Content Marketing Calendar Template - 90-Day Editorial Plan for SaaS
A structured editorial calendar with topic clusters, keywords, search intent, funnel stage, publish dates, owners, and performance columns.
Built for practical use
90-day editorial table
A structured editorial calendar with topic clusters, keywords, search intent, funnel stage, publish dates, owners, and performance columns.
Funnel distribution
A structured editorial calendar with topic clusters, keywords, search intent, funnel stage, publish dates, owners, and performance columns.
Content pillar prompts
A structured editorial calendar with topic clusters, keywords, search intent, funnel stage, publish dates, owners, and performance columns.
Starter topic ideas
A structured editorial calendar with topic clusters, keywords, search intent, funnel stage, publish dates, owners, and performance columns.
Plan The Next 90 Days
Lay out topics, funnel stage, publish cadence, and ownership in one simple editorial planner.
| Publish Date | Funnel Stage | Content Pillar | Topic / Title | Keyword | Owner | CTA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
About This Resource
This is a comprehensive framework for planning 90 days of SaaS content. The actual template (Google Sheets / Airtable) is distributed separately — this document explains the methodology, column structure, and 20 pre-filled topic ideas.
Who this is for: SaaS founders, marketing managers, content leads, and agencies planning editorial calendars.
What you get:
- Calendar methodology and structure
- Column definitions for a working spreadsheet
- Content pillar framework
- 20 pre-filled SaaS topic ideas
- Publishing cadence recommendations
- Performance tracking approach
Part 1: Calendar Structure & Columns
Use this exact column structure in your Google Sheets, Airtable, or Notion database:
| Column | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Publish Date | Target date for publication |
| Status | Idea / Draft / Review / Scheduled / Published |
| Title | Working title for the piece |
| Content Type | Blog post / Landing page / Case study / Comparison / Guide / etc. |
| Content Pillar | Which of your 3-5 content pillars this belongs to |
| Target Keyword (Primary) | Main keyword this content targets |
| Target Keyword (Secondary) | 2-3 related keywords |
| Search Volume (Monthly) | From Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Keyword Planner |
| Keyword Difficulty | 0-100 scale (lower = easier to rank) |
| Search Intent | Informational / Navigational / Commercial / Transactional |
| Funnel Stage | TOFU / MOFU / BOFU |
| ICP Target | Which persona this content is for |
| Author | Person writing the piece |
| Editor | Person reviewing |
| Target Word Count | 800 / 1,500 / 2,500 / 4,000+ |
| Primary CTA | What action should readers take? |
| Internal Links | Which existing pages should this link to? |
| Distribution Channels | Where will this be promoted? (LinkedIn, email, etc.) |
| Performance (30d) | Organic traffic, conversions after 30 days |
| Performance (90d) | Organic traffic, conversions after 90 days |
Part 2: Content Pillar Framework
Every SaaS content strategy needs 3-5 content pillars. Pillars are the major topics you want to be known for. All content fits within one pillar.
Example pillars for a project management SaaS:
- Project Management Best Practices (broad educational)
- Team Collaboration & Communication (related topic)
- Remote Work & Productivity (adjacent topic)
- Project Management Tools & Software (commercial intent)
- [Product Name] Tutorials & Use Cases (product-focused)
Pillar distribution (typical):
- 30-40% Pillar 1 (your core topic)
- 25-30% Pillar 2 (supporting topic)
- 20-25% Pillar 3 (adjacent topic)
- 10-15% Pillar 4 (commercial intent)
- 5-10% Pillar 5 (product-focused)
How to choose pillars:
- Aligned with your ICP's job-to-be-done
- Topics you can authentically create expert content on
- Keywords with reasonable volume and ranking potential
- Topics that can generate both informational and commercial content
Part 3: Funnel Stage Distribution
Content should cover all stages of the buyer's journey:
TOFU (Top of Funnel) — 50-60% of content
Purpose: Awareness, traffic, building audience Search intent: Informational ("what is," "how to," "why does") Content types: Educational blog posts, beginner guides, explainers, definitions CTA: Subscribe to newsletter, download lead magnet, follow on social
Example titles:
- "What Is Product-Led Growth? A Complete Guide"
- "How to Reduce SaaS Churn: 12 Proven Strategies"
- "The Psychology Behind Successful Onboarding Flows"
MOFU (Middle of Funnel) — 25-30% of content
Purpose: Consideration, nurturing, positioning Search intent: Commercial investigation ("best," "top," "vs.") Content types: Comparison posts, buyer's guides, detailed how-tos, case studies CTA: Book a demo, start free trial, download comprehensive guide
Example titles:
- "10 Best Project Management Tools in 2026 (Compared)"
- "[Tool A] vs [Tool B]: Which Is Right for Your Team?"
- "The Complete Buyer's Guide to Choosing a CRM"
BOFU (Bottom of Funnel) — 15-20% of content
Purpose: Conversion, decision-making, closing deals Search intent: Transactional ("pricing," "reviews," "alternatives") Content types: Product landing pages, case studies, ROI calculators, pricing pages CTA: Sign up, book demo, start trial, contact sales
Example titles:
- "[Your Product] Pricing & Plans"
- "[Your Product] Reviews: What Customers Say"
- "[Your Product] vs [Competitor]: Feature Comparison"
- "Case Study: How [Customer] Achieved 3x ROI with [Your Product]"
Part 4: Publishing Cadence Recommendations
Minimum Viable Cadence (Early-stage SaaS)
- 2 blog posts per week (8 per month)
- 1 lead magnet per quarter
- 1 case study per quarter
- 1 pillar page per quarter
Growth-Stage Cadence
- 3-4 blog posts per week (12-16 per month)
- 1 lead magnet per month
- 1 case study per month
- 2 pillar pages per quarter
Scale-Stage Cadence
- 5+ blog posts per week (20+ per month)
- Programmatic SEO pages (hundreds to thousands)
- Weekly case studies
- Monthly pillar pages
- Original research reports quarterly
Why consistency matters
Google rewards publishing consistency and freshness. Publishing 10 posts in one month and 0 the next is worse than 3 posts every week. Set a cadence you can sustain.
Part 5: 20 Pre-Filled SaaS Topic Ideas (Template Starter Content)
These are universal SaaS content ideas you can adapt to any SaaS product. Use them as starting points and customize to your niche.
TOFU Topics (Awareness)
1. "What Is [Your Category]? A Complete Beginner's Guide"
- Pillar: Your core topic
- Word count: 2,000-3,000
- Intent: Informational
- Funnel: TOFU
2. "The History and Evolution of [Your Category]: 1990-2026"
- Pillar: Your core topic
- Word count: 2,500-4,000
- Intent: Informational
- Funnel: TOFU
3. "Why [Common Problem] Happens (And How to Solve It)"
- Pillar: Your core topic
- Word count: 1,500-2,500
- Intent: Informational
- Funnel: TOFU
4. "The Ultimate Guide to [Core Process]"
- Pillar: Your core topic
- Word count: 4,000+
- Intent: Informational (pillar page)
- Funnel: TOFU
5. "10 Statistics About [Your Industry] That Will Surprise You"
- Pillar: Your core topic
- Word count: 1,500-2,500
- Intent: Informational
- Funnel: TOFU
Educational / How-To Topics
6. "How to [Accomplish Goal Your Product Helps With] (Step-by-Step)"
- Pillar: Core topic
- Word count: 2,000-3,000
- Intent: Informational
- Funnel: TOFU/MOFU
7. "[Process] Checklist: 15 Steps to [Desired Outcome]"
- Pillar: Core topic
- Word count: 1,500-2,500
- Intent: Informational
- Funnel: TOFU
8. "How to Measure [Key Metric]: Formula + Benchmarks"
- Pillar: Core topic
- Word count: 1,500-2,500
- Intent: Informational
- Funnel: TOFU/MOFU
MOFU Topics (Consideration)
9. "10 Best [Tools in Your Category] in 2026 (Compared)"
- Pillar: Commercial
- Word count: 3,500-5,000
- Intent: Commercial
- Funnel: MOFU
10. "[Competitor A] vs [Competitor B]: Which Is Better for Teams?"
- Pillar: Commercial
- Word count: 2,500-3,500
- Intent: Commercial
- Funnel: MOFU
11. "How to Choose the Right [Your Category Tool]: Buyer's Guide"
- Pillar: Commercial
- Word count: 2,500-3,500
- Intent: Commercial
- Funnel: MOFU
12. "The True Cost of [Problem Your Product Solves]"
- Pillar: Commercial
- Word count: 1,500-2,500
- Intent: Informational/Commercial
- Funnel: MOFU
BOFU Topics (Decision)
13. "[Your Product] vs [Direct Competitor]: Feature Comparison"
- Pillar: Product-focused
- Word count: 1,500-2,500
- Intent: Commercial
- Funnel: BOFU
14. "[Your Product] Alternatives: 7 Options to Consider"
- Pillar: Product-focused
- Word count: 2,000-3,000
- Intent: Commercial
- Funnel: BOFU
15. "Is [Your Product] Worth It? An Honest Review"
- Pillar: Product-focused
- Word count: 1,500-2,500
- Intent: Transactional
- Funnel: BOFU
16. "Case Study: How [Customer] Reduced [Pain Point] by X%"
- Pillar: Product-focused
- Word count: 1,500-2,500
- Intent: Commercial/Transactional
- Funnel: BOFU
Original Research / Thought Leadership
17. "[Your Industry] State of the Industry Report 2026"
- Pillar: Thought leadership
- Word count: 3,000-5,000
- Intent: Informational
- Funnel: TOFU (high backlink potential)
18. "We Analyzed [X] Companies. Here's What We Found About [Topic]"
- Pillar: Thought leadership
- Word count: 2,500-4,000
- Intent: Informational
- Funnel: TOFU/MOFU
Content Series
19. Weekly "This Week in [Your Industry]" Newsletter
- Pillar: Multiple
- Format: Newsletter
- Intent: Retention
- Funnel: All stages
20. Founder's Log / Building in Public Series
- Pillar: Brand
- Word count: 500-1,500 per post
- Intent: Brand building
- Funnel: TOFU
Part 6: Search Intent Matching
Before writing any piece, analyze the current top 10 search results for your target keyword:
Questions to answer:
- What format dominates? (Blog posts, list posts, videos, tools, landing pages)
- What's the average word count? (Match or exceed slightly)
- What questions do the top results answer? (Include all of them)
- What's missing from the top results? (Your differentiation opportunity)
Intent types:
- Informational: User wants to learn ("what is X," "how to X")
- Navigational: User wants a specific site ("[brand name] login")
- Commercial: User is comparing options ("best X," "X vs Y")
- Transactional: User is ready to act ("buy X," "signup for X")
Content that matches the dominant intent ranks; content that mismatches won't.
Part 7: Content Distribution (Don't Just Publish)
Publishing without promotion = content shouting into a void.
For every piece you publish, distribute through:
Week 1 (Launch week):
- LinkedIn post (1-3 per week spaced out)
- Twitter/X thread
- Email to newsletter
- Internal team Slack (ask for shares)
- Industry Slack communities (if welcomed)
- Relevant subreddits (with value-first comment, not just a link)
Week 2-4:
- Repurpose into LinkedIn carousel
- Extract Twitter thread
- Convert to podcast episode topic
- Film short video explaining key points
- Share in Quora/LinkedIn Q&A
Ongoing:
- Update and republish 6-12 months later
- Link from new content as you publish
- Include in onboarding email sequences
- Reference in sales conversations
Part 8: Performance Tracking
Metrics to track per piece
Immediate (7 days):
- Social engagement (likes, comments, shares)
- Newsletter opens/clicks (if featured)
- Initial organic traffic
Mid-term (30 days):
- Organic search traffic
- Keyword ranking position
- Backlinks earned
- Time on page
- Conversion rate (CTAs clicked, signups generated)
Long-term (90 days+):
- Sustained organic traffic
- Keyword ranking (top 10? top 3?)
- Featured snippet captured?
- Revenue attributed (if you have attribution)
What to do with the data
After 90 days:
- High-traffic, low-conversion: Add better CTAs, improve internal linking
- Low-traffic, high-conversion rate: Boost with paid promotion or backlinks
- High-traffic AND high-conversion: Keep updating, build more content around this topic
- Low-traffic, low-conversion: Rewrite, consolidate, or remove
Part 9: Content Calendar Audit Checklist
Before finalizing your quarterly calendar:
- All 3-5 content pillars are represented
- TOFU content is 50-60% of total pieces
- MOFU content is 25-30%
- BOFU content is 15-20%
- Every piece has a target primary keyword
- Search intent is identified for every piece
- Publishing cadence is sustainable (2-4 per week typical)
- At least 1 pillar page per quarter is planned
- Cross-pollination planned (new posts link to older posts)
- Distribution plan exists for every piece (not just publishing)
- Updates/refreshes of older content are scheduled
- Case studies or original research planned (for backlinks)
Sources and References
- HubSpot State of Marketing Report
- Ahrefs Content Marketing Research
- Content Marketing Institute Benchmarks
- SparkToro Audience Research
- Brian Dean (Backlinko) — Skyscraper Technique
- Ross Simmonds — Distribution-first content strategy
- Tomasz Tunguz SaaS Benchmark research
Created by Desisle — SaaS UI/UX Design Agency desisle.com | hello@desisle.com Free to use and share with attribution.
For a custom content strategy and calendar, contact us at hello@desisle.com.
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