Having an editorial calendar is an important part of business today. Use this Editorial Calendar Template to quickly get yours set up and run a more effective content and publishing plan.
Content is king. No matter what industry you are in, and whether you are a startup or large corporation, you need content for branding, marketing, lead generation, fundraising, and customer support.
There is a lot more to an effective content and publishing strategy than most realize. Once you start digging into it, you often find there are a lot more steps, working parts, and details to getting the best results. An editorial calendar can help streamline this, speed things up, and yield optimal outcomes.
Publishing also has to do with the way you go about your content marketing strategy. This is something that top startup accelerators teach how to do extensively so that their startups create organic distribution channels that allow them to grow.
The What & Why of Editorial Calendars
In addition to all of the above, editorial calendars provide an easy view of all of your content-related activities, tasks, and results. This makes it easy to then see what is working well and not, and to optimize for even better results.
An editorial calendar lays out the specifications of the content which should be created, when are where it will be published, can track finished pieces, and more.
It shares publishing times, and content submission deadlines with contributors, creative teams and marketing partners, and clients.
Editorial Calendar Template
Use this template to create your own calendar and system.
Overview
Begin your planning with a quick overview to keep everyone on the same page.
As to not clutter up this document, but to ensure everyone stays on target, you may wish to insert links to your vision and mission statements.
More importantly, you want to list your top objectives, goals, and metrics. What is the main purpose of this content? Is it branding, lead generation, lead nurturing, to support fundraising or customer service?
What metrics will determine these efforts are being successful or need more tweaking? What traffic, lead, and sales goals do you have?
You may also want to reiterate or link to your market research and ideal customer personas to aid all of the individuals working on your content. This will help them customize everything perfectly.
You may even wish to link to your brand style guide and editorial style guide if you have one.
Tools
What software and tools will be used for your content and editorial efforts?
You can include links from your editorial calendar to draft documents stored in the cloud, and live pieces published online.
You may have links to SEO tools, content creation tools, publishing dashboards, and social media management dashboards.
Status & Instructions
Perhaps the most obvious and important use of an editorial calendar template is to layout and be able to view and collaborate on instructions and status.
This is typically done with color-coded fields showing:
- Type of content media
- Content topics and titles
- Keywords to be used
- Links to be used
- Other content parameters, such as word count
- Calls to action to be included
- How content will be syndicated and repurposed
- How you will promote different pieces of content
- Review and editing status
- When it will be published
- Where it will be published
- What the results were (views, clicks, etc.)
This is a collaborative document, which multiple team members can view and edit and work together seamlessly, without being bogged down with emails, phone calls, and meetings. Everything stays in one place for easy review and accuracy.
Who Will Do It
Who is responsible for doing all of these tasks and maintaining reporting on them?
You may have roles for:
- Content strategy
- SEO, identifying keywords, and link building and maintenance
- Content creation (text, images, and video)
- Review, editing, and approval
- Uploading, scheduling, and publishing content
- Tracking and filling in reporting on metrics and results
Summary
An editorial calendar is really a must for every business today. For brand new startups, content can be the most efficient way to get off the ground and get funded. Some have landed millions in funding all because of a single blog post or tweet. For large companies, this is essential for maintaining brand awareness, staying relevant and visible, and fending off new competitors, as well as providing ongoing service and community to customers.
This document will help you work far more efficiently when strategizing, creating and publishing effective content, and getting real results.
BIO
Alejandro Cremades is a serial entrepreneur and the author of The Art of Startup Fundraising. With a foreword by ‘Shark Tank‘ star Barbara Corcoran, and published by John Wiley & Sons, the book was named one of the best books for entrepreneurs. The book offers a step-by-step guide to today‘s way of raising money for entrepreneurs.
Most recently, Alejandro built and exited CoFoundersLab which is one of the largest communities of founders online.
Prior to CoFoundersLab, Alejandro worked as a lawyer at King & Spalding where he was involved in one of the biggest investment arbitration cases in history ($113 billion at stake).
Alejandro is an active speaker and has given guest lectures at the Wharton School of Business, Columbia Business School, and at NYU Stern School of Business.
Alejandro has been involved with the JOBS Act since inception and was invited to the White House and the US House of Representatives to provide his stands on the new regulatory changes concerning fundraising online.
Download this Editorial Calendar Template today to get started.
