If your goals for 2014 is to get better, faster and more organized at content planning, then you'll want to review this slideshow. Find out how "editorial budgets" — made up of "budget lines" — can help you quickly refill your editorial calendar. Learn definitions, components and organization tips. This slideshow was part of the Raven Marketing Flight School series and presented live on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013.

1. How 50 Words
Can Improve Your Next
500 Blog Posts

2. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Introduction
ARIENNE HOLLAND, Communications Director
What I do now: Write, write, write and try to understand developers
What I did before: Newspaper, magazine and online editor-stuff and graphic design
@RavenArienne | arienne@raventools.com

3. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Introduction
Why you’re here
GOAL: Get better, faster and more organized
at content planning
TACTIC: Learn to create editorial budgets
with budget lines

4. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Introduction
What you’ll learn
1. DEFINITIONS
2. FORMATS: File formats and tools to use
3. ORGANIZATION
4. PROBLEMS

5. 1. DEFINITIONS

6. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Definitions
Editorial Calendar
An editorial calendar is a schedule.
Think of an editorial calendar — your blank
schedule of content marketing — like an empty
refrigerator that needs to be restocked
every once in a while.

7. PHOTO CREDIT: yourhandinmine via Compfight cc

8. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Definitions
Editorial Budget
An editorial budget is a list of content that
will help you fill up your editorial calendar.
It’s the document you turn to when you need
content and want to see at a glance what’s available.
Think of an editorial budget like the grocery store
where you go shopping to restock your refrigerator.

9. PHOTO CREDIT: TheeErin via Compfight cc

10. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Definitions
Budget Lines
Budget lines are the specific content items
on your editorial budget. They summarize your
content and its supporting pieces for easy reference
and planning.
Think of these like the individual items you can buy
at the grocery store. Anything is available, but you
only want certain items to go on your list.

11. PHOTO CREDIT: lonelysandwich via Compfight cc

12. 2. FORMATS

13. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Formats
Editorial Calendar
Editorial
calendars are
extra handy
in… calendar
form.
Which calendar
you use is up
to you.

14. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Formats
Editorial Calendar
Editorial
calendars are
extra handy
in… calendar
form.
Which calendar
you use is up
to you.
PHOTO CREDIT: photosteve101 via Compfight cc

15. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Formats
Editorial Budget
Editorial
budgets can
be any text or
spreadsheet
document.
Store budgets
somewhere
accessible to
the team.

16. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Formats
Editorial Budget
Editorial
budgets can
be any text or
spreadsheet
document.
Store budgets
somewhere
accessible to
the team.

17. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Formats
Budget Lines
Write your
personal
budget lines
anywhere.
Then copy
them to the
team budget
document.

18. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Formats
Components

19. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Formats

20. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Formats
Budget Lines
You can use
Google Forms
to save time
and automate
this process.
Freelancers and
writers can fill
out the budget
line form…

21. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Formats
Budget Lines
You can use
Google Forms
to save time
and automate
this process.
…and editors
can manage the
rest behind the
scenes.

22. 3. ORGANIZATION

23. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Organization
Editorial Budget
Group the budget lines into logical sections
on your editorial budget, depending on your needs.
By categories: Quickly find out “We need more
type of ______ content.”
By authors: See who has time for an assignment.
By deadlines: See when you are content “rich” and
content “poor.”

26. 4. PROBLEMS

27. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Problems
This crap is gonna happen.
• Budget lines are incomplete. How will you
enforce the required components?
• Budget lines are submitted early but never
updated to reflect reality. Who updates?
• Budget lines aren’t flexible enough. How will
you handle multimedia planning? Graphics? Spinoff
of same content into multiple formats?

28. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Problems
This crap is gonna happen.
• Editorial budget gets too big. Should you
consider multiple editorial budgets?
• Editorial budget gets stale. When will you
clean out the refrigerator?

29. How 50 Words Can Improve Your Next 500 Blog Posts
Problems
You’ll still need to talk.
Text documents should never substitute
100% for face-to-face or voice-to-voice
conversations.
The better written your budget lines…
The more organized your editorial budget…
The more complete your editorial calendar…
…the better all your content planning will be.

30. PHOTO CREDIT: chelseacharliwhite via Compfight cc