An easy, free content planning template for business owners and teams
Published October 17, 2025
I’ve written a lot about content planning already, and I probably won’t stop anytime soon. To me, it’s even more important than content writing. If you have a thoughtful, strategic plan in place, you can hand off your content to almost anybody (as long as they’re a great writer, of course). But without it, you’re left with disconnected, disjointed content that doesn’t achieve any of your goals.
That’s why I’ve decided to share my simple Google Sheets content planning template with the world. I know that these days everyone is using 500 different platforms like Notion and Asana, plus probably even using ChatGPT to make a content plan. But I still recommend starting in some type of document like this one. It forces you to think through your plan, content ideas, and process. And when you’re using the right framework like this one, it ensures your content is directly related to business goals.
Here’s how to use it!
Why you need a content planning template, not just a content calendar
When you search for content planning templates, a lot of what comes up is actually just a content calendar. Super helpful for keeping your content and campaigns organized, but it’s missing that planning portion.
My content planning template actually includes both. That way, you can always refer to your overall content plan as you’re developing ideas and then determining your editorial calendar each month–and it all happens in the same document.
Otherwise, it’s easy to get lost in brainstorming that doesn’t align with your plan. Or worse, filling out a calendar that has nothing to do with what you actually want to achieve.
The content plan
The first tab on my spreadsheet is the content plan. This is your space to document who you want to target, when you want to get in front of them, and how.
The initial step is thinking through who you want to target. Ideally, you can tap into your different ICPs or audience segments. If you don’t have these already, it might be time to invest in a content strategy.
For each audience you’re targeting, consider when you want to communicate with them. That means using a content marketing funnel and evaluating where there are gaps in your current marketing efforts. Maybe they really need more awareness of who you are and what you offer, or they need content that gives them that final push toward conversion. I personally love evaluating content around a sales funnel or buyer journey because it truly ensures you’re creating strategic content for your business.
Next, consider your focus areas. In some versions of content planning, this is where you would develop your content pillars, but I like to keep this part intentionally open-ended. Your focus areas could be specific content types that align with your audience and funnel stages, or they could be broad themes. Ultimately, this is up to you to determine how best to organize your content.
From there, you can develop topics that align with each section as well as your specific KPIs and content marketing goals.
My biggest recommendation when it comes to content planning is to avoid going overboard. You don’t need to create content for every ICP segment and every stage of the funnel on a monthly basis. Instead, it’s best to prioritize what you want to achieve each month or quarter.
Prioritizing your content ideas
Before you even touch your content calendar, I always recommend conducting a brainstorm first. That’s where my Ideas tab comes in handy. It’s an evergreen space for you to document all of your content ideas over time. Then, when it’s time to actually build your calendar, you should have plenty of content ideas to choose from. After you’ve used an idea, you can either remove it from the ideas repository or check it off as a used idea.
This tab is so simple, but it’s designed to save you the headache of sifting through all the different places we tend to store content ideas–Slack, emails, meeting notes, presentations, and of course, our brains.
One column I want to call attention to is the Priority column. This is an open-ended column because priority can be very subjective, but I want to share some helpful ways you can prioritize:
Campaigns: If your company is planning specific campaigns throughout the year, these will likely be a top priority for your content marketing efforts. Start with these first to make sure you’re aligned with your broader marketing org/overall business goals.
Business case: Outside of specific campaigns, you can still prioritize your content to broader business goals by grading them based on their business case. In simple terms, your highest priority content is the type that is either aligned with your company's objectives or will ultimately help bring in the most revenue.
Seasonality: It’s easy to get so lost in the day-to-day that we often forget how important seasonality is as content marketers. Each month, prioritize the content that your customers expect to see (holiday promotions, tax content, summer content, etc.)
Highest-performing: If none of these other prioritization frameworks make sense for you, you can prioritize content based on what’s already performing well for your business. The more, the better!
Content gaps: Alternatively, maybe you know you’re really missing out on a specific content area (speaking to a certain audience or at a specific part of the funnel). Prioritize your content to fill in those gaps within a certain timeframe.
The content brief
Content briefs are absolutely essential to content planning, but they’re often an afterthought. You might have a doc saved somewhere in your drive, but it usually lives separately from your content planning.
My template ensures that everything is in one place, which makes it easier to fill out your briefs for every piece of content. You can easily click to your content plan tab to make sure you’re accurately outlining content for your audience, focus areas, and goals.
My content brief is super comprehensive, but you can always pick and choose what you need to include for your writers. And yes, if you’re the writer, I still recommend having some type of content brief. It might not need to be as detailed, but it’s always good to document your goals and details before you start writing.
The content calendar
The content calendar is the last tab in my content planning spreadsheet, which just goes to show how important it is to plan your content first.
Once everything else is in place, the content calendar should be easy to fill out. Start with your highest priority content ideas and fill in the details. My template includes a drop-down to track status, but this is where a project management tool can help the most. As much as I love Google Sheets, it just isn’t the best way to assign and track statuses.
While my template includes a full calendar year, you can always adjust the calendar to fit your needs as well. Perhaps that means adjusting it to your company’s fiscal year, or breaking it out into a tab for each month.
Documenting your workflow
My content calendar includes the basics, but if you do have a project management platform, I recommend documenting your entire content marketing workflow. Especially if you have a team, it’s the best way to hold everyone accountable, ensure your content calendar progresses smoothly, and identify any bottlenecks.
That may include:
Who’s writing
Who’s designing
Who’s editing
The different due dates for each step
The final publishing date
The promotional tasks and due dates for each
The review date (where you intentionally look at performance metrics)
Content planning made easy
I made this spreadsheet to help make your lives and my clients’ lives easier, but I won’t lie–filling it out is still a ton of work. If you need someone to take it off your plate, I’m here for you! The template is just a peek into my comprehensive content marketing services.
As part of my monthly SEO and content marketing services, I’ll strategize and plan according to your business goals, maintain your content calendar, create content, review and report on performance, and help manage your editorial team (if you have one).
If you’re interested, let’s chat!
