Three big reasons to have an editorial calendar

Both non-profit fundraising and small business marketing efforts are based on the same principle—building relationships. And relationships are built on communication. Being inconsistent at communicating leads target audiences to suffer from out-of-sight-out-of-mind syndrome. 

The best way to avoid inconsistent communication, whether it be through newsletters, blogs, or social media posts, is to have an editorial calendar that outlines all plans, ideas, and timelines months in advance. 

The most effective editorial calendars include plans for all marketing strategies in one place—blogs, social media, email newsletters, and more. This way, similar ideas can be grouped together to ensure maximum exposure of every piece of content created. Because remember, a single blog can be published on the website, pushed to various social media channels multiple times, and included in an email newsletter. And, the best way to remember to do all that is to have it all in a calendar.

More than that, here are three reasons why an editorial calendar is a must.

It keeps you from getting stressed about what the next great topic should be

Blogging, social media posts and e-newsletters can be hard, even for great writers. It is not necessarily the writing that’s hard but rather constantly coming up with new ideas can be a challenge. Especially on deadline. 

Overcoming the hurdle of finding fresh topics is easier with an editorial calendar because all of the planning is done in advance. Start by reviewing previous topics for anything that can be expanded on, consider seasonal content, holidays or events months in advance, and plan for targeted material around business-related activities.  

It keeps you consistent

We already mentioned that consistently creating and sharing content is key to an effective marketing or donor communications strategy. Having an editorial calendar helps ensure content is spaced out, rather than published in fits and starts. With an editorial calendar, you can write two weeks of social posts and schedule them so that you see the fruits of your labour each day rather than all at once. (See below for more about scheduling.)

It keeps you from working at the last minute

With an editorial calendar, only last-minute unknowns will catch you by surprise, which makes marketing efforts far less stressful. Working on deadline is something that should be saved for when it really matters — like closing a big deal, or completing a big grant application — not for content marketing. Often, many of the ideas in an editorial calendar are what’s known as evergreen content (content that is not timely and never expires), and as such, it also means it can be prepared in advance. Blogs, social media posts and e-newsletters can all be written ahead of time and queued using scheduling software. Some platforms (such as Facebook or Constant Contact) have robust schedulers built in; for platforms that don’t, use sites like Hootsuite or Later. Vacation time never looked so easy! 

Setting up an editorial calendar is really a game-changer when it comes to daily/weekly/monthly marketing or donor communications efforts. We can help you set one up, just give us a shout!