Death Penalty Essays (551 words) - Capital Punishment, Law, Penology

Death Penalty Essays (551 words) - Capital Punishment, Law, Penology Death Penalty The United states is the only western democracy that still practices capital punishment. There have been over 4050 executions since 1930. In 1994 alone, there were 257 executions in the United States. People who believe in capital punishment say that this dehumanizing process deters crime. This is false because the death penalty has been proven NOT to deter crime. In fact, during the 1980s, states practicing the death penalty averaged an annual rate of 7.5 criminal homicides per 100,000, while abolition states averaged a rate of 7.4 per 100,000. That means murder was actually MORE common in states that use the death penalty. Criminals irrationally perform crimes, therefore, life imprisonment ought to deter a rational person itself. Besides, no criminal commits a crime if he believes he will be caught. The death penalty is morally incorrect. Why do governments kill people to show other people that killing is wrong? Would society allow rape as the penalty for rape or the burning of arsonists homes as the penalty for arson. Every time we execute someone, we sink to the same level as the common killer. What is the difference between the state killing and an individual killing? The end result is the same....one more dead body, one more set of grieving parents, and one more cemetery slot. Every time we execute someone, we are desensitizing the value of human life. The death penalty is not now, nor has it ever been a more economical alternative to life imprisonment. A study by the New York State Defenders Association showed that the cost of a capital trial ALONE is more than double the cost of life imprisonment. They also concluded that a death penalty case costs approximately 42 percent more than a case resulting in a non-death sentence. Since 1976 the United States has spent 700 million dollars in it. Another reason to get rid of the death penalty is the possibility of error. Sometimes a person might be put to death who is innocent. At least 23 people have been executed who did not commit the crime they were accused of. And that is only those that we know of. When we execute an innocent person, the real killer is still on the streets, ready to victimize someone else. If the innocent person is executed then the case is closed forever. Or, at least until someone else gets killed by the real perpetrator. If the death penalty is not an effective way to deter crime, then what is? The only way is to prevent it from happening rather that enforce harsh punishment to scare off potential crimes. New York lowered crime rates by putting more police officers on the street, not by longer jail terms or death penalty. This was effective because if you think about it, if I was to rob a store, first I would look to see if any police officers were around. If I would see one riding around the block and another patrolling the streets, I would think twice about it. Also, the availability of handguns plays a major role in murder rates. It is a lot easier to kill someone by putting one bullet in their head rather than stabbing or strangling someone. If we decrease the availability of handguns then I guarantee there will be less murders. There are many ways to do it, but it is definitely time to, once and for all, EXECUTE the death penalty.

Consecuencias migratorias violencia doméstica en EE.UU.

Consecuencias migratorias violencia domà ©stica en EE.UU. En Estados Unidos, la violencia domà ©stica es un crimen  y sus và ­ctimas podrà ­an tener derecho a diferentes protecciones, incluso de carcter migratorio. Por otro lado, los abusadores podrà ­an sufrir castigos graves. La violencia domà ©stica es un tema muy delicado. Por ello, en este artà ­culo se informa sobre quà © se considera como violencia domà ©stica en este paà ­s, cules son los tipos de ayuda que pueden solicitar las và ­ctimas y cà ³mo se hace asà ­ como los posibles alivios migratorios a los que podrà ­an tener derecho y quà © hacer si el abusador acusa a la và ­ctima de violencia domà ©stica de haber cometido un delito. Por otro lado, tambià ©n se explican los à ºltimos cambios en la polà ­tica que aplica en la frontera a los solicitantes de asilo por violencia domà ©stica y, finalmente, se enumeran las posibles consecuencias la informacià ³n a destacar que hay que tener es la siguiente civiles, penales y migratorias para los abusadores condenados por violencia domà ©stica Quà © es violencia domà ©stica en Estados Unidos La violencia domà ©stica es un delito que puede ser cometido de diversas formas, ya que puede incluir conductas como por ejemplo: causar daà ±o fà ­sicoasalto sexual. Es decir, obligar a otra persona a mantener relaciones sexuales, incluyà ©ndose tambià ©n el caso de espososmanipulacià ³n emocionalaislamiento de una persona de su entornoamenazas con causar daà ±o o de carcter econà ³mico o migratorio – llamar a la migra–, o de quitar a los nià ±osabuso infantil, lo cual incluye conductas como daà ±o fà ­sico, castigos excesivos, no dar alimentos, alojamiento o supervisià ³n, asalto sexual y abuso emocional, como por ejemplo, amenazas o manipulaciones de carià ±o. La violencia domà ©stica se da en un ambiente à ­ntimo, familiar, en el que las và ­ctimas pueden ser las mujeres, los nià ±os y tambià ©n los varones. Puede ser entre esposos, entre relaciones semejantes a las de matrimonio, como parejas de hecho, entre ex esposos o ex parejas o cuando abusador y và ­ctima tienen un hijo en comà ºn, aunque ahora ya no està ©n conviviendo.  Adems,  puede ocurrir en relaciones entre un hombre y una mujer o entre parejas del mismo sexo. Protecciones para las và ­ctimas de violencia domà ©stica Entre los derechos no migratorios que pueden solicitar las và ­ctimas de violencia domà ©stica destacan el de solicitar una orden de proteccià ³n o una orden de alejamiento frente al agresor. Es lo que se conoce en inglà ©s como una protection order o una restraining order. Se puede llenar una aplicacià ³n para una orden de proteccià ³n en una comisarà ­a de policà ­a (precinto), en una Corte, en los refugios y en las oficinas de abogados. Asimismo, en el caso de solicitar el divorcio en el caso de parejas casadas, se podrà ­a tener derecho a obtener una parte de las propiedades conjuntas. Tambià ©n se tiene derecho a obtener una pensià ³n para los hijos y podrà ­a obtenerse tambià ©n para la và ­ctima de la violencia. Los padres estn obligados a pagar una pensià ³n alimenticia a sus hijos menores de 21 aà ±os que no viven con ellos en el mismo hogar. El no pagar la pensià ³n de alimentos puede tener serias consecuencias civiles e incluso penales y migratorias. Se puede tener derecho a ser alojado en un refugio, a asistencia legal, a un intà ©rprete si hay problemas para entender o hacerse entender en inglà ©s e incluso podrà ­a tenerse derecho a ayuda econà ³mica. Todas estas protecciones cubren a las và ­ctimas de violencia domà ©stica sin importar su estatus migratorio. Protecciones migratorias para las và ­ctimas de violencia domà ©stica Dependiendo de las circunstancias de la và ­ctima, existen diferentes opciones: Peticià ³n para sà ­ mismo y para los hijos, segà ºn lo que se conoce como VAWACuando ya hay una orden de deportacià ³n puede pedirse lo que se conoce como Cancellation of removal o cancelacià ³n de la deportacià ³n.Y, para casos no comprendidos en los anteriores podrà ­a aplicar la visa U, que protege a và ­ctimas de violencia, incluidos los casos de violencia domà ©stica. En este punto de protecciones migratorias hay que destacar tres caracterà ­sticas. En primer lugar, estas aplicaciones son confidenciales, esto quiere decir que el abusador no lo va a saber. En segundo lugar, es muy importante contar con asistencia de un abogado migratorio con experiencia en estos casos. Estamos hablando de temas muy delicados y es importante asegurarse de que todos los pasos estn bien dados. Hay que evitar dar un mal paso y que la và ­ctima de violencia domà ©stica pueda acabar deportada, para ello lo mejor es asesorarse antes con un abogado con conocimientos y experiencia sobre este tipo casos. Y finalmente en tercer lugar, para los casos en los que no aplican las tres protecciones mencionadas es recomendable informarse sobre si pudieran aplicar las protecciones de la visa T, para và ­ctimas de trfico humano o las del Programa de Inmigrantes Juveniles Especiales.  ¿Dà ³nde buscar ayuda en los casos de violencia domà ©stica? Las và ­ctimas, sin importar su estatus legal, pueden marcar al 911 y pedir ayuda a la policà ­a. Tambià ©n pueden buscar ayuda en: Là ­nea abierta nacional contra la violencia domà ©stica: 1-800-799-7233Là ­nea abierta de la red nacional contra el asalto sexual, violacià ³n, abuso e incesto (RAINN, por sus siglas en inglà ©s): 1-800-656-4673Centro nacional de nià ±os desaparecidos y explotados: 1-800-843-5678Centro nacional para và ­ctimas de crà ­menes: 1-800-394-2255  ¿Quà © sucede cuando và ­ctima es acusada de delito por abusador? Esta circunstancia, lamentablemente, no es rara y se produce con relativa frecuencia. La và ­ctima debe de tener claro que en los Estados Unidos nadie est obligado a declarar en su contra y que en el caso de acusaciones penales se tiene derecho a defensa de letrado. Si la và ­ctima tiene o pudiera tener problemas migratorios, lo aconsejable es asesorarse siempre por un abogado penal y tambià ©n por uno migratorio. Hay que evitar tomar decisiones rpidas para salir de un problema penal porque puede acabarse teniendo un gran problema  migratorio. Peticià ³n de asilo en frontera por causa de violencia domà ©stica El gobierno del presidente Donald Trump est implementando una nueva polà ­tica que aplica en la frontera a los solicitantes de asilo por causa de tienen miedo de regresar a sus paà ­ses porque son và ­ctimas de violencia domà ©stica o porque tienen miedo de la violencia de las pandillas. Los solicitantes de asilo por estas causas tendrn rechazada su peticià ³n de forma inmediata. Adems, si han cruzado ilegalmente la frontera se les podr perseguir por esa falta, si es la primera vez o por ese delito, si es que ya han cruzado ilegalmente ms de una vez. Estas reglas aplican tambià ©n a los solicitantes del estatus de refugiado, lo cual se realiza fuera de Estados Unidos y antes de llegar a su frontera. Consecuencias de condena por violencia domà ©stica Las consecuencias para todas las personas presentes en Estados Unidos, con independencia de su estatus migratorio, pueden ser variadas, destacando: Pà ©rdida de derechos como licencia de armas o licencia de manejar.Pà ©rdida de la custodia sobre los hijos e incluso derechos de visitaEstar sujeto a à ³rdenes de alejamiento que impiden acercarse o comunicarse con la và ­ctimaObligacià ³n de acudir a cursos de rehabilitacià ³nObligacià ³n de pagar una compensacià ³n econà ³mica a la và ­ctima por daà ±os fà ­sicos, incluidas facturas mà ©dicas o de hospitalizacià ³n, e incluso daà ±os morales.Crcel Consecuencias migratorias para condenados por violencia domà ©stica Adems de las consecuencias previstas en el apartado anterior, por aplicacià ³n de la ley todos los extranjeros condenados por violencia domà ©stica podrà ­an ser deportados. Desde el 30 de septiembre de 1996, todas las personas condenadas por violencia domà ©stica, sea considerada o no delito agravado,  pueden ser deportadas.   Una vez que se cumple la condena o se tiene la sentencia, la deportacià ³n puede producirse de forma casi automtica, ya que quedan excluidas prcticamente todas las formas de alivio de la deportacià ³n. Finalmente, una vez que se sale de Estados Unidos por esta causa, se activa una prohibicià ³n para regresar. Este es un artà ­culo informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal.

GDP in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

GDP in China - Essay Example The national government of China too had acted out in a similar way to prove its worth over time, as the present discussion would reveal. Economic Growth of China The graphical depiction underneath is indicative of the economic fluctuations that the nation underwent during the last 10 years. It clearly shows how the nation had gone through fluctuations over time even though it had maintained a continued upward stride. However, the growth rate of GDP dipped down to its lowest during 2009-10, primarily due to the global financial shock which had hindered economic activities in many parts of the world. The primary cause behind China’s fast increase in growth rate had been its foreign trade policy of maintaining a positive current account balance. In other words, the nation complied to the export led growth strategy which is why it managed to accumulate a large volume of foreign exchange reserves. This factor alone led to a gradual appreciation in the rate of exchange of Renminbi against US dollars. The economic fluctuations which the nation underwent over time had hence, been basically the result of economic shocks arising in foreign nations, or to be precise, the Western economies which count for the highest demand for Chinese goods. Remedial measures and consequences GDP growth in China dipped down to its lowest between 2009 and 2010, when the Western economies had been the affected badly by the financial crisis. The prime reason behind this had been the high dependence of China upon its export revenues derived from the US and European economies. However, the national government of China soon framed policies which could recoup the nation from the looming crisis. The administration injected a sum of Renminbi 4 trillion within the nation in order to bail its various sectors out of the crisis. This infusion actually helped the nation’s industrial production to gain momentum once again and so did the rate of profit of the manufacturers. Furthermore, th e national government also decided to raise its total investment in fixed assets; to be precise, the growth in fixed asset investment during the first half of 2009 rose by 7.2 percentage points as against that exactly a year before. The government also took measures to accelerate the aggregate domestic demand in order to save the indigenous industrial houses. The sale of consumer products in the nation reached the level of 5,871.1 billion Yuan, which is found to be a growth of 16.6 percent after adjustment for price factors. However, though the national government framed policies to save the domestic economic environment, it had no hold over foreign operations, which is why it could not get over its deflating current account position. This resulted to a depleting foreign reserve position and thus, a depreciating rate of exchange. But, irrespective of its trade position, both the rural and urban populations of the nation experienced a slight increase in their per capita levels of inc ome. Moreover, the national government’s objective had been to bail out the nation out of any hints of recession. Thus, it implemented ways through which the flow of money within the nation could be maintained. The financial houses within the nation thus, invented ways to instigate people towards demanding more loans so as to keep the velocity of money within the nation high. The higher the money supply in an economy, higher will be the domestic

Write an annotation entry consisting of a Citation, a brief Summary, Essay - 1

Write an annotation entry consisting of a Citation, a brief Summary, and a short paragraph Evaluation of the text below - Essay Example According to Melissa, Obama does bear responsibility because he is a black in whom the African-American’s triumph is embodied. Therefore, the successes that are associated with his election can be accomplished if the blacks come out to protest the discrimination they are still subjected to by the whites. Indeed, this article can be a very invaluable resource. First, it was written by a reputable scholar who is so credible and has authored lots of books and articles and made imminent contributions to the field of journalism. Besides, it provides a lot of detailed information about the cases of alleged racism by the US police in different parts of the country. Indeed, it sensitizes me about the plight of the African-Americans who, despite constantly fighting race-based discrimination, still suffer in the hands of law enforcers. At the same time, the manner in which the author associates President Obama is challenging and thought-provoking. Since it provides all the necessary information about the plight of the blacks, the article becomes authoritative, valid and enjoyable to read. After all, the credibility of its author is not doubted at

If I Could Change 3 Things About Myself Essay Example for Free

If I Could Change 3 Things About Myself Essay Yes, maybe you will say:†Hey! Thats not enough! I need MORE! † but what are the three most importance things that you decide to change? If I could change three things about myself, I think first and foremost, I would change my desirous of food-ness. I got the stomach ache-ness when I was at Japan and tried not to eat so much. Well, to late for regrets now! I am eating now and just ate some ice-cream just now and ate fish chops for dinner. Well, good luck to me! Secondly, I would like to change my laziness. I had been pretty darn lazy through my whole life until now. Except for the time when my sister who is older than me by a year got to go to school and petty little me didnt get to go. So, I got so interested in learning that I read ALL of my sisters textbooks. And ever since my sister knew that I knew   that she was learning, made up a lame excuse and threw her homework to me and went to play some stupid computer game like MINES. Because she doesnt know how to play it, she just simply pushes some buttons. But now, I inherited her laziness and she inherited my hardworkingness and its the other way round than the time we were kids. Lastly, I would like to change the fact that I dont really have any talents. Im suck in studying, not really good in sports. I would want my talents to be: singing, dancing and acting. So, I could just be a pop star when I grow up. Well, its really nice to be a star, you know, with people fan boy and fan girling you. You just sing, which you awesomely have HUGE talent at and you get tons of money for just ONE song you sing! It would be such an awesome life! Well, its probably pretty obvious that nobody is going to magically materialize from thin air and grant those for me. So seems like I would just need to keep working at it.

Engine Efficiency Essay -- physics internal combustion engine

Ever since the invention of the internal combustion engine, scientists and engineers have worked to increase its efficiency. As it stands now, the average internal combustion automobile engine only converts roughly 20% of its energy into useful motivational power. Most of the rest is expended through heat loss in various locations. The cooling system in an automobile is used to remove heat from all the moving parts so that they can still function properly without melting, seizing, or overheating. If an engine was ideal, it would release no heat because all of its energy would be converted into the power transferred to the wheels, but no such engine exists in reality. With all the many moving parts that must remain in contact with one another (in order to maintain compression and prevent various other leaks), friction is inevitable and thus, so is heat. Therefore, the cooling system in the car is exceedingly important. The way it works is basically a simple matter of heat transfer. Water cooled vehicles use a combination of air and liquid cooling mechanisms, routing coolant hoses past the hotter parts of the engine so that heat can transfer from the engine parts into the coolant, which then goes back into the radiator to be cooled off by the incoming air. Air cooled vehicles typically have large fans installed strategically on the engine and heat dissipating fins on the heads. What may come as a surprise to some is that the heater in the cab of your car is actually a part of the car's cooling system. Heat that is removed from the engine is simply piped into the cab so that the driver doesn't freeze to death in the middle of winter. The removal of this heat draws colder air into the engine compartment... ... rather have clean air, myself... Conclusion It may seem as though there are no significant benefits to the inefficiencies of internal combustion engines. After all, they waste fuel, resources and money; they pollute the environment and create potential health risks; and to some people, too much can go wrong with them to ever make them worth trying to understand. I, however, will always stand by my love of the painstakingly choreographed dance that takes place within a combustion engine; all the parts working in time to create a glorious, gas-guzzling, ozone depleting, peace disturbing chunk of steel, rubber, glass and aluminum that can go 0-60 in a matter of mere seconds. And I would like to hear anyone curse the inefficient heat loss of their engine when it is pumping 70Â ° air into a -40Â ° cab at 6 a.m. in the middle of Fairbanks' frigid winter.

Rebellion Against Oppression Essay

How Does Oppression Within â€Å"Like Water for Chocolate† and â€Å"The House of Bernarda Alba† Lead To Unnatural Consequences? In both ‘Like Water for Chocolate’ and ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ rebellion against oppression is a strong theme, with both Tita and Adela struggling to break free of their mother’s authoritarianism. However, it is important to realise that with both characters, the authors are using them to symbolise their own journeys. Federico Garcia Lorca uses Adela’s strong willed fight against Bernarda Alba to represent the costs of repressing the freedom of others. Likewise, in Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel uses Tita’s constant battle against Mama Elena to show how women struggle to be heard and how both men and tradition can be strong oppressors. Laura Esquivel employs magic realism throughout ‘Like Water For Chocolate’ to show how Tita’s emotions are transmitted and exaggerated through food. Laura Esquivel presents the supernatural as an everyday event, however not all the characters accept it in the same way as reality, for example Mama Elena remains convinced that Tita is somehow doctoring the food to her own liking, instead of it being ‘magical tears’. Tita lives in a traditional female role, she enjoys cooking and is a selfless nurturer but she lives under a matriarchal rule. A woman who has â€Å"never needed a man for anything†, which leaves the reader questioning why Tita seems to require a man in her life in order to â€Å"alight her matches†. Adela, although fighting for her right for freedom again Bernarda Alba, still believes that she must take orders from Pepe. The traditional roles the mothers have created for their daughters continue even in their rebellion. The men in both books are not particularly strong characters. All leaving the women to suffer for the mess they have created themselves. When Librada’s daughter kills her newborn baby in order to avoid the shame of having sex with someone out of wedlock, â€Å"a big crowd† gather in order to kill her. It is completely unnatural that the woman is being prosecuted for being a â€Å"woman who tramples on decency† as opposed to a murderer. This is an ironic recasting of the Mary Magdalene narrative, which exposes the hypocrisy of Bernarda Alba’s society. This shows however, that within both texts, men are far less restricted than the women. The man is of no fault for having sex out of wedlock, it is her shame. Similarly, in ‘Like Water For Chocolate’ Mama Elena is far more annoyed at the idea of Tita shaming her family than of Pedro cheating on her eldest daughter. Mama Elena is obsessed with tradition and all her actions reflect this. Tita, being the youngest daughter of the family, is forced to remain at home until the day her mother dies. Mama Elena immediately disregards Tita’s questioning of the tradition, saying, â€Å"for generations not a single person in my family has questioned this tradition†, expressing that Tita should simply accept these traditions as fact and that she does not have the right to question her mother’s authority. Rosaura informs Tita that her only daughter will care for her and never marry, according to family tradition. Rosaura tries to mirror her relationship with Esperanza to the relationship her mother and Tita shared. Tita is horrified to discover that Rosaura plans to ‘perpetuate such an inhumane tradition†. Rosaura does not seem to have any powerful emotions and persists to carry on the family traditions as a poor imitation of her mother. It is class and not tradition that keeps Bernarda Alba from concealing her daughters from the world of marriage and men within ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’. Her mind is focused on how the world views her and her family. When Angustias is seen looking at Pepe El Romano, her mother asks â€Å"is it proper for a woman of your class to go chasing after a man? She is instantly noticing that her daughter is stepping outside her class and reining her back in. When Matirio is set to marry Enrique Humanas, Bernarda won’t allow it because her ‘blood will never mix with that of the Humanas family’ proving that her only real interest is in class rather than the welfare of her daughters. Mama Elena and Bernarda Alba have different reasons for oppressing their daughters but both women are equally as keen to enforce their rules. It is ironic how un-natural the ends of oppression are shown to be. When Tita is brought into the world prematurely after her father’s sudden death, Mama Elena is the opposite of a nurturer, never forging any bond with Tita. Tita develops a relationship with food that gives her the power to nurture and give outlet to her emotions. Tita rebels against her mother’s authority first through her consorting with Pedro. When Tita receives the news that Pedro is to be married to Rosaura, her life begins to crumble around her and throughout the novel there are many times when they meet without Mama Elena’s knowledge. Roberto, Rosaura and Pedro’s son is a strong, if not surprising influence in Tita’s actions. Roberto forges the bond with Tita that her and her mother never had and ‘contary to what she had expected’ she feels â€Å"an immense tenderness towards the boy†. It is when Roberto dies that Tita’s desire to please her mother and her own desires clash and she outwardly defies her mother and steps out of the shadow of oppression for the first time. She â€Å"tears apart all the sausages† symbolizing her finally destroying her mother’s rules. When Tita is found in the dovecote, it is ironic that Mama Elena states that â€Å"there’s no place in this house for maniacs! † when her oppressive nature is what caused Tita to break down. When John arrives and removes her from the oppressive atmosphere her mother has created, and she is offered comfort and love, Tita’s failing sanity returns leaving the reader questioning Mama Elena’s own sanity as she confines her daughters to a life of unnatural solitude. Adela is quietly rebelling continuously through the three act play; her real emotion doesn’t arise until the end. From the first act, after the funeral Adela wears a ‘green dress’ making her stand out from her more conservative siblings. The colour green symbolises fertility which Bernarda objects to. This immediately separates her from her family. Unlike Tita, Adela never covers up her feelings in front of her mother or siblings, she knows what she wants and â€Å"her body will be for anyone†. Bernarda’s cane is her symbol of authority, one bang on the floor and all is silenced. In her fury Adela breaks ‘the tyrant’s rod’, the ultimate rebellion, breaking Bernarda’s status symbol. With her object of authority broken, Bernarda can no longer oppress her youngest daughter. Lorca structures the conflict between the characters, short sentences forces the audience to feel the panic of the women and the strength of Adela as Bernarda’s matricachal world crashes down around her. In the last act Adela’s repression from being with the man she loves causes her to commit suicide, an ironic tragedy. Lorca makes the audience judge public morality by showing how women are oppressed throughout the scenes and how people react in the most unnatural fashion, women are convicted of adultery before murder. When Adela hangs herself, Bernarda is strong on the knowledge that her daughter â€Å"died a virgin†, she is much more interested in how the town see her as oppesed to the fact her daughter murdered herself due to Bernarda’s rules. Gertrudis and Paca Le Roseta seem very similar characters; they both follow their carnal desire and run away. Paca La Roseta was â€Å"carried off to the top of the olive grove† by the men, when Bernarda finds out ‘she agreed to it’ she is eager to announce her distaste, claiming Roseta is a ‘loose woman’ and therefore to be shunned. Because she breaks the rules of what is deemed acceptable she is immediately rejected In chapter three, Tita’s lustful emotions find themselves in the quail in rose petal sauce. When served, the family’s hidden lust rise to the surface, all of them experiencing Tita’s desire. Gertrudis is the ‘conducting body’ for Tita’s rebellion giving her the opportunity to enter Pedro’s ‘hot, voluptuous, totally sensuous’ body. Esquivel uses magic realism to describe Gertrudis setting aflame and running away with a man. Totally defying the rules of tradition set down by her own mother. Bernarda’s mother rebels against her daughter constantly and loudly. Constantly shouting that she wants to ‘get married at the edge of the sea’. She questions ’why isn’t there any foam here? Nothing but black mourning shawls’, she wants to go somewhere bright and full of hope instead of being locked up surrounded by the darkness of oppression. Maria Josepha is persistent in trying to escape her oppressor, trying to be a mother, outstepping her boundaries. She wishes a lamb to ‘be a child’ as she has a strong maternal instinct that represents all the girls’ wish to be a mother. How they all must have a maternal instinct Bernarda is not allowing them to have. The family is unnatural, a denial of nature. Maria Josepha represents rebelling against oppression much like Gertrudis in ‘Like Water For Chocolate’. Throughout both books, the matriarchal oppression forces both women to come to an unnatural end. The strict ideas of tradition, class and how a woman should act condemn everyone to a life of tragedy. Lorca and Esquivel are both fighting for the voices that were not allowed to speak in their own society.

Final discussion

For that season, I would have become a phantom thief in order for my children and myself to live an easier life. In addition, having unlimited money, could have been more active in my kid's life by not having to work two jobs that made me so tired. Miserably, when I did see them I still was barely there, and we were still broke. As a result, sometimes did not even get to put my kids to bed, or wake them up in the morning, as I was either already gone to work or not home yet. Nevertheless, with the super power of the ring I could have given them everything they needed or wanted (within reason).For instance, I could eve afforded to buy all my children's school pictures, along with, not having to say no to things such as, field trips, birthday parties, or even new shoes. This analogy is an example of psychological egoism because of my inspiration of self-regard (Mackinac, 2012). What I mean is our life was hard but we would have made it without the ring but my maternal thinking would ha ve wanted a better life for my kids and myself. Consider that the normative theory, ethics of care, comes into play in this situation because it was my duty to provide us with a better life.However, if had the same opportunity today, loud not take the ring. Now know it is against my personal ethics of what is right and what is wrong due to my firm beliefs of my religion. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians :9-11, n. D. ) The word of God is the theory I live by, and it makes me happy to know my moral reasoning will result in eternal peace. As Kant believes, a key point is the expansion of positive predispositions to act in a particular manner will empower us to ensure a virtue without difficulty (Mackinac, 2012). In this way, the rules commanded to us in the Bible are the laws ought to govern my life by because they are good. Plain and simple. For this reason, there is no chance that I would take the ring, as I would be in fear of it leading me to do things I normally would not do.Moreover, I do not want to eel the shame associated with, not being just. As a final point, in the video, Ethics Ill #3 Ring of Edges, it is said that Glaucoma clams that no one is just willingly. He also believes doing wrong is naturally good and will ultimately make you happy. Accordingly, he also accepts as truth that a person is also doing their self an injustice if they are against doing wrong because nothing good will come of being fair. As well as for Socrates, I disagree with Glaucoma, and do trust that acting just is good. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. (n. D. ). â€Å"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall†¦Retrieved from http://view. Bellybuttons. Mom/ Ethics Ill #3 Ring of Edges. [Video]. Retrieved from http://WV. Youth. Com/ watch? V=jimmying Mackinac, B. (2012). Ethics: Theory and contemporary issues (concise 2nd deed. ). Boston, MA: Coinage Learning Melody Piquantly Email Author RE: Discussion – week 2 – Thread I Collapse Top of Form Parent Post Week 2 Discussion The Ring of Edges Walden University Melody Piquantly would like to think that I as a person who helps people that I would be an Ethical egoism, ‘What we ought to do, how we ought to act†(Mackinac 2012).Not an Individual ethical egoism in this version â€Å"l ought to look out for only yeses ‘(Macaroon 2012). Would also like to think that morally would do the right thing if I had all that power, that my moral virtues (depose us to act well) are in tact that temptation would not take over and I become unjust We all would like to think th at we would do the right thing help the needy, homeless and the people less fortunate than ourselves. I know that's what I would love to do. But self interest may or could get in the way of that.Then there is also greed, the more you get the more you want and hell way I would love it if I never had to work again. But morally I would never hurt someone to et there. In reading The Ring of Edges by Plato, Edges was a very unjust person and I hope that by me being a just person that all that power would not turn me unjust and throw all my morals and virtues out the window. Christopher French Email Author NEE: Discussion – Week 2 – Thread 1 think most people would honestly say that they would be compelled to use the ring.From a feminist care ethic perspective (Mackinac, 201 2), would attempt to use the ring for good. I would want to use it to protect the innocent and those who cannot protect themselves. I would feel had a responsibility to protect society from evil. I would also carry the responsibility of ensuring the ring does not fall into the wrong hands. I would like to say that would be prudent to resist the temptation to use the ring for the wrong reasons. It is human nature for us to be tempted and to make the wrong choices. Could have good intentions, yet make all the wrong decisions.When we stop and think about from a legalistic point of view, even Robin Hood, who stole from the rich to give to the poor, had a moral dilemma. Even though Robin Hood had good intentions and gave the money he stole to the poor, he was still stealing and that is morally wrong (Mackinac, 2012). loud like to think I am a virtuous person, but I am only human and human are not without sin. We can relate the power and temptation of the ring to Adam and Eve and their fall into sin. Adam and Eve were virtuous and without sin. Then they were tempted by the knowledge of good and evil.They knew that the knowledge was forbidden, yet they fell into temptation anyways. I am s ure they had good intentions, but with that knowledge and power comes responsibility and consequences (Mackinac, 2012; Genesis 3:1-8:14 (King James Version)). References Mackinac, B. (2012). Ethics: Theory and contemporary issues (Concise 2nd d. deed. ). Boston, MA: Coinage Learning. Hi Christopher. Nice Post. I certainly appreciated your correlation of the ring in the last paragraph. It is a pity that the devil tempted Adam and Eve. If they had not, we could have been forever free of sin and always joyful.Indeed, the world is paying for their consequences. However, we know the blood of Jesus Christ is a filter that can enable us to live someday in the presence of our Almighty Lord, along with only peace, love and happiness. In your first paragraph, you compare your morality to that of feminine care ethics. I too feel that it is important and my duty, to defend the innocent and feeble. Think it is admirable that you wrote from this viewpoint. As we read in our book, the psychologist Carol Gilligan led discussions that showed that both men and women depict their ethical views differently.It also defined that no man in the study focused on the dilemma of caring. This caring philosophy considers the virtues of compassion and kindness in the context of personal relatedness and how their affiliation will be inclined to a particular action. (Mackinac, 2012). On the other hand, this survey also showed not all women followed this morality. In this interview, think if participated I would have been one of these women. Although I agree with these some of these caring principles, tend to think more in terms of universal ethics, as do men. In this way, â€Å"men are more inclined to talk in terms of fairness and justice and rights. (p 68) Also, I sense that if all nations were charted by unbiased laws that put all people on equal grounds, we could live in a more productive and serene society. (Mackinac, 2012). My question to you is, do you primarily associate yourself wi th the understandings of caring ethics or do you also relate to other principles like me? deed. deed. ). Boston, MA: Coinage Learning I would have to say that I primarily associate myself with the caring ethic. Since childhood, have always care about and for others. During high school, was involved in several social justice projects.I also spent several hours a week babysitting, which is not that common for males to do. After high school, decided enjoyed working with children. Began studying early childhood education. Also took additional course work in human development. I am currently a child development major here at Walden University with a concentration in psychology. I plan on doing graduate work in either school psychology or school counseling and eventually work with elementary and middle school children. I am currently training to be a first responder (Emergency Medical Responder) and am also planning on getting C.E. R. T. Certified as well (Citizen Emergency Response Team) . Even though I am currently not a teacher in a public school system, I love working with children and teaching them. Yesterday, drove about 30 miles to a friend's house to spend the afternoon and evening with their children teaching them science. I have also worked with a few home school families teaching various subjects to children grades K-8. I worked in a child care center caring for children from infancy through school age. Unfortunately, I found it to be a very hostile environment to work in. As the only male teacher amongst about 50 women. The executive director did not think men had any business working with children. From the first day I worked in that center the executive director did everything in her power to get rid of me. Finally about two years later, the board members of the center voted to fire me simply because they got tired of listening to the executive director complain about me. Christopher, you write very well! My mother was an MET in the early ass's. N fact, she became the first paid women paramedic in Prince William County Virginia, a suburb of Washington DC.Then she worked as a paid paramedic in the District of Columbia, where she was retired because she broke her back on the job. Remember how much she loved her job, helping people, it hurt her to have to stop working. Good luck with your training! Also, commend your love of children, too bad there are not more people like you having so much interest in wanting to nurture our children. What an encouragement you are. Alt sounds like those people who brought you done, lost a good thing! Joana Wilkins Email Author I grew up taught to be respectful, not to lie, or steal.Like many of you this is how we were taught by our parents or by the person(s) who was in our lives as we grew up. This is our ethical egoism, what we ought to do, how we ought to act (Mackinac, 201 3, p. 25). I grew up also looking up to my Mom. She went back to school as an adult with kids. She became a nurse, someone w ho helps another person during an illness/sickness. She always put others a head of her. I admired this and want to be this. As a nurse I do put others in front of me. I love to help and heal others. I work in emergency medicine for his reason. The front line of the hospital.I love to get the sickest people in and to be able to stabilize them and get them to the floor feeling better and on the right road to healing. As a Catholic, I do believe in Karma. What goes around, comes around. So with that being said, would not use the ring. I don't think could knowing this. I would love to be able to be debt free, know what others know, but what is all that worth? Is it worth having the knowledge you did wrong? You may think it is k because you can get away with it, but it is not. To steal, lie to get what you want is never k. I know there are people UT there that do this but do they have the respect they deserve?I don't think so. The question regarding can you use the ring for good? I don ‘t think that you can use it as a â€Å"Robin Hood† type story. You are still stealing and possibly lying to get things for others. â€Å"If you could imagine any one obtaining this power of becoming invisible, and never doing any wrong or touching what was another's, he would be thought by the lookers-on to be a most wretched idiot, although they would praise him to one another's faces, and keep up appearances with one another from a fear that they too might suffer injustice† (Plato, n. ). Reference Mackinac, B. 2013). Ethics: Theory and contemporary issues (2nd deed Boston, MA: Coinage Learning. Plato. (n. D. ). The republic. Retrieved January 20, 2015 from: HTTPS://class. Walden. Du/backwards/institution/ USES C/artifacts/ USES _Phil_2001 Bottom of Form Gleeson English Email Author RE: Discussion – Week 2 – Thread 1 In the article, â€Å"The Ring of Edges† (Plato. The republic, 2012), it presented the idea of using a magical ring to become invisible. If I were given something like this to do something without being caught I would honestly say I would not steal or do anything mean or crazy.In fact I probably would be that person to do nice things without anyone knowing. I am no one who likes to be in the spot light and like people to know what I have I done. I believe my rewards come from someone much higher and that's the reward I want not someone knowing that something was done for them so they can keep talking about it. There are many times in life where I may have had a situation to do something bad or not get caught doing it but I didn't choose those paths, they would lead to nothing but darkness.There are many celebrities who have done crazy things and must have thought they would get away with it or even et wrote off just because they were a celebrity but they were caught and brought to justice like anyone else. Dear Kimberly and ALL: Care Ethics and gender differences in ethical perspectives Kimberly: This is a powerful personal testimony of spiritual growth. It reminded me of an enthralling book by V. Hog, Less Miserable. Perhaps you read it or watched the Hollywood musical with the same title. It was released in 2012.Its heroic and noble protagonist, Jean Vallejo, became a prisoner after stealing a loaf of bread to help his family. This act cost him not only the loss of reputation, but also moral and physical sufferings. On one occasion, he stole again from a priest who gave him shelter. The priest, knowing the real cause of his crime, testified on Jean Baleen's behalf. This act of kindness became a turning point in Jean Baleen's story, leading him on the path of a noble life. Do you think that the female and male ethical perspectives on â€Å"The Ring of Edges† will be similar?Would Care Ethics, on the contrary, advocate their significant differences? Hi Dry. Workman, Funny you asked this question. I did a little survey on Tuesday of men and women, from church and my neighbors. I told them of the story of The Ring of Edges then I asked if they assessed the ring would they steal money, and if they did, what would they do with it. There was a total of ten people, six women and four men. Firstly, three of the six women agreed that they would not take the ring to steal, but would take it and do good deeds similar to helping others in need, without anyone knowing.Suitably, these women showed characteristics of care. Similarly, one woman said she would have no problem stealing because no one would know, and her family could use the money. Aptly, this dilemma shows her caring morals. Also, two of the women whom I talked to at Church aid if they acquired the ring, they would destroy it because they ought to not let the ring tempt them to steal because it is wrong. Showing, they had deontological morals as the Bible tells them stealing is bad. Now for the men.One out of the four men said they would not do it for the same reason as the three women. Then, two said t hey would take the ring and steal as much as they could for themselves, and use it live it up with their friends. They pretty much said to hell with everyone else, as they would not know, selfishly showing signs of self-egoism. Next, One man said he would use the money to aka care of his ailing mother, and then take care of others, such as the Church and other family members. This premise shows his caring morals.So to answer your first question, I am predicting yes they could have comparable perceptions, depending on that person's particular reasoning or aspects of human character, rather than assumed male or female qualities. (Mackinac, 2012). To answer your second question, if the norms were the same as say 50 years or more ago would say that yes Care Ethics would show significant differences between male and female. Appropriately, it is said that elatedness is the framework that forms female decisions. Mainly due to the fact they were nurtured and sheltered closely by their mothe r.

Free Essays on Young Mothers

you hear as you slam down your drink in the quickest fashion. You’re at a party and it’s starting to pick up. There are all kinds of girls getting wasted everywhere you look and at this point the majority of them are looking pretty good. So after a few more drinks you start to loosen up and begin to work on getting some action. So you bump along the groups of girls until one catches your eye. You spark up a conversation and things are really starting to look promising. The two of you decide to share a few more drinks and head back to your place for a little while to see what unfolds. You and your girl are getting hot and heavy in your bedroom and it looks like you are about to get lucky. Little do you know this is the your most unlucky moment. The two of you are so wasted that condoms don’t even cross you mind and you just rush into the act. Everything is going good and you figure; just pull out and you’ll be fine. The part you don’t know is that your method of contraception doesn’t really work. Nine months later you realize the error of your ways, but by this time it’s far too late. During the 1990’s the teenage pregnancy rates in the U.S. have dropped down to record low levels. Even with this progress, the United States still has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates of the developed countries in the world. The rate of teen childbearing in the United States has fallen steeply since the late 1950s, from an all time high of 96 births per 1,000 women aged 15-19 in 1957 to an all time low of 49 in 2000. In recent years, this downward trend has occurred among teens of all ages and races. These encouraging declines are due to a few factors. The first contributing factor being better contraceptive methods. Nowadays sexually active teens are well aware of the options they have. There are birth control pills, better condoms and even Norplant, which can eliminate the ris... Free Essays on Young Mothers Free Essays on Young Mothers 1, 2, 3 Chug Those are the words you hear as you slam down your drink in the quickest fashion. You’re at a party and it’s starting to pick up. There are all kinds of girls getting wasted everywhere you look and at this point the majority of them are looking pretty good. So after a few more drinks you start to loosen up and begin to work on getting some action. So you bump along the groups of girls until one catches your eye. You spark up a conversation and things are really starting to look promising. The two of you decide to share a few more drinks and head back to your place for a little while to see what unfolds. You and your girl are getting hot and heavy in your bedroom and it looks like you are about to get lucky. Little do you know this is the your most unlucky moment. The two of you are so wasted that condoms don’t even cross you mind and you just rush into the act. Everything is going good and you figure; just pull out and you’ll be fine . The part you don’t know is that your method of contraception doesn’t really work. Nine months later you realize the error of your ways, but by this time it’s far too late. During the 1990’s the teenage pregnancy rates in the U.S. have dropped down to record low levels. Even with this progress, the United States still has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates of the developed countries in the world. The rate of teen childbearing in the United States has fallen steeply since the late 1950s, from an all time high of 96 births per 1,000 women aged 15-19 in 1957 to an all time low of 49 in 2000. In recent years, this downward trend has occurred among teens of all ages and races. These encouraging declines are due to a few factors. The first contributing factor being better contraceptive methods. Nowadays sexually active teens are well aware of the options they have. There are birth control pills, better condoms and even Norplant, which can eliminate the ris...

How to Plan a Marketing Calendar That Actually Works (Free Template)

How to Plan a Marketing Calendar That Actually Works (Free Template) Im going to be blunt. A lot of marketing calendars are really tough to use simply because they arent designed to be marketing calendar tools. And that makes it really tough to plan a marketing calendar that actually works: PDFs: Printing a free editorial calendar template like this one from   is  a great way to start  your  planning- to get the brainstorming going. From here, youll likely want a digital version thats a bit easier to update with your constant changes. Excel: Heres a free marketing calendar template from Content Marketing Institute to get you started on a digital version. But its a bit difficult to get  your team to use it when you have it locked all day as you plan. :/ Google Docs:  A spreadsheet in Google Docs/Sheets like this marketing calendar template from Crackerjack Marketing will help you solve the locking problem youd experience with Excel. This still doesnt feel like a marketing calendar, though, without a visual way to see your upcoming projects. Google Calendar:  You could also build a marketing calendar in Google Calendar. The thing is If youve followed our  advice on social media calendars, you  may schedule 30 or more social messages throughout the following weeks and months to share a single blog post  with your audience. Im sure you cant imagine copying and pasting all of those from Google Calendar into your different social networks- what a time suck! Not to mention copying and pasting all of your other content, too So What Will Help You Plan An Awesome Marketing Calendar? So where am I going with all of this? Ive read dozens of other posts on marketing calendars, editorial calendars, content marketing calendars, social media calendars- you get the picture. And I checked out  a  monster list of marketing calendar templates in a post on Crazy Eggs blog. There are tons of folks who have really good ideas of what  to include in your calendar, and starting with a template to get your brainstorming underway is a solid way to begin. So heres how to plan a marketing calendar that really works- with a few tips from us at , and a lot more from the other rock stars out there. How To Plan A #MarketingCalendar That Actually WorksStart With This Guide + Marketing Calendar Template, And Then You might just need a guide and a little something to  write on while you read this post. Ive got your back. Download the free guide that will help you implement all of this advice with actionable, step-by-step information. Youll also get a  free marketing calendar template  (plus bonus social + email marketing calendars) to help you plan all your content in advance. And when you're ready to use a tool designed to be your marketing calendar,  get started with 14 free days of . Now let's get to the good stuff. Step #1: Turn Your Marketing Strategy Into Real Content You'll Create Maybe writing a  30-page marketing strategy  isn't as important as  planning real content. It sounds harsh, but hear me out: For startups, business plans are no longer normal. In fact, they're now considered a faux pas and seen as a mere â€Å"business guess.† But that wasn’t always the case.  Before the lean startup, the business plan was a document that assumed we knew everything there was to know about our business, a plan set in stone. It was done, or so we thought. In reality, it was just a big huge guess.   Marketing plans and gigantic old strategy documents aren’t much different. They may sound novel and responsible, but the reality is that they are just guesses, too. What could content marketing strategy builders learn from the lean startup model? For a startup, business plans are no longer normal. @garrett_moonThe more time you spend strategizing, the less time you spend creating real content that will influence sales (which, let's face it, is the entire reason to plan your marketing calendar). Whether you have a marketing strategy already  or not, there are just a few things you need in your strategy to help you validate  what content to create: The now-infamous: Know your audience. This could start as simple as a customer survey, then possibly just bullet points you add into an Evernote note that help you stay in touch with your customers'  changing needs. The main point here is this: Keep it simple, especially at first. Create content. Content is data, and you get to know your customers  by creating content and measuring its impact. There's no way you will know everything about your audience until you put something out there, start communicating with them, and get their feedback. Start small. If you're thinking about doing an hourlong video or an e-book first, think again. Could you release a chapter of an e-book first to gauge its performance before you spend more time developing content on that topic? Could the same go for your monster video? If content is data, plan minimum viable content on your marketing calendar first to feel out what will truly "move the needle." (I had to sneak in a quip  like that since we're talking strategy!) That really looks like this: From here, turn your strategy into content. And  use the data from what you create to plan more: Create your content. Share it with your audience. Measure what's working. Learn what to create and where to share. Plan more content like your best-performing projects. Recommended Reading:  Here’s Why You Don’t Need A â€Å"Content Marketing Strategy† So now that you have a minimum viable marketing strategy to get started, the next step is looping in who'll help you create that content. This will help you define expectations for everyone- even if it's really only you as an all-in-one marketing team. To Do: Brainstorm  every question your audience has about your niche from knowing nothing to being an expert. From there, strategize the best forms of content  you'll use to answer their questions. This will serve as the foundation for your marketing calendar. I’d rather have a first-rate execution and second-rate strategy any time than a brilliant idea and mediocre management. - Jamie Dimon Step #2: Understand Who'll Do What Ann Handley has an awesome idea when it comes to who should be involved in your editorial flow, and thus, have access to your marketing calendar to understand when pieces will publish: A Simple Content Marketing Org Chart from Ann Handley She  says: These are roles not staff positions. Each role might be filled by one person or perhaps by a dozen, depending on the size and complexity of your own organization. Let's take a look at those roles quick: Team lead, or your strategist Editorial director Designers Content creators Curator Syndicator Analytics expert Site manager That's a pretty good list. And while that list works for Ann, it might not for you. For a small team, you  can narrow that list of roles down even further: Team lead who helps with planning, editing, publishing, and distributing Writer who turns a content idea into something your audience will love Designer (or videographer, podcaster, etc.) who takes  the writer's creation  to the next level Essentially, these folks are the ones who'll help you plan, create, and share the content  according to your marketing strategy. Get everyone on the same page now to make actually producing content a lot easier down the road. To Do: Narrow down the roles you need to create the different content types you explored in step #1. Brainstorm  who'll help you complete those projects (you're looking for names here). Get everyone on the same page to understand about how much content you can publish in a normal week. Find a marketing calendar tool that helps with project management, communication, and workflow that everyone will use. Now it's time work that marketing calendar:  Plan what topics you'll cover. Step #3: Define Your Topic Themes John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing plans out his marketing calendar based on themes. The themes help him look at a calendar that connects with topics  he wants to cover for his audience. Note that this isn't actual content yet- it's just a note of the topics he'd like to address in his content: The first step is to start making a list of your most important themes. I generally try to find three core themes and about nine supplemental themes. (Nice tidy 12 monthly themes.) Your core themes are the kinds of things that might be found on your homepage or even in the title attribute of your home page. Or, perhaps the main navigational elements of your site. While it scares me to plan 12 months ahead  because the data from your current content should help you plan new content,  this is an awesome way to plan strategically (and super efficiently) and keep your content on point. John shares exactly how he chooses themes: Start with brainstorming. Lock yourself away and start thinking about the kinds of things people ask about the most, where you make your most money, or where you see the greatest opportunities in your industry. This is often enough to create a good start to your list. Obviously, if you have a team, get them involved – they may actually know better than you. (Industry jargon that means nothing to the prospect must be left out here.) John mentions this is a nice way to get past staring at a blank marketing calendar without any clue of what content to add to it. I also love that about themes. To Do: Find the main themes from your list of customer questions in step #1. Define their biggest challenges, the areas of opportunity in your industry, and how you make the most money. Choose themes to flesh out your marketing calendar. You may want to plan a month ahead, a quarter, or the entire year.  It's whatever works for you. Personally, I'd choose weekly themes to repeat over the course of months to have tangible data as evidence to plan more content around a theme or less. This way, you'd avoid planning lots of content around a theme for an entire month without knowing if that theme is a dud. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for your entire team to see. Remember, themes aren't content; themes direct the content your team will create. Step #4: Prioritize  Your Marketing Projects Marcus Sheridan from  The Sales Lion has a simple solution to help you plan your marketing calendar based on projects that will have the biggest impact on your business. He addresses prioritizing your marketing calendar  very simply: Remember, content marketing is about generating more sales. When all is said and done, that’s what matters. He suggests  prioritizing more "Buyer's Content" instead of so much top of the funnel, inbound content. By understanding this, the aim is  to plan content on your marketing calendar that will help prospects make purchase decisions instead of purely focusing on content that's great for the top of the funnel but just generating traffic. The team at The Sales Lion even have a  simple  algorithm they use to prioritize their projects that you can use, too: Essentially, we have every client rate their planned content (be it blog titles, videos, etc.) on a scale of 1-3. A â€Å"3† score means it’s â€Å"Buyer’s Content† and therefore marked as most urgent- moving it to the top of the calendar. If it’s a â€Å"1† grade, then we’ll wait to produce this content because it’s either a top of funnel question that a buyer may be asking or even an â€Å"outside of the funnel† question/subject- meaning that although it may be relevant to the business and buyer, it doesn’t necessarily represent someone who is seriously considering making a purchase right now. From here, you can plan a balance of content focused on selling and content focused on inspiring interest in your business on your marketing calendar. To-Do: For each theme, brainstorm content you could create for that topic. Don't limit yourself at first: When you think of an idea, write it down quickly and move to the next. For those content ideas, use Marcus' algorithm to rank them with good, better, best: 1 means inbound, 3  means looking to buy. Use your best judgement to rank these just to get started. Sift through the  content ideas for every  theme. Sort them according to 3, 2, 1 to prepare a prioritized list that you'll add to your marketing calendar. And when you start planning actual pieces of content on your calendar, there are a few things to keep in mind: Step #5: Plan Your Content On Your Marketing Calendar This is the fun part! And there are many ways to do this: The Best 2018 Content Calendar Template to Get Organized All Year 2018 Social Media Content Calendar: How to Organize a Year of Posts the Easy Way 5 Lessons From The Forbes Editorial Calendar That Will Make You Better At Blog Planning How To Use A Content Marketing Editorial Calendar To Save A Ton Of Time Seven Content Calendar Examples From Awesome Brands to Inspire Your Own While editorial  calendars work particularly well for managing blogs, you can use them to organize all of your marketing. So I wanted to know how the other pros out there plan more than just blog and social media content, but a true all-in-one marketing calendar that you can also do with . Here's what they had to say: Plan Actual Pieces Of Content To Target Specific Keywords Your Audience Uses You used Marcus' algorithm to prioritize your projects, so let's make those into actual pieces of content on your calendar. John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing had some more solid advice on planning projects as content: Now take that list to the Google Keyword Planner and see if you can find themes that have significant volume. You must balance key terms with being too generic though. A term like â€Å"marketing† wouldn’t make sense as a theme, even for a marketing consultant, but a term like â€Å"referral marketing tactics† might. To summarize: While all of your content may be connected to a theme, choose a keyword for every single piece of content you'll publish. These may be keywords all related to the same topic, but unique enough to help you connect your different content to the terms your audience is searching for. To Do: Read this: SEO Content Strategy: How to Skyrocket Your Traffic By 594%. Select a core  keyword for every single piece of content (and related keywords)  that will publish on the magical interwebs. Then add the keywords into  your projects on your marketing calendar according to the priority you defined through Marcus' scoring  exercise. Plan Content For A Week, Month, Or Year Out Joe Pulizzi from Content Marketing Institute has a lot of insight on  the content marketing process, and marketing calendars are a huge element of successful strategies turning into real content: One thing is certain: if you don’t keep an editorial/content calendar, the content doesn’t get done. - Joe Pulizzi Joe breaks it down into such a simple idea: An editorial calendar simply tracks what content you are going to cover, what tactic it’s for (blog, newsletter, etc.) and who’s responsible. [...] Best practice is to set up a master calendar for all your content initiatives, and then a separate content calendar for each initiative. Traditionally, we’ve set up editorial calendars 12 months out and then constantly change them as we tweak the marketing plan. The good news is that your themes are the year calendar, and now you're ready to plan real projects for each "initiative", as Joe calls them. So let's recap everything  you just learned, and use Joe's advice to get your projects on your marketing calendar. To Do: At this point, you have a marketing calendar with themes outlining the topics you'll cover every single month. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for the entire year (and take seasonality into account, too, for big holidays or events in your industry). You  got the entire team on board to understand their roles. Now it's time to understand how much content you can actually produce in a given week or month. Sit down with the team to plan your publishing frequency,  taking into consideration all of the  marketing projects you'll complete. You have a list of prioritized projects to complete. Now that you know how much you can complete, and the entire team is on board, plan an achievable amount of projects.  It's not worth stressing yourself out with an unrealistic amount of projects to complete. Actually Create The Content I couldn't say this better than Rebecca Lieb from (who's brilliant, by the way, and worth following) on combining your marketing calendar with a content production  process: Many editorial calendars also incorporate the production process into the mix, which is a great way to ensure content creation is on track. This can include who’s responsible for individual content elements, the due date of a first draft, who conducts the copyedit, and a date (often, with a specific time) for receiving and proofing the final draft, entering it into the CMS system (or newsletter template, or blog platform), and when it will be pushed live, or published. Where Rebecca started, Jodi Harris from Content Marketing Institute provides a  few more details to help you set up your marketing calendar: The date the piece of content will be published The topic or headline of the content piece The author of the content The owner of the content – i.e., who is in charge of making sure the content makes it from ideation to publication and promotion The current status of the content (updated as it moves through your publishing cycle) Jodi continues with a few more items to include: The channels where your content will be published: This can include only your owned channels (such as your blog, Facebook Page, website, YouTube page, email newsletters, etc.), or you can expand your tracking to include paid and earned channels, as well. Content formats: Is it a blog post? A video? A podcast? An infographic? An original image? To get more mileage from the content you create, you might want to consider repurposing it into other formats at some point. So it’s handy to keep tabs on the types of assets you have on hand right from the start. Visuals: Speaking of assets, it’s important that you don’t overlook the appeal that visuals can lend to your content, both in terms of social sharing potential and overall brand recognition. Tracking the visual elements you include in your content efforts – such as cover images, logos, illustrations, charts – will make it easier to ensure that your work has a signature look and cohesive brand identity. Topic categories: This helps make your calendars more searchable when you are looking to see about which target topics you already created a lot of content – or which you haven’t covered often enough. Keywords and other meta-data, such as meta-descriptions and SEO titles (if they differ from your headlines), which will help you keep your SEO efforts aligned with your content creation. URLs: This info can be archived as an easy way to keep your online content audits updated, or to link to older pieces of content in the new content you create. Calls to action: This helps you ensure that every piece of content you create is aligning with your company’s marketing goals. So it makes sense to simply include all of this advice  right  in your marketing  calendar as you create it. Here's how:All the actionable advice in this post will work with any format your marketing calendar takes. It's just that is actually designed to be your all-in-one marketing calendar, and helps you do all of this way more efficiently. What would your marketing  look like if you could manage all of this in one tool? Are you ready to get started? How to Plan a Marketing Calendar That Actually Works (Free Template) Im going to be blunt. A lot of marketing calendars are really tough to use simply because they arent designed to be marketing calendar tools. And that makes it really tough to plan a marketing calendar that actually works: PDFs: Printing a free editorial calendar template like this one from   is  a great way to start  your  planning- to get the brainstorming going. From here, youll likely want a digital version thats a bit easier to update with your constant changes. Excel: Heres a free marketing calendar template from Content Marketing Institute to get you started on a digital version. But its a bit difficult to get  your team to use it when you have it locked all day as you plan. :/ Google Docs:  A spreadsheet in Google Docs/Sheets like this marketing calendar template from Crackerjack Marketing will help you solve the locking problem youd experience with Excel. This still doesnt feel like a marketing calendar, though, without a visual way to see your upcoming projects. Google Calendar:  You could also build a marketing calendar in Google Calendar. The thing is If youve followed our  advice on social media calendars, you  may schedule 30 or more social messages throughout the following weeks and months to share a single blog post  with your audience. Im sure you cant imagine copying and pasting all of those from Google Calendar into your different social networks- what a time suck! Not to mention copying and pasting all of your other content, too So What Will Help You Plan An Awesome Marketing Calendar? So where am I going with all of this? Ive read dozens of other posts on marketing calendars, editorial calendars, content marketing calendars, social media calendars- you get the picture. And I checked out  a  monster list of marketing calendar templates in a post on Crazy Eggs blog. There are tons of folks who have really good ideas of what  to include in your calendar, and starting with a template to get your brainstorming underway is a solid way to begin. So heres how to plan a marketing calendar that really works- with a few tips from us at , and a lot more from the other rock stars out there. How To Plan A #MarketingCalendar That Actually WorksStart With This Guide + Marketing Calendar Template, And Then You might just need a guide and a little something to  write on while you read this post. Ive got your back. Download the free guide that will help you implement all of this advice with actionable, step-by-step information. Youll also get a  free marketing calendar template  (plus bonus social + email marketing calendars) to help you plan all your content in advance. And when you're ready to use a tool designed to be your marketing calendar,  get started with 14 free days of . Now let's get to the good stuff. Step #1: Turn Your Marketing Strategy Into Real Content You'll Create Maybe writing a  30-page marketing strategy  isn't as important as  planning real content. It sounds harsh, but hear me out: For startups, business plans are no longer normal. In fact, they're now considered a faux pas and seen as a mere â€Å"business guess.† But that wasn’t always the case.  Before the lean startup, the business plan was a document that assumed we knew everything there was to know about our business, a plan set in stone. It was done, or so we thought. In reality, it was just a big huge guess.   Marketing plans and gigantic old strategy documents aren’t much different. They may sound novel and responsible, but the reality is that they are just guesses, too. What could content marketing strategy builders learn from the lean startup model? For a startup, business plans are no longer normal. @garrett_moonThe more time you spend strategizing, the less time you spend creating real content that will influence sales (which, let's face it, is the entire reason to plan your marketing calendar). Whether you have a marketing strategy already  or not, there are just a few things you need in your strategy to help you validate  what content to create: The now-infamous: Know your audience. This could start as simple as a customer survey, then possibly just bullet points you add into an Evernote note that help you stay in touch with your customers'  changing needs. The main point here is this: Keep it simple, especially at first. Create content. Content is data, and you get to know your customers  by creating content and measuring its impact. There's no way you will know everything about your audience until you put something out there, start communicating with them, and get their feedback. Start small. If you're thinking about doing an hourlong video or an e-book first, think again. Could you release a chapter of an e-book first to gauge its performance before you spend more time developing content on that topic? Could the same go for your monster video? If content is data, plan minimum viable content on your marketing calendar first to feel out what will truly "move the needle." (I had to sneak in a quip  like that since we're talking strategy!) That really looks like this: From here, turn your strategy into content. And  use the data from what you create to plan more: Create your content. Share it with your audience. Measure what's working. Learn what to create and where to share. Plan more content like your best-performing projects. Recommended Reading:  Here’s Why You Don’t Need A â€Å"Content Marketing Strategy† So now that you have a minimum viable marketing strategy to get started, the next step is looping in who'll help you create that content. This will help you define expectations for everyone- even if it's really only you as an all-in-one marketing team. To Do: Brainstorm  every question your audience has about your niche from knowing nothing to being an expert. From there, strategize the best forms of content  you'll use to answer their questions. This will serve as the foundation for your marketing calendar. I’d rather have a first-rate execution and second-rate strategy any time than a brilliant idea and mediocre management. - Jamie Dimon Step #2: Understand Who'll Do What Ann Handley has an awesome idea when it comes to who should be involved in your editorial flow, and thus, have access to your marketing calendar to understand when pieces will publish: A Simple Content Marketing Org Chart from Ann Handley She  says: These are roles not staff positions. Each role might be filled by one person or perhaps by a dozen, depending on the size and complexity of your own organization. Let's take a look at those roles quick: Team lead, or your strategist Editorial director Designers Content creators Curator Syndicator Analytics expert Site manager That's a pretty good list. And while that list works for Ann, it might not for you. For a small team, you  can narrow that list of roles down even further: Team lead who helps with planning, editing, publishing, and distributing Writer who turns a content idea into something your audience will love Designer (or videographer, podcaster, etc.) who takes  the writer's creation  to the next level Essentially, these folks are the ones who'll help you plan, create, and share the content  according to your marketing strategy. Get everyone on the same page now to make actually producing content a lot easier down the road. To Do: Narrow down the roles you need to create the different content types you explored in step #1. Brainstorm  who'll help you complete those projects (you're looking for names here). Get everyone on the same page to understand about how much content you can publish in a normal week. Find a marketing calendar tool that helps with project management, communication, and workflow that everyone will use. Now it's time work that marketing calendar:  Plan what topics you'll cover. Step #3: Define Your Topic Themes John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing plans out his marketing calendar based on themes. The themes help him look at a calendar that connects with topics  he wants to cover for his audience. Note that this isn't actual content yet- it's just a note of the topics he'd like to address in his content: The first step is to start making a list of your most important themes. I generally try to find three core themes and about nine supplemental themes. (Nice tidy 12 monthly themes.) Your core themes are the kinds of things that might be found on your homepage or even in the title attribute of your home page. Or, perhaps the main navigational elements of your site. While it scares me to plan 12 months ahead  because the data from your current content should help you plan new content,  this is an awesome way to plan strategically (and super efficiently) and keep your content on point. John shares exactly how he chooses themes: Start with brainstorming. Lock yourself away and start thinking about the kinds of things people ask about the most, where you make your most money, or where you see the greatest opportunities in your industry. This is often enough to create a good start to your list. Obviously, if you have a team, get them involved – they may actually know better than you. (Industry jargon that means nothing to the prospect must be left out here.) John mentions this is a nice way to get past staring at a blank marketing calendar without any clue of what content to add to it. I also love that about themes. To Do: Find the main themes from your list of customer questions in step #1. Define their biggest challenges, the areas of opportunity in your industry, and how you make the most money. Choose themes to flesh out your marketing calendar. You may want to plan a month ahead, a quarter, or the entire year.  It's whatever works for you. Personally, I'd choose weekly themes to repeat over the course of months to have tangible data as evidence to plan more content around a theme or less. This way, you'd avoid planning lots of content around a theme for an entire month without knowing if that theme is a dud. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for your entire team to see. Remember, themes aren't content; themes direct the content your team will create. Step #4: Prioritize  Your Marketing Projects Marcus Sheridan from  The Sales Lion has a simple solution to help you plan your marketing calendar based on projects that will have the biggest impact on your business. He addresses prioritizing your marketing calendar  very simply: Remember, content marketing is about generating more sales. When all is said and done, that’s what matters. He suggests  prioritizing more "Buyer's Content" instead of so much top of the funnel, inbound content. By understanding this, the aim is  to plan content on your marketing calendar that will help prospects make purchase decisions instead of purely focusing on content that's great for the top of the funnel but just generating traffic. The team at The Sales Lion even have a  simple  algorithm they use to prioritize their projects that you can use, too: Essentially, we have every client rate their planned content (be it blog titles, videos, etc.) on a scale of 1-3. A â€Å"3† score means it’s â€Å"Buyer’s Content† and therefore marked as most urgent- moving it to the top of the calendar. If it’s a â€Å"1† grade, then we’ll wait to produce this content because it’s either a top of funnel question that a buyer may be asking or even an â€Å"outside of the funnel† question/subject- meaning that although it may be relevant to the business and buyer, it doesn’t necessarily represent someone who is seriously considering making a purchase right now. From here, you can plan a balance of content focused on selling and content focused on inspiring interest in your business on your marketing calendar. To-Do: For each theme, brainstorm content you could create for that topic. Don't limit yourself at first: When you think of an idea, write it down quickly and move to the next. For those content ideas, use Marcus' algorithm to rank them with good, better, best: 1 means inbound, 3  means looking to buy. Use your best judgement to rank these just to get started. Sift through the  content ideas for every  theme. Sort them according to 3, 2, 1 to prepare a prioritized list that you'll add to your marketing calendar. And when you start planning actual pieces of content on your calendar, there are a few things to keep in mind: Step #5: Plan Your Content On Your Marketing Calendar This is the fun part! And there are many ways to do this: The Best 2018 Content Calendar Template to Get Organized All Year 2018 Social Media Content Calendar: How to Organize a Year of Posts the Easy Way 5 Lessons From The Forbes Editorial Calendar That Will Make You Better At Blog Planning How To Use A Content Marketing Editorial Calendar To Save A Ton Of Time Seven Content Calendar Examples From Awesome Brands to Inspire Your Own While editorial  calendars work particularly well for managing blogs, you can use them to organize all of your marketing. So I wanted to know how the other pros out there plan more than just blog and social media content, but a true all-in-one marketing calendar that you can also do with . Here's what they had to say: Plan Actual Pieces Of Content To Target Specific Keywords Your Audience Uses You used Marcus' algorithm to prioritize your projects, so let's make those into actual pieces of content on your calendar. John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing had some more solid advice on planning projects as content: Now take that list to the Google Keyword Planner and see if you can find themes that have significant volume. You must balance key terms with being too generic though. A term like â€Å"marketing† wouldn’t make sense as a theme, even for a marketing consultant, but a term like â€Å"referral marketing tactics† might. To summarize: While all of your content may be connected to a theme, choose a keyword for every single piece of content you'll publish. These may be keywords all related to the same topic, but unique enough to help you connect your different content to the terms your audience is searching for. To Do: Read this: SEO Content Strategy: How to Skyrocket Your Traffic By 594%. Select a core  keyword for every single piece of content (and related keywords)  that will publish on the magical interwebs. Then add the keywords into  your projects on your marketing calendar according to the priority you defined through Marcus' scoring  exercise. Plan Content For A Week, Month, Or Year Out Joe Pulizzi from Content Marketing Institute has a lot of insight on  the content marketing process, and marketing calendars are a huge element of successful strategies turning into real content: One thing is certain: if you don’t keep an editorial/content calendar, the content doesn’t get done. - Joe Pulizzi Joe breaks it down into such a simple idea: An editorial calendar simply tracks what content you are going to cover, what tactic it’s for (blog, newsletter, etc.) and who’s responsible. [...] Best practice is to set up a master calendar for all your content initiatives, and then a separate content calendar for each initiative. Traditionally, we’ve set up editorial calendars 12 months out and then constantly change them as we tweak the marketing plan. The good news is that your themes are the year calendar, and now you're ready to plan real projects for each "initiative", as Joe calls them. So let's recap everything  you just learned, and use Joe's advice to get your projects on your marketing calendar. To Do: At this point, you have a marketing calendar with themes outlining the topics you'll cover every single month. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for the entire year (and take seasonality into account, too, for big holidays or events in your industry). You  got the entire team on board to understand their roles. Now it's time to understand how much content you can actually produce in a given week or month. Sit down with the team to plan your publishing frequency,  taking into consideration all of the  marketing projects you'll complete. You have a list of prioritized projects to complete. Now that you know how much you can complete, and the entire team is on board, plan an achievable amount of projects.  It's not worth stressing yourself out with an unrealistic amount of projects to complete. Actually Create The Content I couldn't say this better than Rebecca Lieb from (who's brilliant, by the way, and worth following) on combining your marketing calendar with a content production  process: Many editorial calendars also incorporate the production process into the mix, which is a great way to ensure content creation is on track. This can include who’s responsible for individual content elements, the due date of a first draft, who conducts the copyedit, and a date (often, with a specific time) for receiving and proofing the final draft, entering it into the CMS system (or newsletter template, or blog platform), and when it will be pushed live, or published. Where Rebecca started, Jodi Harris from Content Marketing Institute provides a  few more details to help you set up your marketing calendar: The date the piece of content will be published The topic or headline of the content piece The author of the content The owner of the content – i.e., who is in charge of making sure the content makes it from ideation to publication and promotion The current status of the content (updated as it moves through your publishing cycle) Jodi continues with a few more items to include: The channels where your content will be published: This can include only your owned channels (such as your blog, Facebook Page, website, YouTube page, email newsletters, etc.), or you can expand your tracking to include paid and earned channels, as well. Content formats: Is it a blog post? A video? A podcast? An infographic? An original image? To get more mileage from the content you create, you might want to consider repurposing it into other formats at some point. So it’s handy to keep tabs on the types of assets you have on hand right from the start. Visuals: Speaking of assets, it’s important that you don’t overlook the appeal that visuals can lend to your content, both in terms of social sharing potential and overall brand recognition. Tracking the visual elements you include in your content efforts – such as cover images, logos, illustrations, charts – will make it easier to ensure that your work has a signature look and cohesive brand identity. Topic categories: This helps make your calendars more searchable when you are looking to see about which target topics you already created a lot of content – or which you haven’t covered often enough. Keywords and other meta-data, such as meta-descriptions and SEO titles (if they differ from your headlines), which will help you keep your SEO efforts aligned with your content creation. URLs: This info can be archived as an easy way to keep your online content audits updated, or to link to older pieces of content in the new content you create. Calls to action: This helps you ensure that every piece of content you create is aligning with your company’s marketing goals. So it makes sense to simply include all of this advice  right  in your marketing  calendar as you create it. Here's how:All the actionable advice in this post will work with any format your marketing calendar takes. It's just that is actually designed to be your all-in-one marketing calendar, and helps you do all of this way more efficiently. What would your marketing  look like if you could manage all of this in one tool? Are you ready to get started? How to Plan a Marketing Calendar That Actually Works (Free Template) Im going to be blunt. A lot of marketing calendars are really tough to use simply because they arent designed to be marketing calendar tools. And that makes it really tough to plan a marketing calendar that actually works: PDFs: Printing a free editorial calendar template like this one from   is  a great way to start  your  planning- to get the brainstorming going. From here, youll likely want a digital version thats a bit easier to update with your constant changes. Excel: Heres a free marketing calendar template from Content Marketing Institute to get you started on a digital version. But its a bit difficult to get  your team to use it when you have it locked all day as you plan. :/ Google Docs:  A spreadsheet in Google Docs/Sheets like this marketing calendar template from Crackerjack Marketing will help you solve the locking problem youd experience with Excel. This still doesnt feel like a marketing calendar, though, without a visual way to see your upcoming projects. Google Calendar:  You could also build a marketing calendar in Google Calendar. The thing is If youve followed our  advice on social media calendars, you  may schedule 30 or more social messages throughout the following weeks and months to share a single blog post  with your audience. Im sure you cant imagine copying and pasting all of those from Google Calendar into your different social networks- what a time suck! Not to mention copying and pasting all of your other content, too So What Will Help You Plan An Awesome Marketing Calendar? So where am I going with all of this? Ive read dozens of other posts on marketing calendars, editorial calendars, content marketing calendars, social media calendars- you get the picture. And I checked out  a  monster list of marketing calendar templates in a post on Crazy Eggs blog. There are tons of folks who have really good ideas of what  to include in your calendar, and starting with a template to get your brainstorming underway is a solid way to begin. So heres how to plan a marketing calendar that really works- with a few tips from us at , and a lot more from the other rock stars out there. How To Plan A #MarketingCalendar That Actually WorksStart With This Guide + Marketing Calendar Template, And Then You might just need a guide and a little something to  write on while you read this post. Ive got your back. Download the free guide that will help you implement all of this advice with actionable, step-by-step information. Youll also get a  free marketing calendar template  (plus bonus social + email marketing calendars) to help you plan all your content in advance. And when you're ready to use a tool designed to be your marketing calendar,  get started with 14 free days of . Now let's get to the good stuff. Step #1: Turn Your Marketing Strategy Into Real Content You'll Create Maybe writing a  30-page marketing strategy  isn't as important as  planning real content. It sounds harsh, but hear me out: For startups, business plans are no longer normal. In fact, they're now considered a faux pas and seen as a mere â€Å"business guess.† But that wasn’t always the case.  Before the lean startup, the business plan was a document that assumed we knew everything there was to know about our business, a plan set in stone. It was done, or so we thought. In reality, it was just a big huge guess.   Marketing plans and gigantic old strategy documents aren’t much different. They may sound novel and responsible, but the reality is that they are just guesses, too. What could content marketing strategy builders learn from the lean startup model? For a startup, business plans are no longer normal. @garrett_moonThe more time you spend strategizing, the less time you spend creating real content that will influence sales (which, let's face it, is the entire reason to plan your marketing calendar). Whether you have a marketing strategy already  or not, there are just a few things you need in your strategy to help you validate  what content to create: The now-infamous: Know your audience. This could start as simple as a customer survey, then possibly just bullet points you add into an Evernote note that help you stay in touch with your customers'  changing needs. The main point here is this: Keep it simple, especially at first. Create content. Content is data, and you get to know your customers  by creating content and measuring its impact. There's no way you will know everything about your audience until you put something out there, start communicating with them, and get their feedback. Start small. If you're thinking about doing an hourlong video or an e-book first, think again. Could you release a chapter of an e-book first to gauge its performance before you spend more time developing content on that topic? Could the same go for your monster video? If content is data, plan minimum viable content on your marketing calendar first to feel out what will truly "move the needle." (I had to sneak in a quip  like that since we're talking strategy!) That really looks like this: From here, turn your strategy into content. And  use the data from what you create to plan more: Create your content. Share it with your audience. Measure what's working. Learn what to create and where to share. Plan more content like your best-performing projects. Recommended Reading:  Here’s Why You Don’t Need A â€Å"Content Marketing Strategy† So now that you have a minimum viable marketing strategy to get started, the next step is looping in who'll help you create that content. This will help you define expectations for everyone- even if it's really only you as an all-in-one marketing team. To Do: Brainstorm  every question your audience has about your niche from knowing nothing to being an expert. From there, strategize the best forms of content  you'll use to answer their questions. This will serve as the foundation for your marketing calendar. I’d rather have a first-rate execution and second-rate strategy any time than a brilliant idea and mediocre management. - Jamie Dimon Step #2: Understand Who'll Do What Ann Handley has an awesome idea when it comes to who should be involved in your editorial flow, and thus, have access to your marketing calendar to understand when pieces will publish: A Simple Content Marketing Org Chart from Ann Handley She  says: These are roles not staff positions. Each role might be filled by one person or perhaps by a dozen, depending on the size and complexity of your own organization. Let's take a look at those roles quick: Team lead, or your strategist Editorial director Designers Content creators Curator Syndicator Analytics expert Site manager That's a pretty good list. And while that list works for Ann, it might not for you. For a small team, you  can narrow that list of roles down even further: Team lead who helps with planning, editing, publishing, and distributing Writer who turns a content idea into something your audience will love Designer (or videographer, podcaster, etc.) who takes  the writer's creation  to the next level Essentially, these folks are the ones who'll help you plan, create, and share the content  according to your marketing strategy. Get everyone on the same page now to make actually producing content a lot easier down the road. To Do: Narrow down the roles you need to create the different content types you explored in step #1. Brainstorm  who'll help you complete those projects (you're looking for names here). Get everyone on the same page to understand about how much content you can publish in a normal week. Find a marketing calendar tool that helps with project management, communication, and workflow that everyone will use. Now it's time work that marketing calendar:  Plan what topics you'll cover. Step #3: Define Your Topic Themes John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing plans out his marketing calendar based on themes. The themes help him look at a calendar that connects with topics  he wants to cover for his audience. Note that this isn't actual content yet- it's just a note of the topics he'd like to address in his content: The first step is to start making a list of your most important themes. I generally try to find three core themes and about nine supplemental themes. (Nice tidy 12 monthly themes.) Your core themes are the kinds of things that might be found on your homepage or even in the title attribute of your home page. Or, perhaps the main navigational elements of your site. While it scares me to plan 12 months ahead  because the data from your current content should help you plan new content,  this is an awesome way to plan strategically (and super efficiently) and keep your content on point. John shares exactly how he chooses themes: Start with brainstorming. Lock yourself away and start thinking about the kinds of things people ask about the most, where you make your most money, or where you see the greatest opportunities in your industry. This is often enough to create a good start to your list. Obviously, if you have a team, get them involved – they may actually know better than you. (Industry jargon that means nothing to the prospect must be left out here.) John mentions this is a nice way to get past staring at a blank marketing calendar without any clue of what content to add to it. I also love that about themes. To Do: Find the main themes from your list of customer questions in step #1. Define their biggest challenges, the areas of opportunity in your industry, and how you make the most money. Choose themes to flesh out your marketing calendar. You may want to plan a month ahead, a quarter, or the entire year.  It's whatever works for you. Personally, I'd choose weekly themes to repeat over the course of months to have tangible data as evidence to plan more content around a theme or less. This way, you'd avoid planning lots of content around a theme for an entire month without knowing if that theme is a dud. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for your entire team to see. Remember, themes aren't content; themes direct the content your team will create. Step #4: Prioritize  Your Marketing Projects Marcus Sheridan from  The Sales Lion has a simple solution to help you plan your marketing calendar based on projects that will have the biggest impact on your business. He addresses prioritizing your marketing calendar  very simply: Remember, content marketing is about generating more sales. When all is said and done, that’s what matters. He suggests  prioritizing more "Buyer's Content" instead of so much top of the funnel, inbound content. By understanding this, the aim is  to plan content on your marketing calendar that will help prospects make purchase decisions instead of purely focusing on content that's great for the top of the funnel but just generating traffic. The team at The Sales Lion even have a  simple  algorithm they use to prioritize their projects that you can use, too: Essentially, we have every client rate their planned content (be it blog titles, videos, etc.) on a scale of 1-3. A â€Å"3† score means it’s â€Å"Buyer’s Content† and therefore marked as most urgent- moving it to the top of the calendar. If it’s a â€Å"1† grade, then we’ll wait to produce this content because it’s either a top of funnel question that a buyer may be asking or even an â€Å"outside of the funnel† question/subject- meaning that although it may be relevant to the business and buyer, it doesn’t necessarily represent someone who is seriously considering making a purchase right now. From here, you can plan a balance of content focused on selling and content focused on inspiring interest in your business on your marketing calendar. To-Do: For each theme, brainstorm content you could create for that topic. Don't limit yourself at first: When you think of an idea, write it down quickly and move to the next. For those content ideas, use Marcus' algorithm to rank them with good, better, best: 1 means inbound, 3  means looking to buy. Use your best judgement to rank these just to get started. Sift through the  content ideas for every  theme. Sort them according to 3, 2, 1 to prepare a prioritized list that you'll add to your marketing calendar. And when you start planning actual pieces of content on your calendar, there are a few things to keep in mind: Step #5: Plan Your Content On Your Marketing Calendar This is the fun part! And there are many ways to do this: The Best 2018 Content Calendar Template to Get Organized All Year 2018 Social Media Content Calendar: How to Organize a Year of Posts the Easy Way 5 Lessons From The Forbes Editorial Calendar That Will Make You Better At Blog Planning How To Use A Content Marketing Editorial Calendar To Save A Ton Of Time Seven Content Calendar Examples From Awesome Brands to Inspire Your Own While editorial  calendars work particularly well for managing blogs, you can use them to organize all of your marketing. So I wanted to know how the other pros out there plan more than just blog and social media content, but a true all-in-one marketing calendar that you can also do with . Here's what they had to say: Plan Actual Pieces Of Content To Target Specific Keywords Your Audience Uses You used Marcus' algorithm to prioritize your projects, so let's make those into actual pieces of content on your calendar. John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing had some more solid advice on planning projects as content: Now take that list to the Google Keyword Planner and see if you can find themes that have significant volume. You must balance key terms with being too generic though. A term like â€Å"marketing† wouldn’t make sense as a theme, even for a marketing consultant, but a term like â€Å"referral marketing tactics† might. To summarize: While all of your content may be connected to a theme, choose a keyword for every single piece of content you'll publish. These may be keywords all related to the same topic, but unique enough to help you connect your different content to the terms your audience is searching for. To Do: Read this: SEO Content Strategy: How to Skyrocket Your Traffic By 594%. Select a core  keyword for every single piece of content (and related keywords)  that will publish on the magical interwebs. Then add the keywords into  your projects on your marketing calendar according to the priority you defined through Marcus' scoring  exercise. Plan Content For A Week, Month, Or Year Out Joe Pulizzi from Content Marketing Institute has a lot of insight on  the content marketing process, and marketing calendars are a huge element of successful strategies turning into real content: One thing is certain: if you don’t keep an editorial/content calendar, the content doesn’t get done. - Joe Pulizzi Joe breaks it down into such a simple idea: An editorial calendar simply tracks what content you are going to cover, what tactic it’s for (blog, newsletter, etc.) and who’s responsible. [...] Best practice is to set up a master calendar for all your content initiatives, and then a separate content calendar for each initiative. Traditionally, we’ve set up editorial calendars 12 months out and then constantly change them as we tweak the marketing plan. The good news is that your themes are the year calendar, and now you're ready to plan real projects for each "initiative", as Joe calls them. So let's recap everything  you just learned, and use Joe's advice to get your projects on your marketing calendar. To Do: At this point, you have a marketing calendar with themes outlining the topics you'll cover every single month. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for the entire year (and take seasonality into account, too, for big holidays or events in your industry). You  got the entire team on board to understand their roles. Now it's time to understand how much content you can actually produce in a given week or month. Sit down with the team to plan your publishing frequency,  taking into consideration all of the  marketing projects you'll complete. You have a list of prioritized projects to complete. Now that you know how much you can complete, and the entire team is on board, plan an achievable amount of projects.  It's not worth stressing yourself out with an unrealistic amount of projects to complete. Actually Create The Content I couldn't say this better than Rebecca Lieb from (who's brilliant, by the way, and worth following) on combining your marketing calendar with a content production  process: Many editorial calendars also incorporate the production process into the mix, which is a great way to ensure content creation is on track. This can include who’s responsible for individual content elements, the due date of a first draft, who conducts the copyedit, and a date (often, with a specific time) for receiving and proofing the final draft, entering it into the CMS system (or newsletter template, or blog platform), and when it will be pushed live, or published. Where Rebecca started, Jodi Harris from Content Marketing Institute provides a  few more details to help you set up your marketing calendar: The date the piece of content will be published The topic or headline of the content piece The author of the content The owner of the content – i.e., who is in charge of making sure the content makes it from ideation to publication and promotion The current status of the content (updated as it moves through your publishing cycle) Jodi continues with a few more items to include: The channels where your content will be published: This can include only your owned channels (such as your blog, Facebook Page, website, YouTube page, email newsletters, etc.), or you can expand your tracking to include paid and earned channels, as well. Content formats: Is it a blog post? A video? A podcast? An infographic? An original image? To get more mileage from the content you create, you might want to consider repurposing it into other formats at some point. So it’s handy to keep tabs on the types of assets you have on hand right from the start. Visuals: Speaking of assets, it’s important that you don’t overlook the appeal that visuals can lend to your content, both in terms of social sharing potential and overall brand recognition. Tracking the visual elements you include in your content efforts – such as cover images, logos, illustrations, charts – will make it easier to ensure that your work has a signature look and cohesive brand identity. Topic categories: This helps make your calendars more searchable when you are looking to see about which target topics you already created a lot of content – or which you haven’t covered often enough. Keywords and other meta-data, such as meta-descriptions and SEO titles (if they differ from your headlines), which will help you keep your SEO efforts aligned with your content creation. URLs: This info can be archived as an easy way to keep your online content audits updated, or to link to older pieces of content in the new content you create. Calls to action: This helps you ensure that every piece of content you create is aligning with your company’s marketing goals. So it makes sense to simply include all of this advice  right  in your marketing  calendar as you create it. Here's how:All the actionable advice in this post will work with any format your marketing calendar takes. It's just that is actually designed to be your all-in-one marketing calendar, and helps you do all of this way more efficiently. What would your marketing  look like if you could manage all of this in one tool? Are you ready to get started?