A lot of marketers, myself included, rely on a carefully mapped out content calendar to manage content efficiently. It goes beyond ensuring that your content marketing efforts are clear and organized. It’s about having an overall consistent content strategy–which according to statistics, 70 percent of marketers lack. 

However, implementing a clear strategy isn’t as complicated as you might imagine. In fact, you can start with something as simple as a content calendar. 

Here are the top reasons why you should make an effort to map out your content:

1. Strong focus on your strategy

With a content calendar in place, you can rest assured that you will maintain a strong focus on your strategy. A content calendar allows you to stick to pre-determined content topics, focus on subject matter that resonates with your target audience, and ensures maximum engagement from your leads.

I would recommend that you build a calendar at least a month in advance. This allows you to make sure all your topics are covered.

2. Helps you stay on schedule

Good marketers post regularly and consistently. However, given everything that they have to do, it’s easy for things like blog posting to fall through the cracks. Fortunately, a content calendar maps everything out so that you are reminded of when it is time to post.

3. Allows you to plan ahead and minimize errors

Because of everything going on, it’s hard for marketers to stay on top of the details. Whenever possible, you want to be able to get ahead by mapping out content in advance and drafting content before you need to publish it on your social media platforms or blog. And because you’re ahead of schedule, this gives you time to actually double-check your material instead of rushing to publish content.

4. Highlights your company’s professionalism

Consistency and organization project a sense of professionalism that is beneficial for your company. Not only does it reflect well on your brand, but it also highlights your commitment to delivering timely content to your readers.

5. Provides a big picture perspective

Creating and mapping out your content plan ahead of time following a calendar format gives you a big picture view of your content marketing efforts. With everything laid out, you can now easily adjust schedules if something new comes up such as special occasions, themed holidays, or event features.

It also allows you to ensure that your topics and subject matter remain consistent throughout the month.

6. Gives you time to explore new angles and ideas

When you’re constantly scrambling to publish something, chances are, you’re posting duplicates or redundant topics. With a content calendar, you can plan everything in advance, giving you more time to explore new ideas and angles. You can even supplement this with additional resources and get additional insight from personalities or experts who can boost the value of your content.

All too often, marketers run into challenges with the content marketing simply because they weren’t able to plan properly. Find the time to sit down and seek out ideas; do your research and follow your deadlines. If you need more guidance, contact us. You’d be surprised at the difference in efficiency a content calendar will make.