How to Make a (Doable) Editorial Calendar

Deploy a simple mix-and-match strategy.

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Issue 24 | August 30, 2018 | How to Make a (Doable) Editorial Calendar

Remember Clue, the old murder-mystery board game? A ghastly crime took place. A weapon was used. A criminal was at large. It was your job to deduct who did it, where it was done, and which object was involved: Miss Scarlet, in the billiard room, with the lead pipe. Colonel Mustard, in the lounge, with the candlestick. Et cetera.

This is the image that pops to mind when I envision a workhorse, heavy-lifting, doable editorial calendar. The perpetrator, the location, the weapon; instead, think of the topic, the format, and the angle.

When Mix-and-Match is Just Right
It’s hard enough to make the decisions about one piece of content – topic, format, angle. No wonder that as you’re trying to lay out several months’ worth of content, all these roadblocks appear. What will people be talking about in three months? How will our top strategies even perform through year-end? Which of my investment people will be available as subject-matter experts four months down the road? How can I make each piece insightful, well-positioned, and get some freaking “likes”??  

Instead of trying to answer ANY of these questions ahead of time, just put them to the side. Instead, make what decisions you can. Start by brainstorming the formats, topics, and angles that generally work for you. For instance:

Formats
– White papers
– Blog posts
– Newsletters

Topics
– Long-short funds
– Large-cap growth
– ETFs

Angles
– Listicle
– Roundup
– How-to

BOOM. Now you just mix and match – White paper, long-short strategies, how-to: How to Reposition Your Alts for Higher Inflation. Blog post, ETFs, listicle: 5 Ways to Compare Similar ETFs. And so on…

The key to this system is that it’s both decisive and loose. Some basic decisions are already made, but you have the latitude to plug in available resources and topics of interest as the present situation allows.

How to:
Here are the actual steps for creating a doable editorial calendar – note how simple this is:

1. Brainstorm three lists: the content formats that you need to publish, the product/topic priorities, and the angles that tend to appeal to your audience. (I find the trickiest part of this brainstorm to be the “angle” – check out these “types of blog posts” articles here, here and here for ideas.)
2. Mix and match those three categories on your calendar in a way that looks doable.

With the skeleton decisions made, you’ll have a working editorial calendar that is flexible enough to adjust for topics of interest and available resources from week to week. (Did you notice today’s piece? newsletter – editorial calendars – how-to.)

Looking for a freelance financial writer to help you tackle content? Reach out and let’s talk about your project needs.