If you’re running a marketing team, you know that editorial calendars are supposed to keep you organized, but let’s be real—they usually end up as neglected spreadsheets or fancy boards nobody checks. This guide is for marketers who want to actually get stuff published, not just talk about it. We’ll walk through setting up and managing your team’s editorial calendar in Letterdrop, point out what’s worth your time, and call out what you can skip.
No fluff, no endless process. Just clear instructions and honest takes, so you can get back to creating content that matters.
Why Bother With an Editorial Calendar?
Here’s the thing: Editorial calendars aren’t magic. They don’t create content for you, and they won’t fix a broken strategy. But if you actually use one, they can:
- Keep everyone on the same page (no more “Wait, what’s going out this week?”)
- Make gaps and bottlenecks obvious
- Help you spot when you’re running off the rails (before your boss does)
- Save you from last-minute panic-writing
If you’re a one-person content shop, you might not need a tool as heavy as Letterdrop. But if you’ve got a team, and especially if you’re publishing regularly, it’s worth setting up.
Step 1: Get Set Up in Letterdrop
Before you even open Letterdrop, talk to your team about why you’re setting this up. If people don’t buy in, your calendar will just become another ignored tool.
Once you’ve got everyone on board:
1. Create Your Workspace
- Each workspace is usually a company, business unit, or brand.
- Invite everyone involved in content—writers, editors, designers, PMs, freelancers. Don’t gatekeep access; silos are where content plans go to die.
2. Set Up Your Channels
- Channels are where your content will end up: blog, LinkedIn, newsletter, etc.
- Keep it simple. You can always add more later. Overcomplicating now just means more cleanup down the line.
3. Define Roles
- Assign who can publish, who can edit, who just needs to see what’s coming up. But don’t get bogged down in permissions for the sake of it.
- Pro tip: If you’re spending more time managing roles than content, you’re overthinking it.
Step 2: Build Your Editorial Calendar
This is where most teams get stuck. The trick is to keep it lean—you want just enough detail to be useful, not a graveyard of abandoned ideas.
1. Add Your Content Ideas
- Start by dumping all your ideas in. Don’t worry about order yet.
- Use tags or custom fields for things like campaign, persona, or funnel stage if your team will actually use them.
- Most teams overdo this. If no one’s ever searching by “persona,” skip it.
2. Set Deadlines and Owners
- Every piece of content needs a due date and a single owner.
- Shared ownership usually means nobody feels responsible.
3. Use Statuses That Actually Make Sense
- Letterdrop lets you customize statuses (e.g., “Ideation,” “Drafting,” “Editing,” “Ready to Publish”).
- Don’t create a status for every micro-step—nobody cares if something is “SEO Review Pending” unless you have a dedicated SEO reviewer.
- A good set for most teams: Idea → Draft → In Review → Scheduled → Published.
4. Visualize Your Calendar
- Use the calendar view to see what’s coming up and spot gaps or pile-ups.
- Resist the urge to color-code everything unless your team truly needs it.
- If you’re publishing a lot, try grouping by campaign or channel, not just date.
Step 3: Work the Process (Without Overdoing It)
Editorial calendars fail when they become more about process than publishing. Here’s what actually works:
1. Keep Weekly Check-Ins Short
- 15-minute meeting: What’s blocked, what’s publishing, what needs cut or rescheduled.
- Don’t use the calendar as a “status update” tool. Use it to solve problems, not report on them.
2. Make Updates Part of Your Workflow
- As you move content forward, update its status in Letterdrop. It takes seconds, but only if everyone does it.
- If your team forgets, set a recurring reminder—or better yet, show them why it matters (nobody likes being surprised by last-minute fire drills).
3. Integrate With the Tools You Already Use
- Letterdrop connects with Slack, Google Drive, CMSs, and more.
- Set up notifications for key steps (like when something’s ready for review) but don’t spam everyone for every update.
- Skip integrations you don’t need—adding every possible tool just creates more noise.
4. Don’t Let the Calendar Become Gospel
- Treat it as a living document. If priorities shift, move things around.
- If something’s been “in draft” for three months, either kill it or move it back to ideas. Deadlines that aren’t real just demotivate everyone.
Step 4: Go Beyond “Just a Calendar”
Letterdrop does more than just track deadlines, but don’t add bells and whistles just because you can. Here’s what’s actually helpful:
1. Briefs and Collaboration
- Use Letterdrop’s built-in briefs to keep requirements, keywords, or CTAs in one spot.
- Comment threads are good for keeping feedback out of lost email chains.
- Skip the temptation to write novels in your briefs—keep it actionable.
2. Version Control
- Letterdrop tracks changes, so you can see what’s been edited and when.
- This is useful if you’ve got a lot of hands in the mix or compliance requirements. If not, don’t overthink it.
3. Analytics
- See what’s actually working after publishing. Don’t drown in data—just track what’s publishing, and what’s performing.
- If nobody ever looks at the analytics dashboard, don’t force it. But if you’re reporting up, it’s handy to have.
4. Workflow Automation
- Automate stuff that’s repeatable, like assigning reviewers or publishing to your CMS.
- Don’t try to automate creative work. You can’t schedule inspiration.
What to Ignore (or At Least Not Obsess Over)
- Overly granular statuses: “Ready for SEO approval by 2nd reviewer” is overkill for 99% of teams.
- Color-coding by every attribute: If your calendar looks like a bag of Skittles, simplify.
- Reporting for reporting’s sake: If a report isn’t helping you make decisions, ditch it.
- Filling the calendar for the sake of “consistency:” It’s better to publish less, and well, than to force content nobody reads.
Pro Tips for Staying Sane
- Set a realistic cadence. Don’t promise three blog posts a week if you can’t deliver.
- Review and prune. Every month, clean up stalled or irrelevant ideas.
- Centralize feedback. Keep comments and edits inside Letterdrop, not scattered across Slack and email.
- Document your process—once. Write down how your team uses the calendar, then update it only if your workflow changes.
- Don’t treat the tool as the strategy. Letterdrop is a means, not the end.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Editorial calendars are supposed to make life easier, not harder. Start with the basics in Letterdrop, get your team using it, and improve from there. Don’t get distracted by every feature or workflow someone on LinkedIn says you “have to” use. If it helps you publish better content, keep it. If it doesn’t, let it go.
The best editorial calendar is the one your team actually uses. Start simple, tweak as you go, and focus on getting great content out the door.