Better Content Marketing: How to Create a Good Editorial Plan

The editorial plan is often underestimated by many online marketers. It forms the foundation for successful content marketing. Without a strategic approach, your prepared content will not achieve the desired level of impact. An editorial plan can help you counteract this.

This is why you should create an editorial plan

“Well-prepared is half done.” This saying from popular wisdom expresses in just five words the great advantage an editorial plan offers you. It strategically ties into the content audit. Now you know which content you already offer, which topic areas are over- and under-represented, and where you should focus your efforts.

The absence of an editorial plan affects you in two ways: It is quite likely that your ideas will vanish in the day-to-day business and that due to time pressure or lack of ideas, you will start an ineffective production process. An editorial plan, on the other hand, provides planning certainty. The more precisely you plan, the smoother your projects will run and the more time you will save during implementation. The sooner you identify and correct a mistake, the lower your potential costs will be.

In addition to planning certainty and time savings, an editorial plan offers you increased motivation and flexibility. The plan motivates you to get started on implementing your content ideas. You know what you want to achieve and can work towards it more deliberately. There is also the psychological effect. Set goals want to be achieved. Checking off a task gives you a good feeling and a motivational boost to tackle other tasks promptly.

Even though you have verified and scheduled your content ideas, an editorial plan remains flexible. You can more easily incorporate current news or relevant developments and, if necessary, shift other planned topics.

The path to a good editorial plan

Editorial plans are created in several steps. The approach presented in Miriam Löffler's book “Think Content! Content Strategy, Content Marketing, Writing for the Web” is ideal for editors and online marketers who have little or no experience with an editorial plan and are looking for a strategic yet easily manageable approach. But even experienced editors and online marketers can benefit.

The creation of an editorial plan progresses through three stages: 1. Content Gathering, 2. Content Filtering, and 3. Content Consolidation. Division into these three stages ensures that you do not get sidetracked.

Stage 1: Content Gathering

In the first stage, “Content Gathering,” you collect all content ideas from competitive observations, brainstorming, target group analysis, information from web analytics, etc. This phase is ongoing. That means whenever you have a content idea, you write it down immediately in a document created specifically for this purpose. This could be a Word document or Excel spreadsheet, but also cloud-based solutions like Trello or Wunderlist. The possibilities are varied. The important thing is that you can quickly access the document to record your idea, as there is a high risk that this idea will be forgotten after the next meeting or break.

The following questions can help you gather ideas:

1. What unique selling points do you want to emphasize more?

2. What content are your users expecting?

3. What content are your competitors publishing?

4. Are there pieces of content you have started but not finished?

5. What topics interest your users?

Stage 2: Content Filtering

In the second stage, “Content Filtering,” you evaluate your collected ideas and filter out the unqualified ones. All content that does not contribute to the strategic business goal is struck from the list. Remaining content is further refined and prioritized.

Add the following points to your existing Excel spreadsheet and populate them with the corresponding content:

1. Content format (image, text, video, etc.)

2. Objective (image, reach, traffic, sales increase, backlinks, etc.)

3. Target audience (B2B, B2C, students, etc.)

4. SEO relevance (yes, no)

5. Expected costs (low, medium, high)

In general, during content planning, make sure you address different types of content. You should have the following types of content in your portfolio:

• Bread-and-Butter Content: tested and established content that consumes few resources, time, and budget

• Evolution Content: further development of already existing content

• Innovation Content: trying out new ideas

Stage 3: Content Consolidation

In the third stage, “Content Consolidation,” the content is finally approved, the publication date is set, and it is distributed to participating employees.

Only now does the time component come into play. Look at your content and try to distribute it evenly over the coming weeks or months. Take your Excel spreadsheet again, open a new tab, and call it, for example, “Schedule.” Of course, you can also create a new document. The advantage here is that you have all relevant information consolidated in one place, a circumstance that is particularly useful when several employees are involved.

Finally, create the following columns and fill them in with the corresponding information:

1. Date

2. Theme

3. Area (Performance text Subcategory X, Own Blog, Social Media, etc. - depends on your company)

4. Author

5. URL

6. Distributed channels (Website, Blog, Newsletter, Facebook, Twitter, Guest article, etc.)

7. Status (open, in progress, completed, etc.)

Congratulations. Now you have a completed editorial plan.

What we can do for you

Do you have some content ideas in mind but struggle to validate them? Do you need an objective opinion on which content to focus on and which to discard? Even if you know how to create an editorial plan but have trouble implementing it operationally, internetwarriors GmbH can assist you. Contact us.