In today’s fast-paced digital world, it’s hard to think of growing a business without the help of content marketing. Whether that’s writing blogs, sending out weekly newsletters, or filming videos for Instagram –– content marketing is everywhere.
That’s why having a strong content marketing strategy is so important –– especially when it comes to the content marketing tools you use to continue growing your business.
But with so many options out there, it can be overwhelming to choose the best content marketing tools –– until now!
Over at The Quirky Pineapple Studio we took care of the research –– and the testing –– and put together a list of our top 5 content marketing tools that we love, and use, to grow, connect with our audience, and stay on top of trends.
From social media management to SEO optimization, these tools were designed to elevate your content marketing strategy and help you achieve your marketing goals.
Let’s dive in!
Why does content marketing matter?
Before we go into our list of content marketing tools, we want to take a closer look at content marketing: what is it, what it does, and why it matters.
Put simply, content marketing is a strategic approach to creating and sharing valuable, relevant, and consistent content. This, with the hopes of attracting and retaining an audience, growing them into a community, and ultimately driving profits.
Content marketing is an important part of any marketing strategy, and can help businesses build trust and credibility with their audience, generate leads, and increase conversions –– all of which are great for sales (and your bottom line)!
Content marketing has become extremely valuable in today’s digital landscape –– it’s hard to think of a brand who isn’t leveraging their content to attract more buyers, whether it’s on Instagram, TikTok, or email marketing channels.
Psst… content marketing got you down? Shake off the feelings of overwhelm and make the content creation process FUN with the help of The Quirky Pineapple Studio’s all-in-one Converting Content Bundle! Designed to help you create a profitable content marketing strategy through storytelling and content creation, the bundle is brimming with tools, resources, and inspiration that’ll change the way you do content marketing for good.
Here are a few ways that content marketing can play an important role in your overall marketing strategy:
- Brand awareness: By creating valuable and entertaining content, businesses can increase visibility and show up in more places, growing their popularity.
- Establishes credibility: Consistently providing your audience with helpful content will make it more likely that people will buy your product over someone’s they don’t believe they can trust.
- Improves SEO: Search engines –– like Google –– favor websites that share high-quality, relevant content. This helps drive more organic traffic and increases sales.
- Long-term benefits: Content marketing is in it for the long run and continues to impact your business long after the initial investment.
So, while content marketing might sound like it takes a lot –– it can actually be a lot more impactful (and cost-effective!) in the end.
Our 5 favorite content marketing tools
When it comes to content marketing tools, it’s safe to say we’ve tried pretty much everything under the sun.
Some we have loved, some we wouldn’t use again… but all this trial and error has helped get us to where we are today: a little more streamlined, organized, confident, and happy with what goes on behind the scenes.
When it comes to content marketing, content creation, and even automation, here are some of the content marketing tools we recommend you try.
1. Canva
The undisputed winner of content creation, Canva is a great content marketing tool that helps you design, collaborate, and share visual content on social media.
By simplifying the graphic design process, Canva helps business owners, creators, and thought leaders create a wide range of visually appealing content: from infographics to invitations, social media posts, banners, and flyers –– just to name a few.
The platform offers a wide range of templates, design elements, and is extremely user-friendly and accessible, even for people who argue they don’t have a design background (kinda like us…).
Offering both a free and paid version, Canva can help businesses improve the visual appeal of their content, making it more engaging and “share-able” for their audience, and ultimately contributing to the success of their content marketing efforts.
PRO TIP: For those who are a little more advanced in their graphic design journey, Adobe also has a great platform for users to create visual content online – Adobe Express. Although it requires a little more of a learning curve, it’s a great option if you’re looking to try something more advanced that let’s you go the extra mile.
2. Later
An online scheduling platform, Later is one of our favorite content marketing tools out there that helps us keep track of our posting and share content seamlessly on a variety of platforms.
With Later, businesses can schedule their content in advance –– which frees up time to focus on other tasks –– and easily move around content from one day to the next if needed. Plus, with the option to save captions, groups of hashtags, tag accounts, and analyze results directly from within the platform, it’s an easy way to keep track of everything without having to do too much.
The tool also provides in-app analytics, which means businesses can track the performance of their posts and make data-driven decisions about their content strategy. Which, you’ll soon learn, is one of the most important aspects of a successful content marketing strategy: test, analyze, update.
Later offers both free and paid options for users depending on their needs, which means that if you’re just getting started, you won’t need to invest a lot of money in order to use the app.
3. BuzzSumo
Another one of the content marketing tools we love, BuzzSumo is a powerful platform that helps businesses stay on top of trends and track their competition.
The tool provides real-time insights into what’s being shared, liked, and commented on across various social media channels, and can be used to inspire your content creation and distribution strategy –– all this to ensure that your content is relevant and engaging.
Additionally, BuzzSumo also offers a feature that allows businesses to reach out to influencers and establish potential long-term partnerships.
This can help businesses in terms of:
- Expanding their reach, by putting them in front of the eyes of audiences that don’t follow them but do follow the influencer they’re working with
- Build brand awareness
- And drive more traffic to their content
When it comes to creating impactful content the easy way, look no further than The Quirky Pineapple Studio’s Content Generating Machine! A plug-as-you-go checklist designed to help you breeze through planning and strategizing, grab your FREE copy and get ready to show the world what you and your business are all about!
With its extensive features and real-time insights, BuzzSumo is a great content marketing tool for business owners who want to stay ahead of the competition and simplify their content marketing efforts.
Although the paid version has quite a steep price point –– coming in at $99 a month –– the platform does have a free version that offers guest users the opportunity to search 10 keywords a month.
4. ActiveCampaign
One of our favorite content marketing tools for automating processes, ActiveCampaign is a customer experience platform that combines email marketing and sales CRM into one integrated solution.
The platform provides users with everything they need to design, schedule, and track personalized email campaigns and SMS messages to engage with their audience.
Plus, it also features tools designed for lead generation, lead nurturing, and customer segmentation –– all of which can help your business convert more warm leads into customers.
With ActiveCampaign, businesses can easily track the way their customers are behaving and interacting with their content, while also designing personalized customer experiences without the need to double their effort.
Whether you’re looking to improve your email marketing or automate sales processes, ActiveCampaign is a great ally that can help you achieve your content marketing goals.
Prices to sign up for ActiveCampaign start from $29 and go all the way up to $150 a month for large businesses.
5. Ubersuggest
When it comes to SEO keyword research, there’s no doubt that one of our favorite content marketing tools out there is Ubersuggest.
Designed by New York Times Bestselling Author and marketing professional, Neil Patel, Ubersuggest is an all-in-one SEO research tool that provides insight into keywords, domain traffic, content ideas, backlink data, and so much more.
The app even has its own AI writing tool that can help you come up with SEO-optimized titles for blogs and articles based on your chosen keywords –– yeah, it’s that good.
A lot more affordable than its competitors, Ubersuggest has different pricing options. However, its most recommended plan currently costs $120 and includes lifetime –– yes, LIFETIME! –– access to the platform and all of its data.
TL;DR: The ins and outs of content marketing tools & strategies
In short, choosing the right content marketing tools can make all the difference in your efforts to reach and engage with your audience.
From the design process to scheduling out your content, finding current trends, and amplifying your efforts with the help of email marketing and long-form content, each of the content marketing tools highlighted above offers unique benefits and features that can help you achieve your goals.
Here’s a quick breakdown of our 5 favorite content marketing tools and how they can help:
- Canva: Helps simplify the design process and allows non-designers to create visually appealing and impactful content.
- Later: An online scheduling tool that helps you plan a content calendar in advance and automatically publishes your content to social media
- BuzzSumo: Provides real-time insights into industry trends and competitor activity, and is a great source of inspiration to help ease the content creation process
- ActiveCampaign: Combines email marketing, automation, and sales CRM into one integrated solution that analyzes performance and allows for a more personalized customer experience
- Ubersuggest: Helpful SEO keyword research tool that provides valuable insights to boost the way websites and content show up on search engines
It’s important to note that not all content marketing tools are necessary –– and, while some businesses might thrive using a certain tool, they might also see no need for another. And that’s OK: no two businesses are made equal, even if they work within the same industry.
That’s why it’s so important to choose the content marketing tools that are best suited to your specific needs and goals: this means taking into account where, how, and when you’re going to share your content online (and offline, too!)
By choosing the right content marketing tools, you’ll be well on your way to creating and sharing more engaging and effective content –– ultimately leading to a stronger community and long-term benefits for your business and the people who follow you.
