As a small business, it can be hard to designate time and energy to create content for your audience. But the fact is, one of the best ways to raise awareness about your business and grow your customer base is through content marketing.
The good news is you don’t need to be an expert in content marketing to produce engaging content. Today, there are plenty of content marketing tools available to help you achieve your goals. Ongoing content marketing will improve traffic on your website and social pages, converting more of your audience into active customers.
With tons of content marketing tools out there, we’ve done the heavy lifting to help identify the tools worth investing in. Here are the top 10 content marketing tools of 2021 to escalate your content to the next level and help you become the content connoisseur for your business:
1. Canva
Free Plan & Paid Plan for $12.99/month
Let’s face it, not all of us are creatives. It can be tough to put together a balanced, good-looking graphic that communicates everything you need it to. Canva is an excellent tool to help you build anything and everything visual: posters, flyers, banners, Instagram posts, and so much more can all be built on Canva. Using the tool, you can choose from tons of templates geared towards your needs that can be easily personalized to your business using their intuitive customization tools.
Canva is best for:
- Social graphics, posters & advertisements
- Individuals with little to no graphic design background
2. AnswerThePublic
Free Plan & Paid Plan for $79/month
Have you ever wondered what your customers are searching for? With AnswerThePublic, you no longer have to wonder – it will show you. Depending on your product or service, you can type in keywords and AnswerThePublic will provide a list of common questions consumers have asked around those keywords. Instead of shooting in the dark for content ideas, AnswerThePublic shows you what consumers want to hear about.
AnswerThePublic is best for:
- Businesses that write blog posts and written content
- Content ideas that will perform well in searches
3. Quora
Free Platform
Quora is another great tool to help you get into the minds of consumers and understand where their needs lie. Using the platform, people can post questions and answers to nearly any topic. With Quora, you can search specific products and services related to your business to find out the key questions consumers are asking. This will inform your future content and allow you to market your own business by answering questions through the platform.
Quora is best for:
- Informing content topics for blogs and website content
- Learning about consumer interests
4. Google Trends
Free Platform
Nailing down the right keywords that pinpoint what your customers are most interested in can feel like guesswork. Google Trends shows you how various keywords are performing according to consumer interest. Using the platform, you can plug in your keywords and see how many searches involving these keywords occur over time. This helps you to identify the keywords your customers are searching for the most and informs your future searches and content focuses.
Google Trends is best for:
- Identifying keywords relevant to your business
- Informing keyword searches for content ideas
5. Hemingway Editor
Free Platform
Hemingway Editor is your own personal in-house content editor. Using the platform, you can copy and paste your written content, where it will test for the usage of passive voice, poor phrasing, and overall readability. Hemingway Editor helps you tighten your content and ensure it is relevant and engaging throughout. The platform ensures you are writing content that can be understood by your audience, and keep them coming back for more.
Hemingway Editor is best for:
- Assisting in active voice writing
- Ensuring content is readable
6. Grammarly
Free Plan & Paid Plan for $25/month
We’re all bound to make a grammar mistake or two….or ten. No matter what, Grammarly has got your back. The platform will scan your writing for any grammatical errors, helping to fix spelling and other mistakes throughout the piece to make it perfect. What’s more, if Grammarly identifies sentences that can be rewritten, it will suggest edits using your voice so it feels authentic to your business.
Grammarly is best for:
- Content editing for well-written blog posts
- Maintaining strong voice
7. SEMRush
Free Plan & Paid Plan for $99.95/month
Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of those topics that feels like both everyone & no one is an expert in. However, using SEMRush, you can become an SEO expert and strategize your content schedule to yield the best search results. The tool will help you focus your content on topics that interest your audience, and use data metrics to determine the best way to release your content for optimal viewership.
SEMRush is best for:
- SEO for business website and content
- Gathering analytics related to performance for future content
8. Google Analytics
Free
You should make an account on Google Analytics yesterday. Google Analytics provides you with all the key metrics necessary to understand how your website is performing overall. You can take a look at how many visits you have per day, which web pages are performing the best, and how long consumers stay on your site. What’s more, Google Analytics shows you key demographic information of your consumers to help you tailor your marketing efforts to be as effective as possible. It’s one of the best ways to gauge your business’s online performance and tailor your future marketing approaches.
Google Analytics is best for:
- Understanding your business’s performance online
- Learning more about your target audiences
9. BuzzSumo
Free Plan & Paid Plans starting at $99/month
BuzzSumo is the ultimate end-to-end content marketing tool for your business needs. BuzzSumo helps you with keyword and content topic research, content optimization, and tracking to understand the full-circle performance of your content marketing efforts. Using the platform, you’re able to scour the internet in seconds to find what interests your key audiences the most.
BuzzSumo is best for:
- Identifying content focuses & high-performing keywords
- Analyzing how your targeted content performs
10. Wordtune
Free Plan & Paid Plans starting at $9.99/month
There’s nothing worse than staring at an empty document, struggling to write the perfect sentence. To help you put the words on the paper, use Wordtune. Wordtune is a plug-in you can add to your browser that uses AI to breathe new life into your content. Using Wordtune, you can rewrite content to match any tone you’re looking for, and ensure it’s optimized for your audiences.
Wordtune is best for:
- Optimizing written content
- Refocusing content for varied audiences
When it comes to content marketing, leveraging these tools can help you produce optimized and engaging content that will reach your audience. Staying consistent and strategic with your content marketing will help your business stand out and grow exponentially.
Need help with your content marketing strategy? Contact us for a strategy session today!