You know how you read about people who plan their content an entire YEAR ahead? You loathe them because you don’t know how they do it, roll your eyes because you think that’s silly and too predictable, or wish that were you but don’t know where to start. Well, let me banish those reactions for you.

Planning content in advance by an entire year, or half year, or by quarters is NOT impossible, it’s S.M.A.R.T., not silly, and I can show you exactly where you need to start without the overwhelm.

So without further procrastination, let’s dive into planning your content in advance!

I can almost hear you groan. Groan because this sounds painful, or groan with a big ‘why’ under your breath.

Let’s not procrastinate or groan, promise? This will be fun, but to make it even MORE fun (and not something you’ll dread) you can do any of the following before we get down to the nitty-gritty:

• Grab your favorite refreshing drink
• Change into comfortable clothing
• Make sure you’re in good lighting
• Make a light snack if you like to munch and crunch
• Turn off anything that’ll distract you (television, mobile phone, landline, etc.)
• Make sure everything you need is with you (laptop/tablet, paper, pencil/pen and eraser, calendar – physical or digital, a glass of water, etc.)

Lastly, I’m going to be the nerdy cool author who asks you to declare something out loud to yourself and the Universe. This should pump you up if you say it with genuine enthusiasm and look forward to having another task checked off your to-do list!

Let’s say it together, “I WILL create my content in advance to benefit myself and my business, and lessen future stress. This is going to be fun and I’m excited to have this done!”

Next, let’s establish one thing:

Planning content in advance means you need to know your goals.

Planning content in advance without goals in mind leaves you without much structure or purpose, which means you’ll be less likely to actually stick to your schedule or content plan.

So I promised this would be possible, and not overwhelming. Goals, whether personal or business-related, don’t need to be overwhelming but they certainly can feel that way, especially if you’ve been so busy and haven’t really considered your goals for the next few months, or year. If it’s something you’ve not yet thought about, I’ve got a step-by-step goal mapping exercise right here.

Tip: Write your goals down, make them tangible!

However, this article isn’t about setting your goals, I will write on assuming you’ve already set your goals. Starting right… now!

Content Planning With Your Calendar

So you know your business goals, whether metric for website traffic or conversions, or product launches, etc. Awesome! Now in order to create content which highlights, complements, and helps you reach those goals, ask yourself the following questions:

• What do I want to accomplish in this time frame?
  What are you aiming for – planning every quarter, half the year, or a whole year in advance?
• What will be my main focus(es)?
  Is each month themed? Are you focusing on educating your audience before launches? Are you building your audience through guest posting? Are you monetizing through affiliates? Etcetera.
• HOW will I make these goals attainable?
  What micro-steps do I need to take to reach the macro-goal?
• What big picture sale goals do I want to meet and how can my content help me reach those goals?
  Think about variety – educational content, video content, how-to tutorials, etc.

The best brainstorm you can have at this point is one where you think of strategic topics. Your topics should be closely related to your expertise.

If you’re a creative selling customized mini-sculptures of people and their pets, then you might not go off and make a YouTube video on painting your nails. And if you’re a businesswoman who focuses on helping people brand their websites, your ideal audience might not be particularly interested in a post on growing gardens without insecticides.

So a more legit example might be that you’re a stay-at-home mom who specialises in Pilates and holistic health. So you want to launch your first service, virtual group sessions where you can see your clients via video and help them get in shape at home, no matter where they’re from. Strategic content might be any of the following:

• A post on how Pilates can be done anywhere, anytime.
• A video on how you can work your core from home while playing with the kids.
• A free e-course on kid-friendly, nutritious eating to stay fueled for the day.
• You could even offer videos on YouTube of your Pilate routines, coupled with your unique personality and brand.
• Or go all Rachael Ray and share your kid-friendly, nutritious recipes in a video, show them how to make it and they’ll see how easy it can be!

Brainstorm Action: Put on a timer for 10 minutes and braindump any and all strategic topics that relate to your brand and your ideal client/audience

Plan Smart

The best way to know when you’ve reached a goal is to identify all of these points for that goal:

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Attainable

R – Realistic

T – Timely

*I did not come up with the above acronym, but I do love it, and it makes your goal-making so much more intentional.


Example: a S.M.A.R.T goal would look like this: 3 months from now, on the 12^th of March I want to have reached 2,000 unique visitors per month.

The date makes it realistic and timely. The target of 2,000 makes it measurable, and the fact that I’m aiming for ‘unique visitors’ means I’m being specific. And it is attainable since I might plan on posting 3 times a week while focusing on growing my audience through guest-posts and joint-venture webinars.

So now that you’ve done some brainstorming, let’s look at how you can tackle placing content in advance by yearly (or you can make it quarterly) and monthly views. It’s good to have two views (calendars), because then you’re not cramming all your ideas onto one paper, and the yearly/quarterly view allows you to glance at overall goals while monthly can be more detailed.

Think of it like this, you are coordinating publications (post or articles) with relevant events and business milestones!

Yearly View

• Holidays
• Special Occasions
• Product/Service Launches
• Re-branding (if any)
• Summits/Conferences/Seminars
• Quarterly or Monthly Focuses
• Joint Ventures (a.k.a Collaborations)
• Selling Cycles

Tip: Schedule in a monthly re-cap with yourself or your business team and see what’s getting done on time, what’s not and address the why’s so you know what to continue doing and what to adjust

Yearly View Action: Literally take some time right now to plus in all of the above points. If, for example, you don’t know when you’ll have a product launch, challenge yourself and pencil in at least TWO in a whole year. Push yourself to come up with something people need AND want!

Monthly View

• Title
• Status
• Due Date (of Draft)
• Publish Date
• Type/Format
• Editor
• Target Audience
• Distribution Channels
• Where to Promote
• Newsletter

So here is where you work backwards. You have plugged in your macro, big-picture goals. Now take the micro-steps which relate directly to those goals and plug them into the calendar the S.M.A.R.T way (if you planned out your goals, you should know your micro-steps, if not, go here).

If you do this for a whole month, congratulations, you just planned out your content for a WHOLE month in advance! Now do it for every other month and you’ll be a year ahead with the ability to focus so much better now that your plan is out of your head and on a calendar with detail!

The Most Important Step To Planning Content In Advance

Lastly, you need to commit to the schedule you made (but be gentle with yourself, and flexible when need be). Decide that you will meet all the deadlines and stay strategic (don’t post for the sake of posting) unless something serious crops up.

If you’re a small business owner in who has a hard time with content planning or marketing, regardless of how many steps you try to take, or the articles you read for help, please reach out to us, we’d be happy to help you!

If you need more specific help with any of these content offers, join the Connected Women community (it’s free!) & feel free to reach out to our experts in the group!