Traditional billboard or radio ads aren’t enough anymore. Why? Because they don’t leave consumers feeling connected with the advertised product or service. Traditional ads can make consumers feel as though the product is talking at them rather than talking to them. This is the elephant in the room nobody likes to talk about.
Content marketing solves this problem. Its main goal is to communicate with customers, instead of trying to sell them a product. You customers, readers, and users want to know who you are and how you got to where you are today. They want to know why the company was started in the first place.
In order to succeed today, your business must be transparent. Lay everything in front of your customers and be straight up with them. People value honesty. Always remember that.
Many “marketing gurus” often propagate selling your product as the top priority. The reality is, your top priority is to get to know your customer and for them to get to know you. Don’t be that annoying guy/gal at the party who’s constantly trying to promote his or her business. Simply plant seeds and let them grow. If somebody is genuinely interested in what you do or what you sell, they will ask you.
Content marketing helps consumers trust a business, and hopefully, this trust inspires a customer to purchase a product. You must offer your audiences content that is both useful and entertaining. Even if they don’t buy your product right away, they will still remember the value you provided. At times, content management may seem daunting. However it’s not difficult if you have the right tools. Today we will share with you some of the best content marketing tools your should seriously consider.
Scribe
Scribe can help users optimize websites to advertise a certain product. Users have a keyword in mind that they would like to write a post on, and Scribe will check if the post is optimized for the user’s keyword. It will give the user a grade for the post. Users can continue to rewrite the post to obtain higher grades. Scribe focuses on the process of content marketing rather than the project, since it focuses on showing a user how to improve optimizing posts for a keyword over time.
Website: Scribecontent.com
InboundWriter
InboundWriter also helps users optimize posts for search engine optimization (SEO). Though, the process is a bit different from Scribe. InboundWriter has the user select at least three keywords, and then InboundWriter searches the web for other relevant keywords and hints for SEO. The user then writes the post based off of this information. Users also receive scores on their posts that give them an idea of how much and what kind of change is needed to optimize the post. InboundWriter also has a WordPress plugin.
Website: Inboundwriter.com
Piktochart
Piktochart is an infographics tool that allows uses to create and share their own infographics. Infographics help users visualize data or content. Visualizing data or content can make a webpage less intimidating to a visitor. Piktochart allows users without a background in design to create some aesthetically-appealing infographics.
Users simply select a theme, modify the color scheme, and enter their own text, images, or icons. Overall, Piktochart is easy to use and is a powerful tool for users looking to visualize some content on their webpage. Yet, this tool is ideal for someone without a background in design. Many design-oriented people may feel that they could make better-looking infographics using other software.
Website: Piktochart.com
Trendspottr
Trendspottr is an excellent resource for businesses that are looking to capitalize on trends before they get too large. Users are alerted via email when something of interest is going on. Using email alerts rather than having users view a dashboard saves time. No one wants to learn how to use new software unless they have to, and many business owners don’t have time to spare.
Users can adjust alert frequency, along with other settings that influence alert content. Trendspottr has sentiment analysis, which also can save users a lot of time. Upon receiving an email alert, users don’t have to spend time deciphering the average user’s tone for the trend. Using Trendspottr wisely could certainly increase revenue.
Website: Trendspottr.com
Contently
Contently is a website where you can employ high quality writers to produce high quality articles. It’s not like other freelancing websites, where the majority of the writing jobs posted are for SEO. Though these articles may come at a higher price tag, this is to be expected if you are looking for good work. This is a great content marketing tool, as you can outsource some of your article writing to writers on Contently and rest assured that you will receive high quality work.
Website: Contently.com
Soovle
Soovle can help users come up with ideas quickly. If you have a keyword in mind, you can enter it on Soovle and receive related keywords from 7 different search engines and websites, including by default Google, Amazon, Yahoo, Bing, YouTube, Answers.com, and Wikipedia. You can click on the related keywords to conduct a search on that search engine or website.
If you have a keyword that is related to a product, you may find Amazon the best place to look for related keywords. Similarly, if your keyword is related to a video, YouTube may be more insightful. Soovle also lets users save searches.
Website: Soovle.com
SlideShare
SlideShare is typically used by professionals who can’t afford to waste time. It allows users to create and share slide presentations easily. SlideShare allows users to easily reuse content. This is important to businesses that have slideshows that they prefer to change and repurpose for multiple presentations. One nice thing about SlideShare is that it targets an audience of professionals. Speakers use it at many conferences.
Website: Slideshare.net
Content marketing tools can make many aspects of business easier and more profitable, from writing posts that search engines will pick up to allowing users to easily create and share presentations. Businesses that incorporate content marketing tools into their marketing routine can spend the time that they saved from using these tools on more important tasks.
Author information
Igor Ovsyannykov
Igor Ovsyannykov is a 21 year old geek, blogger, and designer. He mostly spends his time working here and sharing resourceful knowledge with others. He also enjoys weight lifting, hanging out with friends, and losing his mind to progressive house music. If you would like to reach him, send him an email to inspirationfeed@yahoo.com