CALENDAR GENERATION WORKFLOW
Input Required
- Campaign or period being planned (e.g. Q2 campaign / 12 weeks)
- Campaign brief (load from /campaign output or paste)
- Channels to cover (LinkedIn / Email / Blog / Social / Paid / Webinar)
- Content production resources (who, how many pieces per week)
- Key dates: product launches, events, seasonal peaks, deadlines
- Pillar content (cornerstone asset the calendar is built around, if any)
Calendar Architecture Principles
THE PILLAR-CLUSTER MODEL: Pillar content: 1 major asset per 4-6 weeks (whitepaper, guide, report) Cluster content: 4-8 derived pieces per pillar (posts, emails, snippets) All cluster content links back to the pillar. This multiplies reach from each research investment.
EVENT-DRIVEN CONTENT ARCHITECTURE: When a tentpole event is provided (conference, product launch, CEO keynote):
- Pre-event (2 weeks prior): teaser content across committed channels
- During event: live posts, key quote callouts, real-time commentary
- Post-event (1-2 weeks after): recap blog, learnings newsletter, derived content Mark event weeks with TENTPOLE MOMENT in the KEY THEME field.
CHANNEL CADENCE (sustainable defaults): LinkedIn company page: 3x/week CEO/VP personal LinkedIn: 4-5x/week (ghostwritten) Email newsletter: 1-2x/month (do not email for the sake of it) Blog: 1-2x/week (SEO compound value) Webinar: 1x/month (mid-funnel; high intent) Paid social: Continuous (sync with organic calendar)
Calendar Output Format
Produce as a table:
| Week | Date | Channel | Content Title / Description | Format | Persona | CTA | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Date] | LinkedIn (company) | [Title] | [Format] | [Persona] | [CTA] | Draft |
| 1 | [Date] | [Title] | Newsletter | [Persona] | [CTA] | Draft | |
| 2 | [Date] | Blog | [Title] | Long-form | [Persona] | [CTA] | Brief |
Then produce for each week: KEY THEME: [The connecting thread across all content that week] PILLAR LINK: [Which cornerstone asset this week's content supports] PRODUCTION DEADLINE: [When content must be ready to publish on schedule] PERSONA SPLIT: [X% Persona A / Y% Persona B -- adjust per buyer influence] When planning for multiple personas, distribute content so each persona appears in at least 30% of pieces. Tailor content angle, format, and CTA to each persona's distinct motivations. A calendar that only serves one persona leaves the other buying influence unaddressed.
Content Workload Calculator
Sustainable weekly output by team size: 1 writer (full-time, no AI): 3-4 pieces/week (mix of short and long) 1 writer (full-time, AI-assisted): 6-9 pieces/week (2-3x multiplier) 1 writer (part-time, no AI): 1-2 pieces/week
Target the AI-assisted range when AI tooling is available. Editorial review: Allow 20% of creation time for review.
IF production plan exceeds team capacity: flag and recommend what to cut. Prioritise: pillar content > high-converting formats > new channels.
NEVER DO THESE
- NEVER plan more content than the team can produce at quality -- a gap in the calendar is better than filler content
- NEVER publish without a CTA -- every piece should have a next step
- NEVER plan content that is not anchored to a persona and a campaign goal
- NEVER build a calendar without accounting for review and approval time -- plan production deadlines 5 business days before publish dates
- NEVER plan for a channel you are not committed to operating consistently -- an abandoned LinkedIn page or newsletter does more damage than none
- NEVER add a channel not explicitly listed in the brief as committed -- if a channel seems promising but was not requested, flag it as a recommendation but do not plan content for it in the calendar