One way to ensure you stay on track with your content marketing goals is to create the perfect content calendar. While you might think you don’t need one because there will always be something to write about, blogging or posting on social media without a plan won’t get you anywhere.

 9 Steps to Creating the Perfect Content Calendar

1. Write down all your ideas / original angles etc.
2. Identify the requirements of each idea (ie. Imagery needed, data needed, research needed etc.)
3. Identify the objective or goal of each idea (ie. Sales, education, newsjacking, inbound lead generation, promotions, branding etc.)
4. Know your keywords. Identify the keywords/target you are trying to reach. Write them down alongside the topic idea.
5. Utilize the 80/20 % rule. 80 % of your content should be what the visitor wants to read and 20% should be sales/promotion/company news related.
6. Look at your sales cycle and seasonal themes and plan ahead. Did you know large publishing outlets often plan 6 months ahead? That’s right, while we’re all at the beach, they are planning their Christmas content!
7. After you have brainstormed topics, and identified requirements and objectives, place your ideas into the various categories of your business.
8. Create the calendar. Whether on paper or on the computer, use an actual calendar to schedule your posts. You may wish to color-code by category or type (ie. Social media or blog).
9. Be flexible. While it is important to stick to you calendar, it is also important to allow for flexibility. Important, time-sensitive ideas come up that need to either be added in or may need to replace a post in your calendar.