Editorial calendars, or content calendars, let brands like yours plan regular, targeted content updates to reach your audience in the most effective way possible. Editorial calendars have long been used in print journalism, and they’re equally essential as part of the modern marketing mix.

1. Includes
FREE
content
calendar
template

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INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR?
Editorial calendars, or content calendars,
let brands like yours plan regular, targeted
content updates to reach your audience in
the most effective way possible.
Editorial calendars have long been used
in print journalism, and they’re equally
essential as part of the modern marketing
mix. We’ll show you how to create a digital
editorial calendar to optimise your content
delivery for the web, start engaging your
audience more effectively, and get quality
leads that provide insights into what your
potential customers want.
With an editorial calendar in place, you
can expect:
• A higher volume of better leads.
• More traffic and improved
engagement.
• More social shares and interest.
• Better brand recognition.
• Recognition as a trusted authority.
• More conversions and more profit for
your business.

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CONTENT MARKETING AND THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION
“The digital revolution is far more
significant than the invention of writing
or even of printing.” Doug Engelbart
It’s so easy to forget just how much the
web has changed our lives, not to mention
our jobs.
The control of information is no longer in
the hands of newspapers and traditional
publishers. Any brand with a blog
can potentially reach a readership of
millions. And the social media revolution
has destroyed all obstacles to direct
communication with customers.
There are now billions of Internet users
worldwide*, and they’re hungry for useful
information. They’re hungry for great content.
Any company, in any industry, can take
advantage of this opportunity. But becoming
a successful content marketer means
ditching the old digital norms.
You need to take the traditional approach
to publishing, and apply it to the new.You
need a structured content plan that allows
you to publish a steady stream of engaging
content, and gives you the freedom and
focus to adapt to big happenings and
interest trends.
Structured content marketing is the key to
digital marketing success, whether your
business needs better leads, more traffic or
wider recognition.
The alternative: Abandoned blogs that
advertise a lack of commitment. Rushed
content regurgitated from other sites.
Your business, left behind by content-
savvy competition.
ANY COMPANY, IN ANY
INDUSTRY, CAN TAKE
ADVANTAGE OF THIS
OPPORTUNITY. BUT BECOMING
A SUCCESSFUL CONTENT
MARKETER MEANS DITCHING
THE OLD DIGITAL NORMS.

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SIX BENEFITS OF CREATING A CONTENT CALENDAR
ENSURE A STEADY STREAM
OF PUBLISHED CONTENT THAT
SUPPORTS YOUR STRATEGY.
Your content strategy needs purpose.
Simply writing and publishing whatever
takes your fancy is like throwing darts
blindfolded – you might hit the target every
now and then, but it’s much harder to
predict which throws will strike. And you’ll
have trouble measuring success too.
Define goals and key performance indicators
for your content marketing efforts, just as
you would with any other digital marketing
campaign. Then use your content calendar to
plan and publish a steady stream of content
that supports your goal – whether this is lead
generation, improved engagement, more
traffic, or all of the above.
No matter the results you’re aiming for, the
road to success is the same – produce
quality content targeted to your audience
personas to build and nurture your user
base. Because users who are invested
in your brand are more likely to become
committed customers.
GET A CLEAR VIEW
OF CONTENT FOR THE
WEEKS AHEAD
Getting the balance of quality and
quantity right can be tough. But there’s a
bigger and tougher problem to solve – the
problem of consistency.
It’s all very well to promise yourself you’ll
publish ten blogs each month, but if your
resources are stretched and you don’t have a
clear plan of action, this is unlikely to happen.
What’s more likely is that you’ll end up
publishing a raft of blogs in week four, diluting
their effect and throwing a spanner into the
nurturing process.
Putting a content calendar together ensures
you have clear visibility of upcoming content,
and when it needs to be published.This
makes it much, much easier to plan your
time effectively, so your content is written and
published at the optimum time.
When is the ‘optimum time’? Well, that brings
us on to our next point…
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CREATE CONTENT
PROACTIVELY.
Big news story? Emerging trend? Special
event? These are perfect opportunities to
publish some relevant content and benefit
from a surge in user interest.
But if you miss the boat by even a day or
two, it’s likely this wave of interest will have
died down, and – to continue the watery
metaphors – your content will look like a bit of
a wet fish.
A content calendar lets you identify
opportunities in advance, and ensure you
have some highly relevant content ready
to go out when demand is peaking. These
opportunities could be as simple as a public
holiday, like Halloween, or a key product
launch. But by using tools like Google Trends,
you can identify less obvious opportunities
that other publishers might miss.
The scope is limitless. But without a clear
content plan, chances are you’ll have to
publish your content reactively, rather than
proactively. In other words, you’ll have to
publish your content when the world has
stopped listening.
COLLABORATE AND
BRAINSTORM TO CREATE
BETTER CONTENT.
Robert Wilensky once said: “We’ve
all heard that a million monkeys
banging on a million typewriters will
eventually reproduce the entire works of
Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet,
we know this is not true.”
Humorous though they are, Wilensky’s
remarks are not entirely accurate. Digital
publishing has given more people more
access to a wider range of content than ever
before. But Wilensky had a point – when
everyone is a publisher, you have to work
harder to stand out.
It’s not enough to publish content regularly.
You have to publish great content regularly.
A well-designed editorial calendar can help you
create better content. Get your calendar right,
and it will act as much more than a content
diary – it will act as a platform for collaboration,
brainstorming and resource management.
Don’t simply copy your competitors. Get
every expert in your business involved in
generating content ideas. Widen the scope of
your expertise. Start producing content that’s
worth copying.
Collaborators could include people who
don’t usually work on content. It’s likely that
product managers, directors, call centre staff,
salespeople and technical experts would have
plenty to say that your usual content creators
(and competitors) would never think of saying.
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If an external agency works on your content
as well, it’s important to get them involved
in idea creation. Make sure they’re as well-
informed about your products, services and
ethos as you are, and put their outsiders’
insight to good use in brainstorming sessions.
TIE IN YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA
STRATEGY.
If a tree falls in a forest, and there’s
nobody around to hear it, does it make
a sound?
If a brand publishes great content, and
there’s nobody there to read it, is it
worth bothering?
Simply publishing content does not constitute
a content strategy. To really reap the benefits
of your creative content, you’ve got to work
hard to let your audience know it’s there.
Social media is one of the key delivery
channels for content. Your social audience
is not only ready to consume great content,
they expect it. They’re waiting for the next
great thing to land in their feed, so you
should make every effort to make sure your
content is ready when your customers are
ready to receive it.
Every company is different, and the way
you use social media will vary widely
depending on your aims, your audience and
your industry. But integrating social media
planning with your editorial calendar is a
crucial step in ensuring all your content
delivery channels are aligned with your
wider strategy.
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EVERY COMPANY IS
DIFFERENT, AND THE WAY YOU
USE SOCIAL MEDIA WILL VARY
WIDELY DEPENDING ON YOUR
AIMS, YOUR AUDIENCE AND
YOUR INDUSTRY.

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TRACK CONTENT
MARKETING PROGRESS.
Without defining goals and planning
delivery, you can’t track the progress of your
content marketing campaign. But with a
content calendar, everything you publish
can – and should – be tracked, reported on
and learnt from.
By keeping all your planning and reporting
in the same place, you can effectively apply
learnings to all aspects of your content
marketing efforts. This is important because
even the smallest consideration – from the
time you send an email to the style of blog
headlines you use – can vary depending on
industry, location and other factors.
It makes sense to research and follow best
practices, but the only way to truly optimise
your content marketing efforts is to test, track,
learn and repeat.
WITHOUT DEFINING GOALS
AND PLANNING DELIVERY, YOU
CAN’T TRACK THE PROGRESS
OF YOUR CAMPAIGN.
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HOW TO MAKE AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR
THE INGREDIENTS OF A GREAT CONTENT CALENDAR
1. A content schedule
Your content schedule is the hub of your content calendar. In fact, it’s the hub of your entire
content marketing strategy.
This is where you plan content delivery over the coming weeks, or months. It lets you align
content marketing activities for the best impact, and plan ahead for key events and trends.
The example above is for a B2C retailer, but the content types and layout can be adjusted to suit
your own needs and goals.
An important aspect of the content schedule is the ‘Outcomes’ column. The key to a robust
content strategy is learning from what worked and what didn’t hit the mark, and applying these
learnings to future content.
Note outcomes in this column to track which experiments went awry, and which content took off
with your audience.
Date Day Important
dates
Blog posts Press
releases
eBooks Emails Infographics Website
content
Other Outcomes
01/01/2018 Monday JANUARY SALE
LAUNCH
JANUARY
SALE EBOOK
JANUARY
SALE EMAIL
JANUARY
SALE LANDING
PAGE
02/01/2018 Tuesday BLOG 1
03/01/2018 Wednesday COMPETITION
LAUNCH
BLOG 2 COMPETITION
PRESS
RELEASE
Media
interview
with CEO
04/01/2018 Thursday BLOG 3
05/01/2018 Friday INDUSTRY
EVENT
BLOG 4

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HOW TO MAKE AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR
2. A hub for content ideas
Your content calendar can be much more than a list of dates and actions. It can become a forum
for collaboration, brainstorming and resource management.
For a successful content strategy, you should encourage everyone who’s engaged with
marketing your business to be engaged with content publishing. Foster a collaborative culture,
where everybody shares ideas via the content calendar.
Contributors don’t necessarily need to write these posts, but their unique set of expertise,
skills and opinions will help keep your content offering fresh, varied and unique. And the more
contributors you have, the more chance you have of establishing your brand as the industry
expert.
This section can also help you plan who writes what, and when – as well as SEO keywords, key
outreach targets, and more.
Topic/Title Content type Suggested by Possible
Author
Resources Content goal Persona
target
Keyword
targets
Outreach
targets
Notes
Funny Hats:
The New Trend
Sweeping
America
Blog post Joe Bloggs Joe Bloggs See blog at
funnyhats.com
Engagement Suzie Stylish funny hats,
weird hats
The Anatomy of
a Great Winter
Outfit
Infographic Joe Bloggs John Johnson Refer to latest
catalogue insert
for examples.
Social shares Suzie Stylish winter clothing,
winter fashion,
winter outfit
Fashion
blogs, social
influencers
Five Shoe
Brands Adored
by the Stars
Blog Post Jane Normal Jane Normal N/A Engagement Suzie Stylish celebrity shoes
The Definitive
Guide to Dog
Grooming
eBook Jane Normal Joe Bloggs See email. Lead capture Dave
Dogsworth
dog grooming,
dog fashion,
canine care
Dog grooming
websites, social
influencers

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HOW TO MAKE AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR
3. A social plan
Most social media management tools
include some functionality for scheduling
tweets, posts and updates. Even if you make
extensive use of these tools, however, it can
still be useful to map out your strategy on
your content calendar. This provides a central
hub for your social media team to work from,
ensuring all social activity is aligned with your
overall content strategy and goals.
As mentioned earlier, your social strategy will
be unique to your business. We recommend
you use tools and tracking to learn how best
to use social media, and build out this section
of your content calendar accordingly.You may
find that tweeting more often works for you,
for example – or publishing Facebook posts
at different times of the day.
It’s also important to consider how the
content you publish and the messaging you
use may vary across social platforms. A fun,
light-hearted Facebook update may not work
as well on LinkedIn, for example.
YOU MAY FIND THAT
TWEETING MORE OFTEN
WORKS FOR YOU, FOR
EXAMPLE – OR PUBLISHING
FACEBOOK POSTS AT
DIFFERENT TIMES OF THE DAY.
W/C 01/01/2018 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Important dates January sale starts Big New Year Competition
launch
Key product launch
Blog content “10 New Year Trends You
Don’t Want to Miss”
Big New Year Competition
blog
Product launch blog
Other content Make Big Savings in our
January Sale - eBook
Tweet 1
9:00 AM
January sale eBook Promote Tuesday blog post Promote Wednesday blog
post
Conversational tweet Promote Friday blog post
Tweet 2
11:20 AM
Conversational tweet January sale eBook Conversational tweet Promote Thursday blog post Promote Thursday blog post
Tweet 3
2:30 PM
January sale eBook Conversational tweet Promote Tuesday blog post Promote Wednesday blog
post
Promote Friday blog post
Tweet 4
7:00 PM
Conversational tweet Promote Tuesday blog post Promote Wednesday blog
post
Promote Thursday blog post Conversational tweet –
product launch
Facebook
11:00
January sale eBook Tuesday blog post Wednesday blog post Thursday blog post Friday blog post
Facebook
18:00
Conversational post Conversational post Promotional post – Big New
Year Competition
Conversational post Promotional post – Big New
Year Competition
LinkedIn Promote media interview
with CEO
Google+ January sale eBook Tuesday blog post Big New Year Competition Thursday blog post Product launch

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HOW TO MAKE AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR
4. A list of contacts and influencers
Outreaching to influencers and leveraging
existing contacts is a valuable way to build
your brand’s voice, authority and influence.
Use your content calendar to maintain a list of
crucial contacts, noting important information
about them and tracking the progress of
your relationship.
Again, build this out to suit your own marketing
and outreach activities. For example, although
Twitter follower counts and Klout scores
(https://klout.com/) are good measures of a
person’s social influence, you may decide
to include other metrics that better suit
your business.
Type Name Expertise Twitter URL Twitter
Username
Number of
Followers
Klout Score Contact
Address/URL
Website URL Notes
Influencer Sue Popular Fashion Etc... Etc.. Etc.. Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc...
Influencer John Knowsalot Jewellery Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc...
Associate Mindy Business Marketing Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc...
Blogger Bob Gossip Celebrity Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc...
Journalist Tricia
Wordsworth
Fashion Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc... Etc...
OUTREACHING TO
INFLUENCERS AND
LEVERAGING EXISTING
CONTACTS IS A VALUABLE
WAY TO BUILD YOUR
BRAND’S VOICE, AUTHORITY
AND INFLUENCE

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HOW TO MAKE AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR
5. Reporting dashboards
Your content strategy is nothing if you
can’t effectively report on progress and key
performance indicators. Building reporting
dashboards into your content calendar
makes it easy to adjust your strategy based
on learnings gleaned from your reports.
The table above is an example of a reporting
dashboard for measuring engagement across
various marketing channels. But you’ll almost
certainly need to build in more detailed
reporting capabilities than this.You can, and
should, report at a much more granular level.
For example, by reporting on metrics for
individual blog posts and emails, and – if
your strategy is focussed on lead generation
– by tracking the number of leads gained
through separate channels.
With robust reporting in place, you can
test the effectiveness of every facet of your
content marketing efforts, from the value of
blog headlines, to the optimum time to send
emails and social media updates.
Your free editorial calendar template
includes many more examples of reporting
dashboards. Download yours using the link
on the following page.
Month/Year Monthly
Traffic
Average
bounce rate
Average pages
per visit
Average session
duration
Blog
traffic
Email traffic Facebook
traffic
Twitter traffic Etc…
November 2017 13,545 50% 3.5 2:02 5,532 Etc… Etc… Etc… Etc…
December 2017 14,015 48% 3.7 2:10 6,334 Etc… Etc… Etc… Etc…
January 2018
YOUR FREE EDITORIAL
CALENDAR TEMPLATE
INCLUDES MANY MORE
EXAMPLES OF REPORTING
DASHBOARDS. DOWNLOAD
YOURS USING THE LINK ON
THE FOLLOWING PAGE.

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WHAT NEXT?
DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE EDITORIAL
CALENDAR TEMPLATE
We’ve put together a free example editorial
calendar to get you started. Download yours
at: http://clikth.ru/ctm-calendar
Now start publishing!
WANT HELP WITH YOUR
CONTENT STRATEGY?
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of brands get better leads and improve ROI
with quality, web-friendly content.
We’re proud to have some of the industry’s
most qualified content marketing, search,
social media and conversion experts on our
team. And we’ve worked with household
names like Dunelm, Peugeot and Halfords
Autocentres, as well as enterprising SMEs
across a wide range of sectors.
Our creative content marketing got us
to the finals of the first-ever RAR Digital
Awards, whilst our friendly, honest approach
means we’ve built up genuine and trusting
relationships with our clients.
Want content that your competitors would kill
for? Need a strategy that delivers great results
and is firmly tied to your KPIs?
Talk to our experts now on 0800 088 7486.
http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/
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internetlivestats.com/internet-users/
CLICKTHROUGH MARKETING
HAS HELPED DOZENS
OF BRANDS GET BETTER
LEADS AND IMPROVE
ROI WITH QUALITY, WEB-
FRIENDLY CONTENT.

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ClickThrough is a digital marketing
agency, providing web development,
search engine optimisation, pay
per click management, conversion
optimisation and content marketing
services.
Since 2004, ClickThrough has helped
several companies from big brands to
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digital marketing investment, and stretch
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for money.
We pride ourselves on giving honest
advice based on the latest digital
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