What’s Inside My Content Marketing Tool Kit?

I was recently asked if I thought that content marketing was more of a science than an art or vice versa. I replied “both” because I believe that in content marketing there is room for both experimentation and creativity.

However, I personally prefer to think of content marketing as more of a trade (not dissimilar to that of a carpenter or chief). Great content marketing goes beyond theory and aesthetics. If you are willing to put the time and effort into learning your craft, content marketing will always deliver tangible results and the more you practice, the better you get.

My Content Marketing Tool Kit

Like many crafts or trades, content marketers have a number of tools which they rely on to get the job done. While access to tools will not make you a more “useful” content marketing, they will certainly increase you efficiency and help you reach more people with the right message.

Here is a list of content marketing tools I use every day to get my job done.

• WordPress: In my humble opinion, a WordPress powered blog is the foundation of any content marketing strategy. Before you invest any time and effort in any other form of content marketing (including social media marketing) get your blog in good shape first.
• iContact Pro: A smarter email and social media marketing solution. iContact Pro allows you to build intelligent email campaigns based on your subscribers’ engagement with previous campaigns, website and social media activity. Pro offers so much more than your standard email marketing package. WYSIWYG design tools enable you to create, host and manage your own landing pages without the support of a design team or technical resource and social media tools enable you to schedule and track the success of your campaigns across several social media channels. A real bonus to the package is the fact it’s pretty darn affordable.
• KDP: Because not all content is consumed in bite-sized chunks. KDP from Amazon enables me to publish detailed eBooks directly to the world’s most popular bookstore, helping me deliver detailed thought leadership to a potential huge audience and, as an added bonus, monetize my output.
• Periscope: In my humble opinion, the most important thing to happen to social media since Twitter (which I also love). Periscope turns anyone with a smartphone into a broadcaster. The real-time nature of Periscope broadcasts prevents marketers from procrastinating or worrying if their content is good enough to distribute as might be the case with YouTube. Periscope turns planners into doers and doing is a good thing.
• BoostSuite: Because sometimes it’s good to share. BoostSuite enables like-minded (non-competitive) bloggers to share content and build an audience via a community based on useful, engaging and timely content. I now use BoostSuite exclusively to manage guest posts via the Becoming THE Expert blog.
• Flickr: Because every good blog post needs a great image and, as a rule, we don’t like paying for them.
• LinkedIn Pulse: A blogging platform with a built in audience of millions of professional users. Could you ask for more?
• LinkedIn Groups: Great content marketers understand the power of community. LinkedIn Groups place your content at the centre of incredibly focused and potentially lucrative communities. If you want to be part of my community, check out the Becoming THE Expert Linkedin Group and don’t forget to share.
• UpWork: A freelance work exchange for all those tricky little jobs you cannot do yourself. While I believe the best content always comes from an organic source, sometimes a little freelance help to polish a blog post or design a whitepaper can go a long way to add credibility to your output.
• EventBrite: Putting bums on seats and money in the bank.

What’s inside your content marketing tools kit? Share your suggestions in the comments box below.

Photo: Andreas Levers