What level of clearance do you need to get a glance at marketing's editorial calendar? Smart businesses keep their content organized. Whether your employee count is a dozen folks or a few thousand, the editorial calendar should be a required asset of any marketing team bent on producing high-value content. But it's a mistake if marketing keeps the editorial calendar close to the vest and away from sales.

You've seen plenty of articles and eBooks on how to get sales and marketing talking to each other. Well, there's no better way to cozy up than by giving sales access to the editorial calendar. As the pressure rises to produce content that not only moves traffic but also helps close deals, sales pros are a go-to source for inspiration and ideas. And if marketers want sales support and buy-in, they need to
open the kimono.

Here are the three top reasons sales needs to see marketing's editorial calendar.

1. Because clarity is the key to collaboration

How many times has a marketer complained about sales not contributing to the blog or bothering to read that weekly marketing email? How often do you hear sales saying they don't know what marketing is cooking up, where to find new content or how to use it?

If sales and marketing are going to get on the same page, then there needs to be a greater level of transparency. That doesn't mean every sales rep needs to sign off on every content initiative. But providing access to the editorial calendar to even a select group of the sales team goes a long way in establishing continual collaboration.

When sales knows what content is in the pipeline, they're far more likely to be on board, share their ideas and use your content effectively.

2. Because it prevents random acts of marketing

When sales pros can't find the content they need at the right moment (or don't know how to position it), they make their own. Sales might call this "being resourceful"; marketing might call it "being a pain." Sales isn't trying to go off message, they just don't know what the key messages are or will be.

Opening up the editorial calendar helps prevent wayward moments of marketing. With visibility into key themes, campaigns and the content that supports them, sales is far less likely to do it themselves.

3. Because experts sell faster than salespeople

You've heard this lesson time and time again: Buyers want to talk to experts, not product-pushers. Your sales team needs to be positioned as experts. But to be experts in any given field, you need to provide insightful and valuable information.

By giving sales visibility into the editorial calendar, you're equipping them with the materials they need - and will need - to be considered experts. Once they recognize the value of this approach, they'll be more likely to feed new content ideas to marketing.

Also, when the sales team is empowered to make suggestions for content, it opens up real-time marketing opportunities. It doesn't mean you have to scrap the current plan, but a well-timed blog post with a supporting asset (an eBook, an app, a video, etc.) can be the difference between sealing a deal and selling nothing. Don't miss these opportunities because marketing is feeling secretive.

Remember, I'm not necessarily saying marketing needs to share the editorial calendar with every sales rep. But there should be at least a representative group. And the calendar needs to be updated regularly, not just once a quarter. Otherwise, what good is it? An up-to-date, close to real-time calendar is the only kind that will provide real value to your organization. (If you want to limit access to particular content and automatically update the editorial calendar with deadlines and publish dates, I recommend looking into content marketing software.)

For sales and marketing teams to truly align, they need to know what's on the agenda. That won't happen until marketing declassifies the editorial calendar. 

Jesse Noyes is Senior Director of Content Marketing at Kapost. He got his start in the newsroom and today his goal is to ensure Kapost's content meets the best editorial standards, that Kapost tells the best stories and spreads the word through social media channels.

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