Content Marketing Editorial Calendar Template – 2021

The content marketing resource that makes planning, scheduling and production a whole lot easier.

You’ve bought into the idea that content marketing is the way forward for growing your online presence, leads and even sales. But now you’re wondering ‘how do you consistently plan and produce content well’? An editorial calendar template could be the answer you’re looking for.

I’ve created this template to manage my own content marketing. It has both a list view and a monthly calendar view, to let you work in the way that best suits you and your team. Whether you’re a one-person content marketing wonder or managing a team of 20 specialists, with this 2021 edition of my content marketing editorial calendar template you’ll keep creating content consistently, keep the quality high and record success.

What’s in the template?

This content marketing editorial calendar template contains:

• Detailed usage instructions
• Step-by-step integration notes for Asana and Google Calendar via Zapier
• A content list sheet – record all your pieces. Manage them from initial idea right through to promotion once they’ve been published. Inspired by a template I used to use from Content Mavericks
• Fields to tag and organise content by status, project owner, content topic, audience journey stage and content type
• A key dates sheet – log all the important dates for your business
• A monthly calendar view – which auto-populates from both lists, saving you and your team hours.

Who the template is for?

I’ve created this template to be flexible. It’s for:

• Start-ups and one-man bands who want to keep themselves organised
• Marketing heads managing a team of content producers
• Business owners outsourcing to freelancers and contractors

The main benefit is having the different views to choose from. You can quickly plan and note content ideas in the list view. Tag and organise them into collections and decide on key components like keywords, buyer journey stage, traffic potential, ranking potential and more. List out all of the key dates, employee absences, holidays and industry events for your business in the dates view. Then, use the auto-filled monthly calendar views to se what your week or month looks like at a glance – make sure you’ve got a consistent run of content being published. Status check with the team to make sure pieces are on track to meet their publication dates. Add notes under each day, week and month for the team to see. Keep everyone organised and on the same page.

Why I’ve made this editorial calendar template

I work directly with B2B brands to help them build a powerful brand experience, create content that converts and stand out in the marketplace.

I created this template for myself and for my clients, because I know from experience that content marketing without a plan is like a plane without a pilot – you don’t know where it’s going to end up, but you know eventually it’ll crash and burn.

If you download it and get stuck, feel free to get in touch! It’d be great to get feedback on bits that aren’t clear, or just help you generate ideas to move forward.

If you’d prefer to build your own, check out our guide on how to do that here.

If you’re going to use this template as part of a wider content plan, I highly recommend checking out my very extensive free guide on content marketing planning.

What did you think of this resource?

Let me know in the comments section below once you’ve used it, as I’ll be updating and improving it for 2022.