Content marketing tools can make the process of consistently creating and distributing relevant and valuable content easier. They help you meet your content marketing goals, produce content your audience would appreciate, and eventually improve your revenue.
What's more?
Leveraging the right content marketing tools can help you lead your customers through a seamless journey, from making them aware of your offers to consideration and purchase.
That’s why, according to research, B2B marketers increased their use of content marketing tools, including those used for creation, collaboration, and workflows.
Image via Content Marketing Institute
But what content marketing tools should your brand leverage?
Find out below:
Disclaimer: This content contains some affiliate links for which we will earn a commission (at no additional cost to you). This is to ensure that we can keep creating free content for you.
17 Essential Content Marketing Tools
Your business success depends on your mastery of content marketing tools.
However, there are a host of content marketing tools in the market, each with its own pros and cons, usability, and features. How do you pick a well-rounded tool that fits your needs and budgets perfectly?
That's why, in this post, we've reviewed the top 17 content marketing tools and mentioned the function of content marketing they help you with.
Let's get started.
Image via Keywords Everywhere
One of the most crucial content marketing tools you need is a keyword research platform.
And for this, you need a tool like Keywords Everywhere that gives you data on keywords search volume, competition, cost-per-click, etc.
Best of all?
It’s one of the content marketing tools that make it possible to identify conversion keywords and improve SEO efforts.
Key Features
- Ability to find related keywords and people also search for data from Bing and Google
- Access current and historical data from YouTube and Google Trends
- Get YouTube Tags and insights data
- Find out the top 5000 keywords a URL ranks for and the keyword density for each page
- Access organic search volume data for each keyword
- Integrates easily with sites including Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Amazon, AnswerThePublic, etc.
Pros
- Chrome and Firefox extension available
- Competitor keyword research
- Integration with ecommerce platforms, YouTube, etc.
- Customization and multi-language support
Cons
- Forgetting to disable the tool when not using it can blow through your credits
Usability
Tool Level
Pricing
One credit equals one keyword, with credits expiring after a year.
- Free
- Credits:
- $10 for 100,000 credits
- $50 for 500,000 credits
- $100 for 1,000,000 credits
- $200 for 2,000,000 credits
- $500 for 5 million credits
- $1000 for 10 million credits
2. Upfluence – Influencer marketing tool
Image via Upfluence
Other crucial content marketing tools you need are those that help you find industry influencers who can improve your content strategy.
For this, we recommend Upfluence, one of the influencer marketing tools that help you find influencers, outreach them, manage marketing campaigns, and track results.
And in a recent Upfluence review we carried out, these are some of the functionalities you get with this online platform:
Key Features
- Live capture to find influencers and content creators already in love with your brand
- Integrations with ecommerce platforms, affiliate programs, mailing systems, CRMs, CMS, etc.
- AI-powered influencer recommendations with data on follower demographics, engagement rates, content, etc.
- In-built influencer outreach solution with ready-made templates to help you reach out to influencers you identify
- Manage influencer collaborations from a single location
- Campaign monitoring tools to measure the performance of each influencer
Pros
- Detailed data on influencers
- Easy influencer onboarding
- Agency tools available
- Free Chrome extension
Cons
- Customer support is not very responsive
Usability
Tool Level
Pricing
- Upfluence has three plans, including Growth, Scale, and Enterprise. However, you need to contact support to get prices.
3. Asana– Collaboration and Project Management Tool
Image via Asana
To improve chances of success, you need content marketing tools that help you plan content, coordinate tasks between writers, designers, editors, etc., and hit deadlines.
And, in this case, the best project management tool to leverage is Asana.
It's one of the project management tools that offer most of the features you need to plan content marketing projects from start to finish, manage campaigns, and create workflows.
Key Features
- Create editorial calendars for distribution channels, including blog, newsletter, website, email, etc.
- Content checklists to keep track of creative processes like proofreading, sourcing images, etc.
- Content request forms where team members can record their creative requests and assign them to appropriate people
- Asana's timeline view to track content from strategy to execution
- Workload view to balance work and ensure everyone stays at peak productivity
- Integrations with communication tools like Zoom, collaboration tools like Slack, CRM tools like Salesforce, etc.
Pros
- Ability to share status updates
- Templates to standardize work back schedules
- Multiple project views
- Process management automation
Cons
- This content marketing platform has limited mobile applications.
Usability
Tool Level
Pricing
- Basic: $0
- Premium: $10.99/user/month
- Business: $24.99/user/month
- Asana Enterprise: Contact sales team
Image via Adobe
Creative apps are part of the content marketing tools your brand needs for web design, graphic design, video design, photography, and more.
And guess what?
Adobe Creative Cloud offers features you need to improve your creative process under one roof.
Key Features
- Ability to create responsive sites like landing pages, web pages, portfolios, business cards, etc.
- Choose from a library of color themes and trending styles when creating content for various platforms
- Access a library of fonts cleared for commercial use
- Search for a library of adobe stock assets, including graphics, images, templates, videos, 3D assets, etc.
- Manage, organize, sync, and keep creative elements accessible to other team members
- Integrations with productivity apps, design tools, etc.
Pros
- Collaboration tools
- Auto-save to cloud
- Access to creative resources
- Ability to learn from other Adobe pros
Cons
- It can be expensive for non-professionals.
Usability
Tool Level
Pricing
- Individuals: Adobe Creative Cloud allows you to buy standalone products like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc. However, you can also decide to buy the whole suite of 20+ creative apps for $52.99 per month.
- Businesses
- All Apps: $84.99 per month per license
- Single App: $35.99 per month per license
- Students & Teachers: All Apps at $19.99 per month
- Schools & Universities
- Per Named-user License: All Apps at $34.99 per month per user or Single App @14.99 per month per user
- Per Shared Device: All Apps at $330 per year per device
- Per Student Pack: All Apps at $142 per year per user
- Institution-wide Licence: call for pricing of All Apps
5. HubSpot– Inbound Marketing Tool
Image via HubSpot
Content marketing tools like HubSpot provide everything you need to drive website traffic, convert prospects to leads, and increase return on investment.
How is this?
HubSpot makes it easy to create a content marketing strategy that caters to website visitors when they land on any of your pages and after they convert.
Key Features
- Create, optimize, and publish blog content
- Discover, track and organize keywords that drive traffic while also benchmarking competitors
- HubSpot's Ads Software to create highly targeted ads and get reports on which ones convert
- Call-to-Action, Landing Page Builder, and publishing tools to help you generate leads and convert more
- Email marketing tools to help you create personalized email campaigns and track effectiveness
- Marketing Automation tool to help you manage repetitive tasks and scale growth
- Social media analytics tools to help with tracking brand mentions and ROI
Pros
- In-depth reports
- Inbound education resources
- Free blog idea generator
- Numerous integrations
Cons
- Few features with the free version and prices escalate steeply as you add functionalities.
Usability
Tool Level
Pricing
Marketing Hub
- Free Tools: Free
- Starter: Starts at $45 per month and billed as $540 per year
- Professional: Starts at $800 per month and billed at $9600 per year
- Enterprise: Starts at $3200 per month and billed at $38,400 per year
6. Semrush – Auditing, Analyzing, and Content Optimization Tool
Image via Semrush
You've created content and shared it, but is it performing?
For this, you need content marketing tools that help you analyze performance, run content audits, and optimize SEO campaigns.
And the best content marketing tool for this?
Semrush.
And guess what?
In a current review of Semrush, here are some key functionalities we found the tool to have:
Key Features
- Conduct content audits that identify gaps in your content and what needs improvement
- Find written content that needs deleting, updating, or rewriting
- Discover content ideas from trending topics, recent popular articles, related searches, etc.
- Analyze competitor content and access content optimization tools
- SEO content template to help you optimize content and improve search engine results ranking
- Brand monitoring tool to track mentions and find guest posting opportunities
- Track guest post-performance and the impact collaborations and partnerships have on your content marketing strategy
- Ability to find backlink opportunities and leverage their SEO writing assistant
Pros
- Feature-rich tool
- Advanced PPC and SEO tools
- Educational resources
- Large database of keywords
Cons
- This content marketing tool has a steep learning curve.
Usability
Tool Level
Pricing
The Pro and Guru plans come with a free trial:
- Pro: $119.95 per month
- Guru: $229.95 per month
- Business: $449.95 per month
7. BuzzSumo– Content Research and Outreach Tool
Image via BuzzSumo
As one of the popular content marketing tools, BuzzSumo helps you refine your content strategy.
It gives you rich insights into viral topics your target audience is interested in, apart from data on high-demand keywords and content distribution ideas.
Unlike most content marketing tools, BuzzSumo scours 5 billion articles and content performance trends over the past five years.
What’s more, it helps you uncover influencer marketing opportunities. These are the features you would expect the top content marketing tools to offer.
Let’s see what else BuzzSumo offers.
Key Features
- Browse forums, topics, and trends to discover trending topics
- Gain insights into SEO metrics such as high demand keywords, top ranking headlines, structure, and subheadings
- Find the best content distribution channels
- Granular insights into keywords including monthly search volume, search trends, and cost per click
- Geographic filtering to get relevant topics for any specific region
- Monitors links, brand mentions, industry updates, influencers, and competitors
Pros
- Easy to use Chrome extension
- In-depth content research
- Extensive knowledgebase
- Frequent updates
- Historical data on content performance
Cons
- The paid plans are expensive compared to most content marketing tools.
Usability
Tool Level
Pricing
- Free: For up to 10 searches/month
- Pro: $99/month
- Plus: $179/month
- Large: $299/month
8. Optimizely– Content Auditing, Creation, and Publishing Tool
Image via Optimizely
Content marketing tools such as BuzzSumo help you discover trending topics.
But, how to personalize content based on each visitor’s behavior?
Optimizely does it well. As one of the smartest content marketing tools, it leverages artificial intelligence and natural language processing to help you personalize your content across websites, blogs, and emails.
While content management is one of the tools Optimizely offers, it is known for its growth hacking tools such as advanced A/B testing, marketing, and ecommerce features.
Explore its features to see if this is one of the content marketing tools you should invest in.
Key Features
- AI-powered content audit and recommendations
- Allows you to tweak content on the live website
- Ability to preview content and schedule publishing
- Drag-and-drop feature, streamlined interfaces, text blocks, and full-page layouts for content creation and editing
- Options to create content aligned with your brand image, message, and style
- Automation to identify the most relevant content based on historic and real-time behavior of each visitor
- Ability to determine viewing and editing access to the content library
- Content delivery network for fast content publishing
Pros
- AI-powered content management
- Drag-and-drop text blocks for content creation
- Global content delivery network
Cons
- Content analytics and reporting needs improvement.
Usability
Tool Level
Pricing
- Contact sales for pricing information.
9. Yoast– SEO and Content Analysis Tool
Image via Yoast
Yoast is one of the popular content marketing tools used by many website owners and bloggers to help optimize their content for SEO. The WordPress plugin helps you to optimize your blog posts and pages for better search engine visibility.
The features that Yoast shares with most content marketing tools include keyword research, page analysis, and link building.
Take a look at the features, pros, and cons of this tool.
Key Features
- Readability analysis tool checks several content parameters to help you generate easy-to-read content
- SEO workouts to help boost your page ranking
- Internal linking suggestions
- Keyphrase assessment
- Page analysis and feedback on how to optimize them for the search engines
- Yoast SEO can generate XML sitemaps for your website, which can help the search engines find and index your pages
- Allows you to share your content on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter
Pros
- Easy to use WordPress plugin
- Actionable suggestions on improving your content
- Social media integration
- On-page and technical SEO analysis
Cons
- Does not offer keyword research, unlike other content marketing tools.
Usability
Tool Level
Pricing
- Free: $0
- Premium: $99/year
10. Ceros– Digital Content Creation and Publishing Tool
Image via Ceros
Wondering if there are any content marketing tools that help you create infographics, ebooks, and other types og online content?
You may want to consider investing in Ceros. The cloud-based platform is loaded with features to help you create and share engaging content.
The possibilities are truly endless with Ceros. You can create anything from interactive quizzes, presentations, and case studies, to charts, infographics, and more.
Check out its features to see how it compares with other content marketing tools.
Key Features
- Drag and drop function and templates to add content and digital assets
- Ceres Studio offers interactive elements, animations, and the ability to import design files such as Illustrator, Photoshop or Sketch
- Update live content and optimize it for ranking
- ChartBlocks offer design options to create graphics, charts, and other forms of data visualization
- Built-in analytics to track content performance
Pros
- Customizable templates
- Easy to create interactive content
- No coding knowledge required
- Responsive customer support
- Built-in social media sharing
Cons
- Unlike the top content marketing tools, Ceros does not offer a scheduling feature for content publishing.
Usability
Tool Level
Pricing
- Contact sales for pricing information
11. Loom– Video Content Creating and Sharing Tool
Image via Loom
Want to make it easier for your teams or customers to grasp the technical aspects of your products or service?
You’ll want content marketing tools like Loom.
While it does not have the SEO and analytics features that other content marketing tools have, the tool’s expertise lies in helping you create and share videos.
The use cases for these videos can be anything you want it to be, right from training and storytelling, to product demonstration.
Here are the capabilities of Loom we want to highlight.
Key Features
- Screen capture tool enables easy video recording of your screen and your face simultaneously
- Record 1080p HD quality video to enhance engagement
- Easily share video content via social media, as an email link, or embed the video in your blog post
- Built-in interactive features such as the ability to draw on the screen, time-stamped comments, and emoji reactions
- Add custom call-to-action (CTA) buttons to videos
- Track metrics such as CTA performance, the number of people who watched the video, and the duration
Pros
- Free version
- No download required
- Easy to create and share videos
- Analytics on video performance
Cons
- Video editing features need improvement.
Usability
Tool Level
Pricing
- Starter: Free for up to 50 creators and 25 videos/person
- Business: $8 per creator/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
12. Rock Content – Content Experience and Marketing Tool
Image via Rock Content
When it comes to content marketing tools, you would want ones that help you fine-tune your content strategy to create brand awareness and drive conversions.
This is Rock Content’s forte.
It belongs to the list of the top content marketing tools thanks to its ability to help you discover and leverage interactive content that you can use in a landing page, ebook, or whitepaper.
Zoom in on its features to see if this is the tool you should invest in.
Key Features
- Ion, a scalable content experience platform, streamlines content experiences
- Quick Start Library offers prefabricated content experience templates that you can brand, customize, and launch quickly
- Leverage built-in templates, a blank canvas, or Rock Content’s professional content writing services to create content
- First-party data on content performance including who consumes the content, how they interact, sales enablement, lead qualification, etc.
- A/B/ testing of content campaigns to see which ones give the best results
- Drive audience engagement with interactive content including quizzes, assessments, calculators, etc.
- Offers marketing, hosting, and project management tools
Pros
- Easily create interactive content with no coding knowledge
- Pre-built content templates
- Content analytics
- Offers marketing, collaboration, and project management solutions
Cons
- The interface can be confusing to new users.
Usability
- A learning curve is involved for using the tool’s advanced features
Tool Level
Pricing
- Contact sales for pricing information.
13. Uberflip – Content Management and B2B Marketing Tool
Image via Uberflip
Focused on B2B content marketing? One of the ideal content marketing tools you can invest in is Uberflip.
As a content experience platform, Uberflip helps brands create, optimize, and personalize content experiences at scale.
The impressive lineup of content management tools helps you design, build, and publish personalized content, and track and analyze engagement data.
Go ahead and explore its features.
Key Features
- Maintain a centralized content library with Uberflip’s content management tools
- Automatically sync and import content from third-party platforms such as Twitter, SlideShare, and YouTube
- Use tags and dedicated hubs to organize content
- Uberflip blog editor to create and publish blogs, articles, and other content
- Ability to embed custom content streams on your website
- Intelligent content recommendations based on buying intent data
- Sales Assist allows direct access to the content library from email (Gmail, Outreach, and Salesloft)
- Easy to add backend and on-page SEO elements
Pros
- Easy to personalize content with AI-based recommendations
- Seamless content syncing and management
- Rich analytics
- A streamlined interface for content management
Cons
- Integrations with third-party business tools need improvement.
Usability
Tool Level
Pricing
- Contact the sales team for pricing information
14. Hotjar – Behavior Heatmap and Live Feedback Tool
Image via Hotjar
Hotjar’s strength lies in helping you monitor consumer behavior and understand them better.
In fact, this is one of the content marketing tools you can use to track every interaction each client has with your site.
And, you can use these insights to refine your content strategy.
Let’s see how Hotfar fares when compared to other content marketing tools.
Key Features
- Behavior heatmaps help you understand how users interact with your content
- Discover what gets ignored and where users drop off
- Compare user behavior pre and post launch as well as across devices
- Recordings and replay features enable you to see the u-turns, moving, scrolling, and rage clicking
- Embed live feedback box on your website to gain user inputs
- Pre-built templates and survey forms help you send surveys as a link or as a pop-up on your site
Pros
- Easy to learn user behavior and compare it across different devices
- Conversion funnels offer insights into where users drop off
- As most content marketing tools do, Hotjar integrates with popular CRM tools including Slack, Zapier, HubSpot, etc.
- Live feedback
Cons
- Unlike many other content marketing tools, Hotjar does not track your content marketing ROI.
Usability
Tool Level
Pricing
Hotjar offers three different packages—Hotjar Observe (for user behavior), Feedback & Surveys, and Custom package. These are the pricing plans for Hotjar Observe.
- Basic: Free
- Plus: $31/month
- Business: $79/month
- Scale: Custom pricing
15. Parse.ly – Content Analysis and Personalization Tool
Image via Parse.ly
If you're looking for a content analysis tool that can help you better understand your audience, you may want to check out Parse.ly.
As one of the content marketing tools focused on content analytics, Parse.ly offers insights that help you create content that converts.
And, like most content marketing tools, it offers a content analysis feature to measure the engagement and impact of your content. This helps you make better decisions about what content to create in the future.
Take a look at how it compares to other content marketing tools.
Key Features
- Automatic tracking and measurement of your content archive
- Predictive content personalization algorithm factors in trending content, relevancy, and visitor behavior to help you create tailored content
- Historic and real-time data on readers, including insights on where they come from, how to engage them, and boost readership
- Data on content performance based on content types across channels including social media, search engines, and content platforms
- Unified dashboard to view performance data and generate email reports
- Tracks 30+ unique attention metrics to help you segment your audience
Pros
- Granular content analytics
- Predictive algorithm to tailor content to each reader
- Segment your audience based on region, content type, or behaviors
- Native iOS app
Cons
- Mobile experience and reports can do with some improvement.
Usability
- One of the easiest to use content marketing tools
Tool Level
Pricing
While pricing information is not available on Parse.ly’s website, it offers three categories of paid plans:
- Content Performance
- Content Value
- Content Advocacy
16. Vidyard – Video Content Creation and Marketing Tool
Image via Vidyard
A key advantage of using content marketing tools such as Vidyard is that they allow you to harness the power of video content.
Designed to be a video marketing platform, Vidyard makes it easy to create, promote, and share video content.
What’s more, there are a host of features that allow you to analyze the performance of your video content and tweak it as necessary.
Interested in knowing if this is one of the best content marketing tools for your business?
Read on.
Key Features
- Inspiration Hub to discover video content ideas
- Create engaging video by recording your webcam and/or screen
- Easily add your video to your blogs, on your website, intranet, and other channels
- Share videos on LinkedIn and Facebook, or through Gmail and Outlook
- Analytics dashboard give you insights on who is watching, how viewers progress, and which videos convert, etc.
- Drag-and-drop functions to upload and host your videos
Pros
- Enables creation of impactful video content
- Useful integrations with CRM, email, and content marketing tools such as Pathfactory
- Rich analytics help personalize your video content
- You can add a animated GIF preview or custom video thumbnails
- Video editing tool
Cons
- Can do with more video content personalization options.
Usability
- One of the easiest to use content marketing tools
Tool Level
Pricing
Like most content marketing tools, Vidyard offers a free version for up to 25 videos.
- Free: for up to 25 videos
- Pro: $19/month
- Business: Custom pricing
17. PathFactory – Content Intelligence and Marketing Tool
Image via PathFactory
Want complete transparency over how your content is consumed?
For this, you need content marketing tools like PathFactory.
Designed to give you granular content consumption metrics, Pathfactory goes a step above many content marketing tools. You can understand the reading length, types, and formats of content that drive consumption across your content channels.
This helps you create highly personalized content that your readers will love.
But is this one of the suitable content marketing tools for your business?
Find out.
Key Features
- Centralized dashboard to understand content performance including the reading length, formats, type, and topics that drive the most engagement
- Path Analytics analyzes the ROI and revenue influence of content
- Content recommendations to help readers discover valuable content
- Integrates with popular CRM, marketing automation, video, and business tools
- Create and share engagement-based forms
Pros
- Proprietary content intelligence
- In-depth content consumption analytics
- CRM and sales integration
- Simple interface
Cons
- Unlike most content marketing tools, Pathfactory does not offer SEO insights
Usability
- One of the most user friendly content marketing tools
Tool Level
Pricing
- Contact sales for pricing information
Honorable Mentions: Bonus Tools for Added Content Marketing Functionalities
These are other content marketing tools we believe marketers should include in their arsenal.
Grammarly – Content Writing Tool
Image via Grammarly
Content marketing tools like Grammarly allow you to create content free of plagiarism. You can also use it to correct writing mistakes and find the perfect words to express yourself.
Planable – Social Media Management Tool
Image via Planable
Content marketers use it to plan social media posts, manage, and scale their content strategy.
Google Analytics – Digital Analytics Tool
Image via Google Analytics
Despite being a free tool, this content measurement tool helps content marketers track marketing efforts, understand user behavior, and prove ROI.
FAQs
Q1. What are the best tools to use for content marketing?
A. The best content marketing tools include:
- Keywords Everywhere
- Upfluence
- Asana
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- HubSpot
- Semrush
- Grammarly
- Planable
- Google Analytics
- BuzzSumo
- Hotjar
- …and others.
Q2. What are the best ways to do content marketing?
A. To do content marketing effectively, leverage the following tips:
- Have a plan
- Know the target audience
- Identify channels and the best time to post on them
- Focus on quality and search intent
- Share different content types
- Use content marketing tools
- Test, analyze, and optimize
For more on this, check out this post on building the perfect content marketing strategy.
Q3. What's your best content marketing tip?
A. Focus on providing value to your audience at each step of their customer journey, ensure each content piece helps you achieve a goal, and leverage the right content marketing tools.
Q4. What are the most effective tools for developing quality content?
A. Content marketing tools you can leverage for quality content development include:
- Keywords Everywhere
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Semrush
- Grammarly
Q5. What is the best tool to check unique and quality content?
A. Content marketing tools that help you ensure unique and quality content include:
- Grammarly
- Copyscape
- Unicheck
- PlagScan
- Duplichecker
Q6. Why is content marketing important?
A. Benefits you get from content marketing include:
- Improved brand reputation
- Boosted SEO efforts
- Ability to stand out from competitors
- Increased conversions
- Better return on investment
- Trust with audiences
Q7. How can I use content marketing for my business?
A. Content marketing helps your business create and distribute valuable content that attracts potential buyers to your business. With it, your business can:
- Grow audience trust so that you become their go-to source for information
- Connect with customers where they spend time
- Generate leads
- Develop your brand voice
- Grow your email list
- Improve conversions
Q8. What is the core benefit of using content marketing tools?
A. Content marketing tools help you run a better, more efficient content marketing strategy.
Q9. What are the objectives and advantages of content marketing?
A. Content marketing objectives and benefits include:
- Lead generation and nurturing
- Improved customer retention
- Increased customer loyalty
- Stronger brand authority
- Improved retention
- Better conversion rates
- Increased brand awareness
- Enhanced reach
Q10. What tools do content strategists use?
A. Content marketing tools you can use to strategize include:
- Asana
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Semrush
Ready to Choose Content Marketing Tools That Drive Success?
Content marketing tools mentioned above will help your team become more efficient and get tasks done faster.
So, test these content marketing tools out, then tell us below what you thought of their functionalities and whether they helped you improve your strategy.
Disclaimer: This content contains some affiliate links for which we will earn a commission (at no additional cost to you). This is to ensure that we can keep creating free content for you.