The 3 Benefits of a Content Calendar You Might be in the Dark About

Oh boy. Another post about content calendars? What could we possibly say about content calendars that hasn’t already been said, right?

Content calendars are a lot like Frisbee golf on a hot summer day. Now there’s something that probably hasn’t been said about content calendars before.

But seriously. We tried to find a way to avoid this topic. We couldn’t, because that’s just how important it is.

We’re not going to show you how to set one up, as that would be a waste of everyone’s time, but we would like to share with you a few key insights into why you should have one.

1. If You Want Your Content Marketing To Succeed, You Need A Content Calendar

How badly do you want your content marketing efforts to succeed?

If you said “not at all” (we doubt you said that), then you don’t need a content calendar.

If you said “desperately”, then you would be silly not to have one.

In his book, Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi said:

Without a content calendar, your strategy will not succeed.

So there it is, in black and white. He’s not giving us much room for interpretation here.

Key takeaway: a content calendar is only as important as your desire to succeed with your content marketing.

2. Content Calendars Help You To Focus On An Outcome For Your Audience

If you look back on your content marketing efforts, you’ll probably be surprised to find how few of your content pieces actually match up with your end goal.

Let me explain. Let’s say, for example, that you have a blog post called “Why You Need to Create Blog Post Templates.”

A concise outcome statement for a post like that would be something like “to teach the reader how to create their own blog post templates so that they are more efficient in producing content.”

Now look at the post. Does it actually give the reader the information they need to be able to do what you’ve outlined in your outcome statement?

If you answered “yes”, congratulations! But you’re probably in the minority.

If you examine your content closely, you’re going to discover that a lot of it doesn’t actually give the reader/listener/viewer the information they need to take the next step.

Key takeaway: you’ll be amazed to discover how easy it is to direct your content production endeavors with a simple outcome or goal statement for each piece of content you produce. You’ll be better able to assess whether or not you’re creating content that your audience can act on.

3. When You Have A Content Calendar, It’s Easier To Think About How You’re Going To Re-Purpose & Leverage Existing Content

It’s a lot like Big Data — when your information is curated, organized and presented visually, it’s easier to consume and to derive meaningful insights from it.

But if you read a few articles about Big Data, you’ll discover how few companies actually have clearly defined goals or a strategy behind their data collection efforts.

In much the same way, when you don’t have a bird’s eye view of all of the content you’re publishing and sharing with your audience, you could easily miss out on valuable opportunities.

Content can be re-purposed in many different ways. For instance, you can make a blog post into an illustration or infographic, a podcast episode, a video, a slide deck, or even a book! You’ve heard that before, right?

The atomizing of content is something Jay Baer has been talking quite a bit about lately, and he’s absolutely right, there are so many things you can do with a single piece of content when you plan in advance.

Key takeaway: a content calendar gives you a big-picture view of every piece of content you’ve produced to date. This makes it much easier to see the connection between separate pieces of content, giving you the opportunity to curate and re-purpose the content you’ve already put a ton of time and effort into.

Final Thoughts

“Man, this content marketing thing requires so much strategy.”

With the amount of content that’s now out there, you can’t afford not to be strategic - if you want to be competitive.

But don’t forget to connect your overall plan back to serving your audience. When you make it your purpose to delight them, you’ll have a hard time not making strides.

Are you interested in learning more about this subject? We’ve prepared additional reading for you here and here.