2 big additions to every editorial calendar I work on

Louder Than Words
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Two things I’ve added to the editorial calendar this year that have made a big difference.

  1. Narrative Roles
  2. Visibility Focus

Most of the teams I work with don’t struggle to create. They’re doing the usual…blogging. Hosting webinars. Sending the occasional newsletter. Posting on LinkedIn. Many have a podcast.

But most of those initiatives usually have separate owners and they’re usually not connecting their efforts. The work isn’t additive.

So I ended up emphasizing 2 new layers.

Narrative Role + Visibility Focus

Narrative Roles

I see a lot of teams investing in podcasts, blogs, newsletters, LinkedIn… but each one’s telling a different story. They operate almost like separate publications instead of chapters of the same narrative, so nothing really compounds.

It's hard to build any marketing momentum this way.

So, I've started to call this out.

Prospect: "We have a podcast..."

Me: "Oh yeah? What's its job?"

They'll usually respond with downloads.

Me: "No. That's a result. What's the JOB of the podcast? What is it trying to do? How does it fit in?"

Now, every channel is assigned a specific role in advancing the editorial narrative that we define together:

  • Explore: Surface new ideas (podcast, interviews)
  • Expand: Go deeper on the ideas (blog, newsletter)
  • Explain: Translate into usable takeaways (newsletter/video)
  • Engage: Spark conversation/participation (social/shorts)

For example, one client felt their podcast was disconnected from everything else. They’d record great interviews, but that was it. The insights stopped there. They even considered killing it because it wasn't really growing.

Once we defined its role as Explore, the team started pulling 2–3 ideas from each episode into the newsletter (Expand) and then turning the clearest frameworks into short posts for LinkedIn (Engage).

The podcast became raw material for all other content.

Once every channel/medium had a role, everything became clearer. The channels compounded efforts rather than compete for resources.

It’s created clear points of collaboration between the teams. And, some forward planning which helps everyone.

Visibility Focus

I think we could all agree that “getting found” has gotten more complicated right now.

You mean search? LLMs like Gemini and ChatGPT? The LinkedIn newsfeed?

It's all hard right now. It's even harder when you aren't deliberate and specific about how a given piece of content should get found.

So, I worked in Visibility Focus which allows me to declare how a piece will be found (which changes the entire approach to creating the content.)

  • Search: Match & capture demand (clarity + structure)
  • Citability: Become the reference others quote (definitive, neutral, structured)
  • Network: Spread through people (emotional, memorable)
  • Community: Deepen belonging (conversational, participatory)

Then, here's what changes when you pick a specific Visibility Focus:

  • Format (guide vs. definition vs. clip vs. prompt)
  • Tone (neutral/resource for citability; opinionated for network)
  • Structure (tables/definitions for citability; H2 intent blocks for search)
  • Distribution & metric (citations/mentions vs. impressions vs. replies)

For example, I have clients that want to be cited for specific ideas in LLMs.

So, instead of planning a listicle like “10 Ways to Improve Onboarding” (great for search), we’ll plan a definitive explainer on “The Onboarding Efficiency Framework”, a single, structured idea with clear definitions, tables, and examples that an LLM or human researcher could quote verbatim.

Because a framework creates a concept, not just more content.

It gives people (and models) something to name and reuse. It’s structured, clearly defined, and easy to quote. The kind of thing that fits naturally into someone else’s explanation.

Content That Compounds

Again, based on my experience and conversations, most content teams don’t need more ideas. They need alignment.

Every channel needs a clear role.

Every piece needs a clear purpose.

That's a good start for building a program that actually compounds.