all text but gets straight to the point. Urban Outfitters do a good job here of using contrasting fonts to give their simple design more character.
6. Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune gets super festive with this colorful email design. The fairy lights GIF is a good way to attract attention while also getting readers in the holiday shopping mood.
This email by Jack Wills definitely gets us in the holiday mood. The festive feature image is really effective in recreating the ultimate Christmas morning feeling. The pink striped background also creates a gift wrap effect and fits perfectly with the theme of holiday gift shopping.
Here's a risk that paid off. Although perhaps a little adventurous for some, there's no denying that this loud, colorful email design by 10 Store grabs your attention straight away.
The gold, glittery vibe of this email campaign by Bluefly is super festive and exciting. The combination of black, gold and white works great for a big sales event and the text is big and bold enough to instantly make the message clear.
This campaign by FatFace has a really nice sentiment and makes a change from standard sales emails. Giving back campaigns such as this one are very effective around the holidays. Customers are encouraged to shop in order to put their money towards worthwhile causes.
Mothercare show off their star offers in this stellar email design. The contrast between black and yellow tones make the CTAs (call-to-actions) and eye-catchers really pop in this email. The catalogue layout also makes accessing the deals much easier; which is great on this busy shopping occasion.
As shown here by Odeon, a bold feature font is a nice way of grabbing your readers' attention. The countdown is also a great touch to get customers geared up for your special promotion.
NYX really promote their products with this inventive layout. Hot pink accents make the message hard to miss and the LED effect GIF is both cool and creative. The "today only" tag is also a clever way to generate a sense of urgency.
Aldo keep things pretty simple in this design, but the festive red combined with the cool, textured black background creates a noticeable contrast. Again, they've gone for a mix of font styles to liven up the design even more.
In this campaign, Julep have gone for a slightly different approach. The "early access" sale gets customers shopping before the big day and alluding to surprises at the checkout will certainly boost those click-through rates. We also like the design's balance between images and text to keep things visually interesting yet still informative.
Graze have taken us by storm with this lightning bolt design. This is a great way to stand out from competitors and the color combination also hits the spot.
As shown here by Rent the Runway, sometimes simple does the trick. The bold GIF clearly highlights their 40% off promotion whilst also bringing some fun to the design. The "better hurry" CTA button is also inventive and adds a sense of urgency to the campaign.
Dr. Martens demonstrate yet another drastic color scheme with this vibrant design. The countdown at the top again creates a sense of urgency and big, bold lettering communicates their offer well. It's also smart how they think ahead and include a product preview at the bottom of the email.
Forever 21 sneak an element of mystery into this "Black Friday" themed design. The temptation to click and reveal their discount is too much for many customers to resist. The gold accents also add a festive tone to the design and get customers in the money-spending mood.
In this email, Wolf & Badger proudly showcase their best products to celebrate with their customers. As well as the eye-catching feature graphic, the clear layout also makes the promotion more effective and the deals easier to shop. The Christmas Shop graphic in the bottom of the email also does a good job of getting readers ready for holiday shopping.
This monochrome design by Flannels is super cool. Using only black products in the background of the email is a clever take on the "Black Friday" theme. The font choices are also bold and stylish, and the "Ends Midnight" tagline incorporates that all-important sense of urgency to the campaign.
