4 Tools to Boost Content Marketing Efforts
Marketing has only become more competitive in 2020, with so much content being delivered on so many platforms clamoring for our attention. Not only is standing out with your content an issue of quantity, but quality as well. Everyone from startups to big corporations are making high quality and purposeful content like never before.
However, there is still ample opportunity to succeed for savvy marketers. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, freelancer, agency, or even blogger, if you are strategic and focused with your efforts, you can still see tremendous success with content marketing.
To achieve this efficiency, using tools to make your marketing more effective and predictable is absolutely essential. Below are the content marketing tools I use in my business at least weekly, if not daily.
Digital Pamphlet Creators for Ultra Impressive Online Presentations
Particularly in the age of remote work, it has been harder to stand out during client pitches and presentations. I’ve started using FlippingBook to create pamphlet-like books that have the luster of a traditional marketing pamphlet but are delivered online.
These books aren’t for every client, but they have resonated particularly well for folks at the executive level who are used to being pitched with every method in the book. I’ve also started incorporating these books in our lead funnel through email and social marketing — and have noticed a lot of companies using this method to tell their own brand stories.
While FlippingBook is easy to use, you really need your team at full strength to make sure the messaging and imagery are on point for this marketing method to be effective. Check out Issuu and Yumpu for some FlippingBook alternatives.
Keyword Research Tools to Target High-Value Low-Competition Keywords
Keyword research for SEO-focused articles is increasingly important as organic search competition has increased. Thus, using a tool to identify keywords that are valuable to your business, but also low competition, can make sure you’re maximizing your team’s article effectiveness. Personally, I use Ahrefs for SEO focused research.
Ahrefs can help you see which keywords you are ranking for, as well as what your competitors are targeting. Typically seeing where other companies in your industry are succeeding is a great starting point. Check out the SEMRush alternative.
YouTube Tools for Great Video Ideas and Maximum Distribution
YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world, and in my mind the best opportunity for brands to stand out due to lower competition than other channels. However, since video is often a significant time and cost investment, I use VidIQ to be as targeted as I can with my efforts.
VidIQ gives you topic and video ideas for your channel and also helps tremendously with the video uploading process by providing optimization suggestions for each video and channel as a whole. They also have a great YouTube channel of their own that provides some of the best advice out there for growing your video presence. TubeBuddy is a worthy VidIQ alternative.
Using Viral Tools to Take Big Swings
All marketing needs to be strategic, but not all of it needs to be predictable. While some tools like Ahrefs, when used well, can result in steady, predictable traffic, we all know that some marketing efforts can have outsized returns when a piece of content goes viral.
Though going viral is never a guarantee, a tool like Buzzsumo can help improve your odds dramatically. Buzzsumo essentially provides data on the content that has already gone viral. You can research viral content via keywords, topics, competitors, and a variety of other factors. Once you see what content has gone viral already, it can help spur ideas, as well as how you craft that content. Plus, with Buzzsumo, you can see which influencers pushed out content on other viral articles and reach out to them directly, in hopes that they will push your content as well.
While these aren’t the only tools I use, they are the four I absolutely depend on for success. Not only do they make me more efficient, they take a lot of the guesswork out of the marketing work, so that I feel confident that my efforts are going to bear fruit.
