The Content Editorial Calendar is Not Going Out of Style

Author: Carolyn Menz Category: B2B, B2C, E-commerce & Retail, Marketing, Nonprofit, Social Media & Digital Date: July 28, 2016

As a marketer or business owner, it is important that you have a marketing and a specific content strategy laid out and that this strategy spans the next few weeks, months or even years. With that said, if you have limited resources (a.k.a. help) and you find yourself spread very thin trying to accommodate last-minute needs, then you’ll want to reconsider your content strategy. Why not try an editorial calendar?

What is an Editorial Calendar?

Before there was the Internet, we read our news from newspapers, magazines, journals and other publications. Because printing and distribution take quite a bit of time, journalists would make sure that there was enough feature content laid out prior to filling in the hard news (in other words, the current events). You can think of feature content as everything else: stories about businesses, local people profiles, how-to’s, behind-the-scenes, analysis, real estate, and more. Generally, publications still stick with a timeline to make sure that their stores are timely and fit in with the time of year. For example, holiday gift guides are planned months in advance of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

An Editorial Calendar is the calendar these publications would put together to ensure that the stories were worked on in advance and that they were relevant to the publications audiences.

Okay, so you’re not writing for a newspaper or a magazine and you don’t have to worry about designers, layout people or printing. But, you still need content. Whether you have a blog, write social media posts, an e-mail newsletter or frequent e-mail communications, or you just have to write the content for your website, you need content.

Is an Editorial Calendar Right For Me?

If you have to write content for your business, or even if you are hiring someone else to write the content for your business, an editorial calendar can help ensure your content fits into your overall marketing strategy.

There are benefits to creating an editorial calendar for your business:

1. Knowing what you’re going to write about in advance makes it easier to write a full-bodied message. You have time to think about what information you need to write your blog, social media or e-mail. The content will be more robust and higher quality.
2. An organized calendar of thoughts lets you sit back and look at the bigger picture. You can see how often you are posting about a certain topic, and you can ensure that you are incorporating any trends or messages that you want to get across in a timely manner.
3. By sticking to a schedule, your stress levels are lower. It’s much easier to work on writing and content completion if you have it laid out in front of you. You can work on projects in advance, you can assign projects to other parties or individuals, and you can always change the schedule in advance if you know something is going to come up. You also won’t forget to share information that is important.

If you’re looking to organize your marketing strategy with a content Editorial Calendar, but aren’t sure where to begin, let us know. Our marketing department excels in this area and is ready for your call.