At Ink Tank, in the last five years, we’ve launched, edited and written for over twenty blogs. Combined, our stories have reached millions of people worldwide. Needless to say, in this time we’ve have tried literally dozens of different content marketing tools and now we can share our best with you.
When it comes to getting your startup or small business up on its feet, both time and money are precious commodities. While it makes sense to hire professionals to handle tasks like content creation and distribution, it can often be a good idea to handle the smaller but equally important tasks yourself.
Building a social media presence, tracking traffic data to see what works and what doesn’t, and throwing in a few on-site tools to make your website as user-friendly (and share-friendly) as possible are a few examples of simple things that you can do to get the word out there and track how well the process is going. There’s no shortage of time-saving tools to be found online, and choosing which tools are best for you and your team can be quite the headache. So let’s make this easy by showcasing our best content marketing tools.
Social media is without a doubt one of the most important factors in spreading the word about your company and communicating with customers and clients. I think we can all agree that managing all of the different social media accounts that you need to stay connected can get tedious and time-consuming. Make it easy on yourself with Buffer. This management tool will help you get the most out of social media by simplifying the process, letting you schedule Facebook posts and Tweets ahead of time. It’s also great for teams — you can each access the company accounts on every platform, all in one place.
Email marketing is one of the most effective channels for building your brand. MailChimp is one of the best email marketing services that lets you easily design nifty newsletters using a wide variety of templates, share them on social media, and track your results using analytics. It’s quick and simple, and delivers your message directly to your subscribers. As an added bonus, MailChimp’s prices are extremely fair.
SumoMe is a Swiss Army knife of content marketing tools, with an app for just about everything you need to help grow traffic on your website. Heat maps, share buttons, content analytics, and contact forms are just a few of the things you do using SumoMe.
Graphic designers create amazing work, but many startups and small businesses simply don’t have the budget to pay for top-notch images and promotional materials. Canva is an easy-to-use tool that lets you be your own graphic designer, helping you to create professional-looking images that really pop. There are templates for just everything you need, such as social media images, inforgraphics, collages, blog titles, gift certificates, and even ads.
This one may seem like a no-brainer to many of you, but you’d be surprised by how many new companies and startups aren’t using Google’s fantastic Analytics tool. If you have a website, Google Analytics is absolutely necessary. It gives you valuable insight into traffic statistics, demographics, and goal conversions, for free. It may seem somewhat daunting at first with its charts, graphics, and number-filled pages, but once you get into the swing of things you’ll wonder how you ever survived without it.
Competitor research is a great way to get a glimpse into who you’re up against, and SEMrush is the perfect tool for the job. Simply enter your competitors’ urls, and it will give important information about their rankings in a clearly-presented format that is easy to absorb. You can find out which keywords they rank for, traffic stats, and who is linking to them.
Gone are the dark days of endless email chains. These days, Slack is the go-to for team communication. This messaging service lets you create a hub where your team can stay in touch and up to date on projects, deadlines, and office shenanigans. Simply create channels for your projects, invite your team, and never have to see Re: again.
Give these content marketing tools a try if you haven’t already. Remember, they’re popular for a reason: they work, they’re powerful, and they’re important additions to any startup or new business looking to handle as much of the content marketing as they can on their own. If these tips have been useful be sure to hook up with us on Linkedin where we’ll be sharing insights on how we created blogs with over a million monthly readers.
