The Ultimate List of Content Marketing Tools and Resources

CONTENT MARKETING

Do you think it is just a compound word? 

Oh, please, read again!

Here’s the deal:

We will happily get down to its nooks and crannies for changing your perspective if you stay focused — gear up for reading the best Content marketing resources today.

Content marketing is the process guilty of making businesses succeed in this competitive era. It is the process that builds business-customers bonds and has the potential to start a legitimate loop of fortune for companies and marketers.

And guess what the best part is?

It is quite a simple process backed with several tools and resources, tips, and hacks, unlike what it might sound. However, the demands are high, as are the expectations, and thus the stakes.

And, so we have decided to start a series of the best content marketing tools and resources for you. Here’s what today’s post is all about: 

For those coming to terms with the importance of Content Marketing, work it! Make your strategy on point, focus on important Content Marketing KPIs, avoid these fatal Content Marketing mistakes when you start; and BOOM!

Meanwhile, we have worked on shortlisting the best free content marketing tools and resources in a series of blogs, so the process begins easier for you.

Let’s get burrowing with the first part of the series:

Content Marketing resources have the power to turn the world upside-down. Look at this content in literature as a published proof:

1- literature:

The process of content marketing begins with research. In fact, the research phase starts way before you decide to use the process of content marketing.

Your reading and digging into a subject matter gives you confidence and a perspective. This perspective makes up your mind to be a content marketer yourself.

Even during the process, you keep needing all the content types, especially the literature, to beef it up. So, to play our part well, we brought to the table these brief lists of the best content in literature resources to help you gain better content marketing results. 

A- Guides

i- Content Marketing: Beginners Guide for Maximum Success

Published initially in 2018 on BuzzSumo, this guide by James Blackwell still serves the purpose better than well for beginners.

The guide covers the fundamental aspects of Content Marketing, ranging from known content types, the ones that suit you, and tips for content creation, posting and promoting content.

ii- The ultimate guide to Content Marketing in 2020

Written by Kristen Baker at the Hub Spot blog, this ‘8 mins’ read is a wonderful guide to take you from beginner to intermediate level of understanding of the content matter.

It is a complete guide that covers the basics of the topic with examples for better understanding. The guide also covers the matter of forming a Content Marketing Strategy.

iii- Everything About Content

In the *Everything about content guide*, QUICKSPROUT has covered a range of topics falling under the umbrella term. The guide aims to elucidate the importance of the process in one’s business growth.

iv- The Beginner’s Guide To Content Marketing

Here’s another fantastic guest post by Joe Putnam at NeilPatel.com on content marketing for beginners.

Joseph Putnam has strategically exposed the flaws of traditional marketing in contrast to Content Marketing, explained the concept with industry examples, and briefly touched on the strategy to kill it with Content Marketing. 

v- Beginner’s Guide to Content Marketing

Moz is second to none, even in the race of creating the best content marketing guides for beginners, with this detailed work of a whole team.

The comprehensive guide dives deep into Content Marketing, starting from the basics. It covers the details of:

• Content Strategy, 
• Marketing funnel, 
• Content marketing framework & team, 
• Ideation
• Content creation, 
• Content promotion & analysis for optimization,
• Growth and maintenance.

So, if you are looking for one resource to learn the most from, this is your go-to guide.

Enough of the guides now. Let’s get to some other literature now.

No literature (and research) is complete without blogs and articles. So, here is one such list we recommend you check:

B- Blogs & articles

Following are some of the must-reads on Content Marketing you’d undoubtedly call best-reads. 

i- The Strange Thing That Happens In Your Brain When You Hear a Good Story — And How to Use It to Your Advantage

Written by Joe Lazauskas and Shane Snow at HubSpot, this post brings up a very different story of storytelling. The post highlights what happens inside the reader’s brain when they read something in the form of a tale vs. plain text of facts and figures. The post also shows some benefits of presenting your information in the form of a story – as you should have guessed. 

That’s the approach they are suggesting you take for your next post. 

But, no pressure! 

Totally your call (unless you want results; better results!)

ii- The 10-Step Content Marketing Checklist

Opening with a dramatic (but actually very real) quote about the content, Sonia Simon has created this fantastic piece for the Copy Blogger. She has done a brilliant job creating a list of 10 worth following content marketing tips to base your framework on. Not only is her list worth-praising, but the way she explains her points is commendable too. 

Great job, Miss Simon!

Here’s our personal favorite from her list:

“Don’t give your great content an ugly apartment.”

Don’t forget to check what she’s referring to as the apartment (and how she proved her point).

iii- Content Strategy Tips From Content Marketing Expert Nate Riggs

Social media today shouldn’t be a new name to you if you are into digital marketing. Nate Riggs’ fantastic intro at the beginning of the post would give you the strongest reason to stick to his interview through the end.

The interview sheds light on some crucial aspects of the process of content marketing. Here are some of the important things you would learn from the interviews:

• Why should companies consider content marketing? The benefits of content marketing.
• Which departments are involved in the process of content marketing?
• What is the role of content marketing in the overall marketing strategy?
• The appropriate budget businesses should specify for content marketing?
• What are the leading brands bringing innovation in content marketing?

iv- How to Build Links With Content Marketing

Who doesn’t know Brian Dean – the SEO guru? In case you still don’t know, SEO is the backbone of content marketing. So Brain is repeatedly seen switching between the two subjects to our utmost pleasure.

In this post on his own blog – baklinko.com – he talks about how you can build quality links with your content marketing efforts. Here’s how he has summarized the process:

• Find what works.
• Choose a content format.
• Create your content.
• Promote your content.
• Build links.
• Putting it all together.

And you are done! Bingo!

v- How to Create 10x Content – Whiteboard Friday

Rand Fishkin, the Whiteboard Friday series creator at Moz – never ceases to bring up exciting topics for marketers. 

Thi post, in particular, is a step-by-step guide to creating ten times better content. Here’s how he outlines creating 10X content:

• Dive deeper.
• Get unique.
• Uncover powerful methods to provide an answer.
• Uniquely present your information.
• Repeat until you get it right.

After blog posts and articles, we have got you the practical proof that content is the real king, and content marketing is the way to go.

Let’s take a look at a few sources of inspiration that the markets need today – content marketing case studies: 

C- Case-studies

i- Case Study: How I Used a Case Study to Grow My Sales by 185%

This document is a piece of evidence that case-studies have real value and deliver actual results. 

Read this to take other case studies seriously.

ii- Content Marketing Case Study: How 4 Infographics Generated Over 10,000 Social Shares

The case study is the real evidence from real businesses that info-graphics have the potential to generate engagement more than other Content-counterparts do.

Creating more value in less time is the primary goal of your content marketing efforts. This case study helps you achieve that goal.

iii- Overall Content Marketing Strategy Leads to 2,000% Lift in Blog Traffic, 40% Boost in Revenue

The case study proves the dominance of a strategic flow of content marketing over random content marketing steps in terms of the ultimate benefits, i.e., traffic, growth, and profits.

If you find yourself wandering around in the world of digital marketing, read it to get the inspiration to start a systematic journey.

iv- 4 Case Studies Show How to Crush It With Out-of-the-Box Content Marketing

The prospects of better results are not as high in the cookie-cutter marketing techniques as they are in creatively formulated content marketing steps. 

What could be a better case study for content marketers than a content marketing case study?

This masterpiece is a validation of the fact, and thus, a must-read.

And with this list of content marketing case studies ends the list of content marketing literature resources for now that can direct you to the right way as a content marketing student. We would keep updating the list from time to time to ensure none of you misses out on the best resources.

Interestingly, that’s not all. 

We have got more content marketing resources that can guide the way. The next in our list is gurus that you should follow as students of content marketing.

Let’s take a look at our list today:

2- Gurus

In the age of content marketing, when every other person claims to be a content marketer, some influencers and experts have actually nailed it.

Follow a few regularly, especially for their Evergreen Marketing tips, see the Content production strategies popular with them, or seek their help in your tough times. 

Did you observe the peaks in Content Marketing result metrics on following these resource treasures?

COOL!

Now compare the results you get by following the self-proclaimed experts.

It really is like getting a bang for your bucks in the former option against the total opposite in the latter.

Here’s a list of 17 shining stars in content marketing that would lead the way for you.

• Ann Handley
• Stephan Spencer 
• Jay Baer
• Heidi Cohen
• Jason A, Miller
• Neil Patel 
• Mary Shea
• Content Marketing Institute
• Moz
• HubSpot
• Brian Clark
• CoSchedule
• Buffer
• CopyBlogger
• Kissmetrics
• Brian Dean
• Seth Godin

The list is never-ending, but we’d have to call it a day somewhere.

Now, when you start the process of content marketing, you need to build a team. The process is not easy, especially when you are doing that for the first time. 

So, we decided to bring you another resource for making the process of content marketing more manageable for you. 

3- Freelancers

As a Content Marketer, you frequently need freelancers all the time, especially when you plan to scale up. Here’s are some of the freelance resources platforms to help you put together a strong Content marketing team.

If you are confused between In-house content Marketing team Vs. Content marketing agency read our guide. If you plan to go with freelancers, we have got you some help here too.

i- People per hour

It is the top platform where businesses of different sizes from different geographical regions can pick freelancers worldwide.

The platform ensures the safety and quality of both the payment and the deliverables using feedback from both sides.

The platform charges buyers a 10% fee if the project is sold, while the service charges for gold and silver members are 2.5% and 0%, respectively.

ii- Simply hired

It is a platform for posting jobs, also said to be the world’s biggest search engine for jobs.

The platform consists of job boards where businesses advertise to find the best job seekers based on seeker’s keywords selection or chosen location.

The job posting to 100 boards or reaching 150 million candidates is free of cost here.

iii- Upwork

Formerly Elance-oDesk, Upwork is among freelancers’ top choices, allowing businesses to post jobs/tasks and recruit the freelancers of their choice.

It charges you a fee of 20% on projects worth up to $500, reducing the fee to 10% for the bigger projects.

iv- Freelancer

At Freelancer, employers post a project, and freelancers show their suitability, the fee they’ll charge, and the time they’d take in their bids.

Employers are charged a fee of 3% for posting a milestone (job) for hourly jobs (refunded if no match found). For fixed-price projects, employers are charged a fee equivalent to 3% of the winning bid. 

v- Fiverr

The platform is a famous world across for $5 as the starting price of each gig (service) offered by the seller.

The buyers browse through the gigs of the freelancers to choose the one they find suitable.

A service fee of 2% for orders up to $40 or 5% for more than $40 projects is incurred upon the buyers.

vi- Guru

At Guru, the buyer signs a deal with the Guru he chooses from the pool and pays 2.5% of the project fee at successful completion.

vii- 99designs

It is a popular designing platform with a rating of 4.8/5.

Either the designer or the buyers find each other, agree on the conditions, and have the project completed.

Buyers are charged a fee of 2.5% after project completion.

viii- LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a popular platform for professionals where they create their profile to boast about their skills.

You, as a business or a hiring manager, can find them searching for skills or can post a paid Ad using keywords of the services you require. These Ads are shown to professionals with matching skills.

ix- Social media groups/communities of freelancers

Communities like Facebook groups for freelancers are unpaid platforms to reach professional, skillful communities to get your job done.

These are not the only sites that can help you find the ideal candidate for content generation, but these are amongst the best options out there.

Choose the one that suits you better and find a good fit for content creation, so you can focus on other essential tasks for your business growth.

Wrap up:

The list of resources that can help you with your Content Marketing Process is non-ending. 

In today’s post, we made the following brief lists to make the process of content marketing ad learning easier for you:

• Literature
  • Guides 
  • Blogs and articles
  • Case studies
• Gurus
• Freelancers

However, the process doesn’t end with just these resources. 

Want to know the best tools and resources for each step that reflects in the results of your content marketing metrics?

We have got more content coming up with the tools for Content Marketing to make it your cup of tea.

Meanwhile, you can get useful insights about getting qualified traffic for your blog here. Also, learn more about the role of content length in its ranking here.

Now, what’s the bottom line?

With the ever-evolving technology and the latest research, many tools and resources for content marketing go obsolete only to be replaced by new ones each day.

The list of the best content marketing tools and resources is long – way longer than this blog post could take. But that doesn’t mean you won’t find more about them.

Hang in there! This blog post is the first in the series of blog posts discussing the best free tools and resources for Content Marketing.

Until you get there, there is one more thing on your list to do.

You’re up, next:

If you think you know or have used better than mentioned option/s, well, what are you still thinking about? Share your findings with us in the comments. 🙂