We all know that content is an important part of just about any marketing strategy, and it’s especially important when it comes to your lead gen efforts. In fact, according to a recent study from MarketCrest, nine out of every ten marketing agencies rate content marketing as a hugely successful part of their overall marketing mix. But content marketing can be an expensive undertaking, especially for small to mid-sized businesses operating on a limited budget. The good news? There are some exceptional, and exceptionally cost-effective tools you can use to help power your content marketing efforts. Let’s take a look at a few of our team’s favorite.
BuzzSumo Pro. Around here, we are huge fans of BuzzSumo—and the newly-launched Pro version is definitely worth your time to check out. It’s designed to help marketers stay informed and produce more effective content marketing through content alerts and detailed insights into what content is working for any topic or business. It offers real time notifications whenever new content is published or linked to a tracked domain. You can try it out for free for two weeks, and premium options start at $99 per month. (Free Trial/Premium)
Feedly. If you want to track the latest news and reviews in a particular online space or industry niche, then look no further than Feedly. Feedly is an RSS reader that automatically adds all new content published on your favorite sites to your feed, allowing you to monitor activity and keep up-to-date with industry thought leaders and other influencers. The basic option is free with up to 100 sources. The Premium Pro version provides unlimited sources, keyword alerts, and has a search and filter capability. If you’re interested in analytics (and why wouldn’t you be?), check out Feedly’s Team version. (Free/Premium)
Canva. Effective content marketing relies on great visual images and Canva is your go-to platform for imagery. It’s super simple to use (with drag and drop functionality), and is chock-full of features that facilitate the creation of engaging, well-designed content. Canva is loaded with libraries of templates, images, icons, and fonts to help you add pizzazz to your marketing materials, whether an infographic, meme, social media header, or eBook. The basic version is free, with pay-as-you-go options available. For those with more advanced needs, Canva for Work provides premium options. (Free/pay-as-you-go/Premium)
Easel.ly. Infographics are good for top-of-the-funnel content needs, and Easel.ly helps you create simple Infographics with a choice of free templates. Once you’re hooked, you can easily add more features and options with the Pro Account. (Free/Premium)
ContentMarketer. This reasonably priced, premium product helps identify and contact influencers by Tweets and/or email.
- “Notifier” scans posts and schedules tweets to everyone mentioned.
- “Connector” provides templates and scheduling for outreach emails to aid networking and increase reach.
- “Marketer” combines both features, and offers CSV upload for bulk contact. Offers capability to “hunt down” contact details for influencer outreach campaigns.
This is a pretty cool tool, especially if you’re interested in lead generation, and there’s an option for just about every budget, with prices ranging from $9 to $49 per month (Premium)
Buffer. Buffer is another all-time favorite around here. The Buffer platform allows you to schedule social media posts across multiple time zones, so that you’re maximizing impact on your social media platforms. Buffer offers a free version with a limited number of accounts and posts, or a premium account that allows increased numbers of social profiles and scheduled posts, and also includes analytics. Again, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to function without analytics from these platforms, and how the price to pay for that wouldn’t be well worth the investment, but I’m a data geek, what do I know? Buffer pricing starts at $10 per month for premium, and goes up to $399 for teams and agencies. For those with greater needs and a bigger budget, Buffer also offers Buffer for Business, an Enterprise option (at $899). (Free/Premium)
Followerwonk. You’re probably getting the picture that we don’t recommend tools we don’t actually use and love, and Followerwonk is no exception. From the Moz family, Followerwonk is amazingly useful if you’re looking for insights into your own Twitter audience, or that of your competitors’. You can use the tool to search Twitter bios to connect with influencers, analyze followers, and optimize activities to get the best out of Twitter. Followerwonk is free for one profile with limited features, $29 per month for up to 3 profiles and $79 monthly for up to 20, both with full range of features. And if you’re not already a Moz fan (and user), you should change that. Their products are seriously stuff we wouldn’t do without. (Free/Premium)
Pay-per-Click Facebook/Twitter ads. PPC isn’t free but it can an effective way to get the most out of a limited budget. My partner Eric Vidal wrote recently about my friend, Larry Kim, founder of WordStream, and his use of PPC on Twitter and Facebook to help snag 100k unique visitors for one blog post, all at a cost of around fifty bucks. Pretty cool, isn’t it? Want to know more, check out Eric’s post—Using PPC to Market and Amplify Your Blog Content.
Google Analytics. Google Analytics can do so much more than people realize. You can easily see (and track) website visitor traffic specific to your content, and see what content is resonating with your audience, how they found that content, what devices and operating systems they are using, and how that content performs month-over-month. Premium tools are also available. (Free/Premium)
So there you have it. Hopefully these are some tools you’ve either not yet heard of or are not yet experimenting with—and you’ll give them a try. I can’t imagine doing what we do, and reporting on the things we do for our clients on a monthly basis, without them. What did I miss? What are your favorite tools and why?
Additional Resources on this Topic:
Creating a Content Strategy with the ACKTT Framework
Content Marketing On a Shoestring Budget
75 Content Marketing Tools You Can’t Live Without
Photo Credit: The one place for all businesses! via Compfight cc
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”