To stand out from your competitors, content marketing is a powerful way of driving qualified leads to your products or services. From production, planning, and promotion; these content marketing tools will get the best results from your content marketing.
You may have heard that we’re living in the golden age of content. That likely evokes thoughts of Netflix’s latest release, but most brands and businesses are dealing with very different kinds of content. “Content” as a term has become a catch-all for any kind media that people consume on the web. But what is “content marketing” and how can it make a dent in your business objectives?
Content marketing is the practice of developing relevant, useful, and engaging content with the intent of reaching and converting potential target customers. Content is a pretty broad term, and can refer to blogs, tutorial videos, podcasts, GIFs, white papers, case studies… the list goes on. In a well-defined content strategy, each piece of content should map to a specific instance in a customer’s journey toward purchasing your product or services.
There’s a range of benefits from executing a well-defined content strategy. High quality written or visual content bolsters consumer trust, and designing and promoting content for specific touchpoints within a customer’s journey helps them on their way down the funnel. For products at a high price point, potential customers aren’t likely to purchase at first click – and a thoughtful content marketing strategy can guide them confidently towards clicking that Add-to-cart button. For example, creating a video series that reviews and recreates top-rated slow-cooking recipes might encourage a customer to more seriously consider purchasing your premium slow cooker (and its many time-saving accessories).
Content can also be much more cost effective than paid media when done well. Consider a PPC campaign with a cost-per-click of $8 for the term “best social media management tool”. Each month, driving 500 clicks (of which 5% convert) would cost $4,000 for 25 conversions. However, if a marketing manager invested $1,000 in a single piece of content that ends up ranking well in search engines – it could drive 2,000 clicks across a wider range of keywords per month. Even with an identical conversion rate, that’s 4x more conversions per month for a quarter of the cost. A well-executed content strategy can prove to be a much more sustainable means of driving relevant traffic to your site that converts. And with content, when it’s done… it’s done. No more monthly ad spend.
However, content marketing isn’t quite as simple as it sounds. Creating content with an obvious sales pitch all the way through can be off-putting to potential customers. Additionally, richer types of content such as video can be very expensive to produce if you don’t have production experience in-house. On top of this, content scheduling for larger teams can become a convoluted process with a range of dependencies, sign-off requirements, and invoices whizzing in every direction.
Thankfully, there are plenty of tools designed by experts to aid teams with content marketing – whether you’re writing your first blog series or commissioning a six-figure campaign. These tools help in all sorts of ways, including managing the production pipeline, maintaining your content calendar, automating translation services, producing high quality assets, and promoting your content.
When deciding on a particular content tool, it’s important to say focused on the features you require for the task at hand. A few things you should bear in mind: pricing, feature range, ease of use, customer service, and available learning resources to educate you on how to get the most out of the tool. These components are often squirreled away on landing pages, and aren’t always easy to compare across all the tools that are out there. As a result, making an informed decision can often take hours of research. At least… that used to be true!
What type of Content tools are available?
There are all kinds of tools available to help marketers create content that converts. Some of the most popular tools aid with content calendar management, copywriting services, content promotion, and localization. Depending on what features you need, you should narrow down your search for tools.
Where should I start with Content Production?
Content creation is all about matching the content you create with your target customers. Fully investigate your target audiences: where do they browse on the web? What kind of content do they consume? What are their interests?
From there, map every touchpoint that potential customers might have with you brand or product. For example, if you’re trying to generate leads for individuals searching for customer service platforms – you could crease a quiz that matches a customer’s need with the correct plan, and then send it to them through email.
Content marketing is all about creating content that meets customer needs at every step down the funnel. Don’t just start creating content wildly. It helps to step back and take a big picture approach.
How do I pay for these tools?
Usually tools are paid for on a subscription basis. However, most tools do offer a discount if you buy an annual subscription compared to a monthly one. Payment options often include credit/debit cards and/or bank transfers. Don’t forget to add your VAT ID if you have one!
What’s the best kind of content to create?
This really depends on the kinds of customers you’re trying to reach. If you’re a B2B marketer, your potential customers are likely to be interested in white papers, case studies, and free web tools. Meanwhile, if you’re a direct-to-consumer e-commerce business, you likely want to create lighter content like quizzes, videos, or how-to guides. There’s no true turnkey solution for content marketing.
Can I add multiple users to the same account?
Most tools allow unlimited users. However, some can have limits on the number of users you can add. This is always worth double-checking before you create an account to make sure it’s a good fit for your business.
We include a range of Content tools in our comparison tables across all major components of content marketing. In these comparisons, you will be able to find platforms and providers that are suitable for small sites and blogs, medium-sized businesses and digital agencies, all the way up to multinational e-commerce sites.
We encourage you to read through the pros and cons of each tool to find the one right for your business needs – there is often no one-size-fits-all approach!
Content Marketing Tools: Looking to get your content strategy rolling? These tools assist with the creation, promotion, and scheduling of your content marketing efforts.
Image and Content Marketplace Platforms: The best content has a mix of strong writing and eye-catching visuals. If you’re looking for that next level of polish, these platforms have a range of visual and design assets to boost your content.
Copywriting Resources: Content marketing requires writers, and not every business has the skills in-house to drive the best results. These tools will connect you with expert copywriting, design, and production resources.
Content Discovery Platforms: Creating content is only the first step – next you need people to read it! Promote your content across the web on premium publishing sites using these tools.
Content Translation Tools: Localization can be difficult to achieve internally in small teams. If you need to reach customers in another language, these tools connect your business to expert translation services.
