Content creators for email programs perpetually suffer from one of two issues: too much to say, or not enough to say. Yet a surprising number of them don't leverage a simple resource that helps balance out the peaks and valleys in your email marketing strategy--the content or editorial calendar. While it the editorial calendar may not seem terribly flashy or strategic on the surface, it is an essential component of an email campaign management plan.
You can choose your own favorite format for your calendar (spreadsheets, calendaring programs and cocktail napkins are all popular choices) but no matter what the format most good editorial calendars share several common elements:
- A timeline: You may break your own calendar out by day, by week, by month or whatever time frame fits your program. Regardless, the timeline helps organize the other elements of the program in a meaningful way.
- Holidays and events: Make sure you denote holidays, buying and planning seasons, or any other time-based events that influence what you say, how you say it, or what you offer to subscribers. Great Casimir Pulaski day email marketing content is only valuable once a year, and you don't want to miss it because you didn't mark it on the calendar. (If you don't know about Casimir Pulaski day, you can learn more here.)
- Other activities: Capture offline promotions, store events, product releases, webinars or other "non-email" activities that will occur within the same time frame of email creation and send. These make great content and link sources for your email program.
- Featured articles or other content: Capture the title or subject of key content areas for each regularly-scheduled send. You don't need to capture the whole article in your calendar, but make sure you know the gist of what each content area is going to contain.
- Key links: Capture the URL or download link for any links required for the email. If you'll need to create a landing page or destination for any links, make sure these make it into your web development plan as soon as possible.
- Content creator: Content doesn't write itself, so make sure every piece of content in your plan has a clearly-defined owner. (Lots of email program owners create a macro that just plugs the word "me" into their content creator field...)
In addition to the time-based content plan, the best email programs have an element of their calendar that tracks ongoing programs liked triggered email sends, welcome streams, and other activities that are not driven by time or seasonality. The editorial calendars for email programs I've run in the past also contained an "emergency content" area that was filled with ideas that could be used anytime my content creators were on sick, got writer's block, or just played hooky on Casimir Pulaski day.
Other email content best practices you'd like to share? Post them in the comments section of this entry.
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