The success of inbound marketing depends, among other things, on proper planning.

This includes defining the frequency of production and publication of blog content, release dates, and a plan for social networking.

To ensure the organization of these processes and the alignment of the entire marketing team with so much information, an excellent tactic is to formulate an editorial calendar.

But what, after all, is an editorial calendar?

Learn how to make one and why it is so essential to your content marketing strategy.

Have you stopped to tell how many articles, ebooks, posts on social networks, videos and webinars do you receive or read per day? Dozens! 

Content creation is a big part of any Inbound Marketing Strategy so it's no wonder that the amount of content being created is growing.

That means that for your company to excel through this avalanche of content, producing good materials is just the beginning.

It is necessary that each piece of content is aimed at the right person at the right time and part of a well-defined strategy.

Like all areas of your business, content marketing also demands efficient management. And organizing a content calendar is a good way to get started. 

A. Increased frequency of publications

It helps maintain a consistent publishing frequency, and this has a direct influence on organic traffic: according to Content Trends survey, companies that publish 13 or more content per month generate twice as many visits to your site / blog.


B. Greater alignment of the marketing team

From the editorial calendar, content planning becomes documented and, like all components of a content marketing strategy, it must be shared with your marketing team.

This ensures that the team will be in line with all deadlines, themes and launch dates and disclosure.

C. Test different content formats

This is another advantage of being able to consult the content already produced and published in your blog.

From the editorial calendar, evaluate the formats used in each of the materials and try to diversify them.

There are many options, but some content formats that you can use are: success stories; blog articles; videos; webinars; e-books; research reports and infographics.

The Best Marketing Strategies

There is no perfect step by step to creating a marketing plan, but there are steps to follow that are part of every good plan!

Follow them to know more about each one.


Planning

Conducting planning is the first step in crafting a good marketing plan.

Through the planning will define the objectives and the goals to be achieved with the elaboration and execution of the marketing plan.

To facilitate the achievement of the objectives defined in the marketing plan, it is interesting to prepare a summary of this so that the team focuses on the desired result with the implementation of the marketing plan.

Lack of planning is a common feature of all marketing plans that do not meet their goals!

Simply because without knowing what needs to be done, it is much harder to actually do something.

Planning is so important that it is common for specialized teams to take care of this part.

So make the best planning you can!

Perform Analysis of the segment in which the company is inserted

Before beginning the development of a marketing plan, the company needs to know all the factors (whether internal or external) that influence the area where it is inserted; know the situation of your product or service in the market and know the real capabilities (positive and negative) of your company before the market.

From the analysis of the segment and how your company is in the market, the developed marketing plan can generate results in the short and long term.

It is essential that the company has performed the analysis of the environment and the factors that may influence its activity, as a precaution in the elaboration of its marketing plan so that it does not generate excessive expectations.

Segmentation

The segment can be divided into micro and macro environment.

Environments that influence the operation of the company on several fronts.

Macro environments are those that work in broader spheres, such as economics, politics, legal, culture, demography, natural and technological.

These factors are difficult to control and usually work according to the country / city where the company is located.

The microenvironment is internal and operates in the basic operation of the company.

They are microenvironments suppliers, customers, intermediaries, competitors and target audience, that is, all the important stakeholders of your business.

Understanding how environment influences your company's performance within the marketplace is important in finding the best actions within the plan.

Get to know your customers and define your audience

The company needs to know its customers and its target audience in order to create its marketing plan.

The marketing plan needs to be geared directly to reach the target audience, those people who will consume the products and services provided by the company.

Constant and detailed analysis of the market

This is important to understand when and how your customer seeks to acquire your product or service, so that you seek to meet the needs of customers, so that they can consume your product or service, be satisfied and become faithful to your brand.

If you follow the blog constantly, you already know the best way to define the perfect audience for your company (and your marketing plan): raising people!

If you are not already familiar with these steps, do not worry! Let's take it easy...

Personas

Are semiformal profiles of your ideal client, they are personified representations of a wider market.

Personas are important because they come out of the generalization of the target audience and allow you to focus your communication to a real person, a profile that demonstrates how the ideal client of your company would be and how he would like to have contact with your business.

To create a persona, you first need to have a clear target audience, only then will you have enough information to begin your buyer persona.

Know and analyze your competition

It is of great importance to know the other companies that are inserted in the market and to know what the positive and negative points of the products and services offered by them in a comparative way with yours.

From the moment you know the competition you can add differentiation to your product and service to win more customers.

Define your position in the market

Know where your company is inserted - to have a defined position of your company in the market it is necessary for the entrepreneur to seek to consolidate his brand through the construction of an image where he shows the differential of his products and services, so that your company stands out from the competition.

But how to create a blog marketing calendar?

1. Select the ideal tool

You can build an editorial calendar with a variety of tools, but choosing between options will depend primarily on your own company's requests, constraints and audience. One of the possible tools, for example, is Google Sheets.

However, not all organizations have access to Google Apps and therefore opt for other organizations, such as Excel or other online software.

In addition to the use of spreadsheets, one option for those who have a Google account is to create the editorial calendar in the Calendar itself, for example, the main advantage is that it emits alerts to help you remember tasks, which further reduces the chance of forgetting.

2. Plan your strategy

Now it's time to start planning your content strategy and document it in your editorial calendar.

For this, it is necessary to make a series of definitions, such as:

-Regularity of blog posting: choosing a blog posting frequency is important to maintain consistency and it's easier for your audience to know on what days they can find new content.

-Title and keywords: essential to follow the topics that are being addressed in the blog.

-Dates: you must include the expected delivery date of the content, and the date of publication.

-Schedules: determine when each of your content will be published.

-Professional responsible for content production and for posting.

-Category of your blog in which the content is classified.

-Content format: highlighted in your editorial calendar if the content is an article for the blog.

-Step of the client's journey: define in which step (attraction, consideration or decision) its contents are classified.

-Persona: for which person the materials were made.

-Process progress: highlight the status of the content.

3. Build the dissemination strategy

You can also use the editorial calendar to define the material disclosure strategy.
That includes:

- Social networks: choose in which social networks the contents will be published and create models of calls for each one of them.

- Frequency of posting: just like the frequency of posting in the blog, it is important to define the periodicity of the dissemination in social networks. 

- Email Marketing: in addition to social networking, email marketing is also a great way to promote your materials and keep the public engaged. Define the days and times of disclosure and include it in your editorial calendar.

4. Follow the schedule, track and measure results!

Finally, with a definite editorial calendar, be sure to share it with the marketing team.

Remember, always strive to follow it closely and follow the results to constantly improve your content and inbound marketing strategy!