with Professor Pocock
5th in a series of 8 Basic Tools for Effective Communication . . . Topic: Editorial Calendar
Be prepared: get prepared
One of the key ways to “be prepared” is to “get prepared.” If you’re confused, I apologize. But see if this scenario sounds familiar…
Students are taking mid-semester exams and your deadline for the newsletter is only a few days away. It’s close to Homecoming and two student organizations won statewide awards begging for the some good PR. Is your office often this frenetic?
That’s why one of the basic tools for effective communications is an editorial calendar. This document is simple to prepare and allows you to plug in the stories you know will occur throughout the year and in many cases allows you the advantage of even pre-writing some of the stories for publication well in to the future.
Janet Aronica does a better job than I could ever do about the why’s and how’s of an editorial calendar. While she addresses them for bloggers, think about ways you can apply her suggestions to all your communication efforts. Here’s a link to her blog from this past May. On this site you’ll even find a link to a wonderful template to use in developing your own editorial calendar(s).
This post is #5 in a series of “8 Basic Tools for Effective Communications.” Are you finding this series helpful? Based on my years of experience in providing communication support to a variety of industries, I’ve become firmly convinced about the value to basic planning tools.
Pause, think, plan.
Why don’t more professionals take advantage of these basic tools? Most likely because 
they take time! And we’re all so busy with our day-to-day chores that we don’t have time to pause, think, and plan. I hope this coming year becomes one where you are able to deliver peak performance to your employer. Taking the time now to plan for that will dramatically increase your chances of success.
- Read the 1st in this series by Professor Pocock
- Read the 2nd in this series by Professor Pocock
- Read the 3rd in this series by Professor Pocock
- Read the 4th in this series by Professor Pocock