A calendar by itself isn’t particularly helpful, but the magic comes from what you put into it. When approached correctly, your calendar can drive your content marketing in the right direction. This guide will help you get started. Here’s what we’ll be covering: 1. The Point of Content Marketing (The Why) 2. Channels (The Where) 3. Formats (The How) 4. Topics (The What) 5. Scheduling (The When)

1. Content Calendar:
The Key to Effective
and Efficient
Content Marketing

2. Here’s what we’ll be covering in this guide:
One of the hardest parts of pulling off content marketing is developing some kind of
structure to the types of content you are producing. It takes a framework to make sure
1. The Point of Content Marketing (The Why)
you can A.) consistently put out valuable content and B.) do it efficiently enough that
you can still meet all the other demands on your time. 2. Channels (The Where)
Obviously there’s more to achieving a well-oiled content machine than placing
seven columns on a piece of paper with the days of the week written across the top. 3. Formats (The How)
A calendar by itself isn’t particularly helpful. The magic is in what you put on that
calendar. When approached correctly, your calendar can be the engine that drives
your content marketing. 4. Topics (The What)
5. Scheduling (The When)
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3. Build loyalty
Your customers are always thinking, “What have you done for me lately?” Content marketing provides a
platform to stay in front of your customers and remind them that you are 1.) knowledgeable 2.) thinking
about how to solve their problems and 3.) giving them valuable content they actually use.
Arm referral partners and advocates
When one of your loyal fans wants to tell a friend about you, how does that look? Is your fan fumbling for
1. The Point of words and struggling to encapsulate your key message in a way that resonates with your target audience? Just
because someone loves you doesn’t mean your biggest admirer has the necessary skill set and information to
Content Marketing
sell you.
Content marketing gives your fans some ammunition. They can not only convey their passion for your
business, but can also follow it up by sharing a link to a video, a workbook or an outstanding article.
(The Why) Leverage great stories
When you come up with a great story in your business—a case study, a local event or a piece demonstrating
A few decades ago, you could have a successful marketing campaign simply by throwing enough money thought-leadership in your industry—how many people see that story? If you’re anything like most
around. Get enough expensive television spots and newspaper ads, and you could bring in the customers. organizations, that story shows up in one or two places, gets a press release and is then forgotten.
Today people use so many channels to consume news and entertainment that it’s incredibly difficult to get Content marketing pushes you to take that story and reshape it to be told across all of the channels where
your message heard by everyone in one fell swoop. You need to focus on a more specific target market AND your brand has a presence.
you have to convince that market that you are a likable authority in this niche.
The most direct, scalable approach to this is to consistently produce engaging content: blog posts, videos, What a finished calendar looks like
podcasts, newsletters, etc.
What your content marketing can do for you
Shorten your sales cycle
Content marketing can significantly speed up several steps in the sales cycle.
Lead generation - When marketing is working well, a portion of your leads are going to seek you out.
All you need to do is qualify them. This is true of all forms of marketing, and content marketing is
no exception. The right way to format your calendar is whatever way is easiest for you to use. If chicken scratch in a spiral
Establish credibility - Positioning yourself as an expert in this particular area (because you are) helps notebook is what makes sense to you and gets you motivated to create content, do that. The two versions
people believe that you are not a fly-by-night operation. Anyone can file for a business permit and that make the most sense to me are a spreadsheet and a grid view.
throw a website up, but a history of consistently talking about your subject area to a group of loyal
followers is harder to fake. The spreadsheet is a good choice if you are planning out less frequent activity over a longer period of time. If
Develop trust - Beyond believing you have the ability to deliver a high-quality solution, prospects you are doing one or two content pieces a week and you want to view the next quarter’s activity on one page,
needs to believe that your expertise is going to be at full strength on their projects. Consistently a spreadsheet makes it easy to see everything organized in one place.
demonstrating results for all of your clients through content marketing is a straightforward way to
nurture this type of trust. If you are doing activity on a daily basis, the calendar grid can make it much easier to see how all the pieces fit
Stay top of mind - It takes more than one great blog post to draw people in. You need to be together, when new posts need to be ready and how the stories fit together with local news and other items
consistently producing value. on your calendar.
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4. Podcast Social
A podcast gives you access to a unique audience Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter
that likes to consume content in the car and on and LinkedIn are platforms where you can
the treadmill. Unlike a visual consumer, who often promote content. Like any other channel, there
has his mouse hovering over the back button on are a few ways to do it well and a lot of ways to do
his browser waiting for the slightest reason to it poorly. First and foremost, make sure you are
bounce away from your content, these listeners providing value to your social connections. Since
have usually blocked out at least the length of their you’re going to be producing valuable content,
evening commute or morning run to consume pushing that content on your social channels is
content. appropriate.
There’s a misconception that podcasts are Just make sure you are also participating on these
2. Channels difficult to create, and that perceived barrier
to entry means a lot less noise for you to cut
through to reach your audience. If you can shift
platforms socially. Listen and react to what other
people are doing. It isn’t solely a channel for you to
broadcast your message.
(The Where) the administrative and logistic tasks of formatting
and uploading the audio files, actually recording
a podcast can take significantly less time than Guest author
providing the same content in writing.
As you come up with great content, you’ll be pushing it out among several channels. You may not use If you can find opportunities to get in front of
every channel on this list—and you may have other channels that aren’t listed here. The important thing to someone else’s audience (assuming there is
remember is you want to decide on a frequency at which you’ll be adding content that you can stick to. Press releases significant overlap with your target market) it is a
fantastic opportunity. These opportunities might
If you provide valuable content consistently, you’ll develop a loyal audience in each of these seven outlets. A press release is a notice you send to media include a column in a serial publication where you
publications to provide a suggestion for a story share your opinion in your area of expertise, give
they could run. They will likely need to do a little an interview to someone or write a guest post on
Blog Email list more research, and they absolutely write the someone else’s blog.
piece themselves, but you provide the highlights.
Regardless of what other channels you decide Whether you publish a regular email newsletter It is very easy to do a bad press release, and it’s a
to adopt, your blog must be part of your or just send sporadic messages as needed, your waste of time to do so because it’s just going to be Speaking
content marketing plan. This is the area on your email list is one of the most powerful digital assets immediately thrown away.
website where you can quickly and easily add you own. These people have opted in to receive One of the most effective ways to establish
announcements and new content. By default, messages from you. As long as you are providing A good press release looks for a unique, expertise in your industry is to get up in front of
blogging platforms are built for publishing and true value to your email list, these people will stay newsworthy angle to the story. How does this news people and speak. You can start small by running
engagement, and many platforms also do a good subscribed and be receptive when you include an affect the community? What are you doing that’s a workshop or a lunch-and-learn. Eventually you
job of formatting the code to be search-engine email that presents your product or service. never been done before? Why are you excited can work up to appearing on panels or giving
friendly. about it—besides the idea of making money? presentations at industry conferences. In broad
terms, speaking is extremely scalable. You can
Much of your online activity on other sites (and should) repeat your presentations and adapt
(notably your social networks such as Facebook them to almost any size audience.
and Twitter) is going to be driving traffic back to
your blog.
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5. Blog content
Cornerstone content Debunk a myth
The backbone of your content is going to No matter what industry you work in, people make
be powerful flagship pieces that provide a false assumptions about what you do. A common
comprehensive view on a particular topic. If you misconception: they assume certain steps in your
make maps for a living, you’ll probably want to process should be free or easy. Set them straight
create a piece of cornerstone content about with a post where you go through one or more
cartography software that is an authoritative myths that your target audience believes and
resource for a beginner who wants to learn about explain why they’re not true.
cartography software.
3. Formats You’ll create more content about some of the finer
points of cartography software later, and those
pieces will all contain links back to this overarching
Take a controversial stance
There’s a right way and a wrong way to do this.
(The How) view of the topic. Do not make up some inflammatory viewpoint
you don’t actually feel strongly about just to draw
some attention. Instead, identify polarizing topics
where you truly believe one perspective has your
Tutorial (How to...) enthusiastic support. Write a post that respectfully
Social broadcast brings up the topic and why you feel the way you
The tutorial should be another staple of your
blogging regimen. The best way to demonstrate do. Don’t insult the opposition, but be firm and
A big part of your social media activity should be based on interaction with other people, but you will also be
your expertise on a subject is to explain to clear about your thoughts on the matter.
adding your own original content to the mix from time to time. Here are some ideas to get you thinking.
someone else how to do it. The more you can
simplify a complex idea into sequential steps an
Pull quotes - If you have a particular sentence or two from something you’ve written that is powerful average person can wrap their brain around, the Case study of one of your victories
or encapsulates a point well, it would probably make a good status update shared over social media. better you understand that idea. Is that actually
A case study is so useful because you paint a
Illustrated pull quotes - Visual content is particularly popular over social media and more frequently true? Maybe. Is that how people perceive it?
picture for your prospective customers of what
shared, so put that pull quote over a compelling image or jazz it up with a little design. Without question.
they should expect when they work with you. You
Statistics and trivia - Bite-sized nuggets of information fit very nicely into the social format, and it is
will certainly share case studies that had a positive
typically very easy to prepare and schedule a lot of these in advance.
end result, but you can also make your case study
Links to other sites - It isn’t all about you. You can get on the radar of people who can help you in Get an interview truly impactful if you share challenges that came
your industry and provide value to your customers by sharing links to great online resources for
up during the process—even mistakes that you
your industry. What if you want to create blog posts about
made—and how you resolved them.
Memes - A popular practice on the Internet is to take a particular picture and add a humorous or topics about which you only have rudimentary
thought-provoking caption. You can pick one of these viral images, and create your own caption. knowledge? Find experts. Reach out to people
(If this is all new to you, get started at http://www.quickmeme.com/.) with experience or credentials that qualify them to
Questions - Just ask people a question for their opinion or preferences. This works best if you already share their expertise and ask questions to fill in the
have a handful of actively engaged followers on whatever platform you try. gaps in your own understanding of the topic. Turn
the result into a Q & A post.
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6. Comprehensive list Roundup Video Curated rankings/scores
The Internet loves a good list. In addition to being You aren’t limited to only talking about the great If you can find a relatively quiet spot with good You know more about the tools and approaches
easy to read, a blog post that breaks an idea down content you’ve created yourself. You can also lighting, you can use your webcam or even a good used in your industry because you do it every day.
into its constituent parts is also easy to write. demonstrate your expertise by showing that you mobile phone to shoot an informal video where Share your expertise and grade or rank some of
There’s some overlap here as almost any style of stay on top of what other people in your field are you just chat about a topic for a few minutes. the best software and techniques to help your
blog post can be formatted as a list. creating. A roundup lets you share all the great Bonus points for editing the video and editing in audience understand just how good you are at
content that other people are sharing around a music and images, but that’s not required. what you do.
certain idea. Add a few sentences of commentary
Red flag on each piece about why it’s great, and you’ve
provided a valuable service to your readers. Survey + industry report Google map mashup
No one likes to realize after the fact that they
made a bad decision. Maybe that’s why people This is a long game, but if you have access to Create a custom map in Google Maps of locations
gravitate to a post that gives them warning signs Book review a sufficient number of your target audience that are important to your audience. Embed that
before they go down the wrong path. Share the red members (online or offline), you can send out a map in a web page and provide a little commentary
flags that would indicate someone is working with Leverage the name recognition of authors by survey and compile the findings into an industry on each location.
a service provider or using a product that is not writing a review of books on your industry or report.
going to give them the result they are looking for. It business in general. Talking about where you
goes without saying that you can then advise them agree and disagree will help people more quickly
to call you for the right solution. understand how you position yourself in your
industry.
Crowd-sourced question
Infographic
Once you start to develop a following, you can
kill several birds with one stone: create content, The mega-infographics made popular by the SEO
engage your audience and do a little market industry have fallen out of favor, but you can still
research by throwing a question out there to your get a good response with a focused infographic
followers. Make sure your question is on a topic that takes one piece of data and represents it
that is important to your community and closely visually. Picture the graphs that accompany articles
moderate the responses for anyone getting a little in smart magazines, and you’re on the right track.
too passionate in their responses.
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7. New products/services
A compelling reason to build up an audience with content marketing is so you have a large pool of people to
talk to when you roll out a new product or service. Make sure your content is built around the benefits your
customers will get instead of the features of the product. Be specific.
Awards
For almost every business, modesty is overrated. Whenever you receive some recognition, don’t be afraid to
toot your own horn. What did you do to win the award, and how is it indicative of the quality a new customer
should expect if they start working with you today.
Sponsorships
4. Topics
You should sponsor organizations because you believe in their mission and want to help them succeed.
That being said, you should also share these sponsorships with your audience. It makes them feel good to
know that when they buy your goods and services, a portion of their money goes to support worthwhile
(The What)
organizations. You can also see increased business as supporters of the organizations you sponsor want to
support and increase that engagement. Don’t forget you’re also giving the organization extra exposure by
talking about the sponsorship.
Local events
One of the advantages of a content calendar is that it helps you stay focused on the topics that are going to
help move your business in the direction you’ve outlined in your marketing strategy. Rather than sitting down When you interact with people face to face in a professional capacity, you are promoting to them directly.
at the computer wondering what to write about in the blog post that’s supposed to be published in the next There’s also a secondary promotional echo if you create content around the event itself. Even the members
hour, you decide ahead of time what you’ll be covering. Whenever you sit down to start creating your actual of your audience who can’t (or don’t want to) interact with you at events will view you as more authentic and
content, you’ll already know the topic. personal if you talk about the people with whom you did make a personal connection.
Link love
Questions from customers
You don’t need a formal agreement to support other businesses and organizations. If you come across a cool
One of the best sources for content is your customers. They’re nice enough to tell you exactly what question business that is not a direct competitor, but has similar values and a similar audience to yours, talk them up
you should be answering with your content if you are willing to listen. Ask your sales team, customer service to your audience and send some attention their way. If it’s a business worth talking about, your audience will
department and anyone else who has direct interactions with your customers to share what questions they appreciate learning about them. They might even return the favor.
get asked over and over again.
Keep asking for more questions until you’ve compiled a list of at least 50 questions. (It won’t take you long to
reach that number.) Each question is a blog post, podcast, article, or other content piece.
Get bonus SEO points by using the exact question as the title for your content. The words and phrasing of
the question are clues to how your customer thinks—and how they would type the question into a search
engine.
Long tail search
As the search traffic to your site increases over time, you’ll start to notice occasional visitors who stumble
across your site while looking up a search term that you weren’t intending to target. Ask yourself what need
these people are trying to satisfy with this search. Craft a message that speaks directly to them and put that
on the page where they are entering your site.
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8. 5. Scheduling Conclusion
(The When)
The most fundamental part of the content calendar approach is to create the necessary time to plan your
calendar in advance. Make it a recurring event in your personal schedule if necessary, and make sure your
content strategy team has the available time to think about your next 30 days of content without distraction.
You are now armed with the pieces you need to put together your content calendar. Begin planning monthly The decisions that come out of this meeting will dictate how a lot of your promotional time and money will
meetings with your content strategy team to build out your calendar for the following month. Depending on be focused in the coming weeks. It’s worth making sure your team is giving the discussion their undivided
how much content you create and how frequently your industry changes, you may need to meet more or less attention.
often, but a month is a good place to start as you get your feet wet.
6. Bonus: Promotion (The Now What?)
Define your schedule Now that you’ve mastered consistently putting up focused content that is in line with your big picture
Think about the channels you are using (blog, Facebook, newsletter, etc.) and how frequently you are marketing objectives, what’s next? The answer is to get your content in front of as large an audience as
pushing content across each channel. From this you can list the “slots” you need to fill in your calendar. possible.
These slots are just for your broadcast content. Even if you only publish original content to your Twitter account The key to successful, profitable content marketing is not shouting into the darkness. Before you can connect
once a day, you still need to be prepared to interact with your audience reactively when they instigate an interaction with your potential customers, you have to get your message in front of them.
with you.
For exclusive video content about what to do next, head to
Fill the schedule http://www.silversquareinc.com/nowwhat
Start matching topics (The What) and formats (The How) together to create headlines for your future
content pieces. The headlines may eventually change, but it’s helpful at this point to create a title you can use
as a reference.
I recommend jotting down combinations of topics and formats in a general list first, and listing more than you
could possible use in the next 30 days. Once you have a long list of headlines, you can pull the best and plug
those into the slots on your schedule where they make the most sense.
If you are having trouble building out your list, start randomly selecting format and topic combinations. Some
of the mixes might not make sense, but don’t abandon every pair that doesn’t make sense right off the bat.
The most unlikely combinations can make for the most interesting, popular content pieces.
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