HubSpot is known for its prolific content output – they run multiple blogs, a YouTube channel, podcasts, social media, and more. How do they keep it all organized? HubSpot uses an editorial calendar that plans content across all these channels in tandem. Key features of HubSpot’s approach include: - Centralized Planning: Their marketing team uses a master calendar (often a spreadsheet or project management tool) that lists all upcoming content by date, channel, topic, and owner . This ensures that their blog posts, webinars, ebooks, and social media promotions are coordinated. - Content Pillars and Topic Clusters: HubSpot famously structures content around core themes (like SEO, email marketing, sales enablement, etc.).
Their calendar reflects these pillars, ensuring each month covers a balance of topics for their various audience segments. - Lead Time and Cadence: HubSpot plans content months ahead. A blog post might be on the calendar 6-8 weeks before publication with deadlines for drafting and editing. This lead time allows for thorough research and quality control. Despite the long-term plan, they also leave slots for timely content (e.g., reacting to a Google algorithm update) by shifting less time-sensitive posts when needed. - Multi-Format Integration: A single topic might spawn several content pieces – a blog post, a follow-up video, and a series of social posts – all scheduled around the same time.
HubSpot’s calendar accounts for these relationships, so the content rollout is synchronized across channels. For example, when they release their annual “State of Marketing” report, the calendar might include a blog post summary, a podcast episode discussing it, infographics for social media, and an email campaign, all timed together . Lesson from HubSpot: Treat your editorial calendar as the control center for a multi-channel strategy. By planning everything in one place, you ensure consistency and can maximize the impact of big content themes through coordinated release on different platforms.