content-calendar

Content Calendar

Purpose

Generate a structured editorial calendar from the content strategy and campaigns. The calendar is the operational plan — it turns the strategic content matrix into dated, assigned, trackable publication slots.

Prerequisites

• Marketing project with content strategy defined
• Recommended: at least one campaign built

Output Formats

The calendar is maintained in two synchronized formats:

1. calendar/content-calendar.yaml — Machine-readable source of truth
2. calendar/content-calendar.md — Human-readable rendered view
3. CSV export (on request) — For import into HubSpot, Notion, Asana, etc.

Workflow

Step 1: Load Content Inventory

1. Read content-strategy.json — all planned content across markets and GTM paths
2. Read campaigns/*.json — touchpoint timelines with day offsets
3. Scan content/ — identify what's generated (draft) vs. still planned
4. Read marketing-project.json — cadence defaults

Step 2: Build Calendar

For each content piece, assign:

• Publication date: Based on campaign timeline or cadence defaults
• Channel: From content format → channel mapping
• Status: planned → drafted → reviewed → scheduled → published
• Owner: Marketing (default) or Sales (for enablement content)
• Dependencies: e.g., "LinkedIn promo post depends on blog being published"

Apply cadence rules from marketing-project.json:

• linkedin-post: 3x/week → Mon, Wed, Fri
• blog: 2x/month → 1st and 3rd Tuesday
• email-nurture: triggered by download (not scheduled)
• webinar: 1x/quarter → align with campaign timing

Step 3: Write Calendar Files

YAML source (content-calendar.yaml):

calendar:
  start_date: "2026-04-01"
  end_date: "2026-06-30"
  entries:
    - date: "2026-04-01"
      day: "Mon"
      market: "mid-market-saas-dach"
      gtm_path: "ai-predictive-maintenance"
      type: "demand-generation"
      format: "linkedin-post"
      title: "Trend hook: AI predictive maintenance"
      file: "content/demand-generation/mid-market--ai-pred--linkedin-post-01.md"
      channel: "linkedin"
      status: "drafted"
      campaign: "ai-pred-q2"
      owner: "marketing"
      notes: ""

Markdown view (content-calendar.md):

# Content Calendar — Q2 2026

## April 2026

| Date | Day | Market | Type | Format | Title | Channel | Status |
|------|-----|--------|------|--------|-------|---------|--------|
| Apr 1 | Mon | DACH mid-market | DG | LinkedIn post | Trend hook: AI pred. | LinkedIn | ✅ draft |
| Apr 3 | Wed | DACH mid-market | TL | Blog | AI-Driven Predictive... | Website | ✅ draft |
| Apr 4 | Thu | DACH mid-market | DG | LinkedIn post | Blog promo | LinkedIn | ⬜ planned |
...

CSV export (on request via /content-calendar --export csv):

date,market,type,format,title,channel,status,campaign,owner,file
2026-04-01,mid-market-saas-dach,demand-generation,linkedin-post,"Trend hook",linkedin,drafted,ai-pred-q2,marketing,content/demand-generation/...

Step 4: Gap & Conflict Detection

After building, check for:

• Overload days: More than 2 publications on the same day → spread out
• Channel fatigue: Same channel more than daily → reduce
• Content gaps: Weeks with no activity for a market → fill with evergreen
• Missing dependencies: Promo post scheduled before anchor content → reorder
• Status gaps: Campaign starts next week but content still "planned" → flag as urgent

Step 5: Display & Confirm

Present calendar summary:

Content Calendar: Q2 2026 (13 weeks)
  Total entries: 42
  By status: 12 drafted, 30 planned
  By channel: LinkedIn 20, Blog 8, Email 8, Webinar 2, Other 4
  Markets: 2 active

Urgent (next 2 weeks):
  ⚠️ Apr 1: LinkedIn post — drafted, ready to schedule
  ⚠️ Apr 3: Blog — drafted, needs review
  🔴 Apr 4: LinkedIn promo — NOT YET GENERATED

Adjust dates? Add/remove entries? Or save as-is?

Calendar Management

The calendar can be updated incrementally:

• /content-calendar --add — Add new entries
• /content-calendar --update {date} --status published — Mark as published
• /content-calendar --reschedule {date} --to {new_date} — Move an entry
• /content-calendar --export csv — Export for tool import