The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Tools: Introduction

Despite the vast and growing size of the marketing technology (martech) universe, it is possible to make sense of it.

Scott Brinker’s 2018 version of marketing technology landscape supergraphic lists 6,829 martech solutions—double the size of his list from just two years ago. But the interactive website visibility and engagement model below organizes about 750 of the most important tools into a coherent, strategic framework content marketers can use to put the various types of tools in context and make better martech selection decisions.

It provides a visual categorization of the best marketing tools previously reviewed in a series of 48 posts here. The content marketing flow starts with the tools for developing content strategy and planning, then proceeds through content development (text and visual), content distribution and promotion, and finally measurement and analytics–which feeds back into content strategy planning.

For those who prefer a more traditional outline of the content marketing flow and tools reviews, here’s a table of contents:

Content Strategy and Development

Content Strategy and Planning

• The 23 Best Content Ideation Tools
• The 14 Best Content Planning and Research Tools
• The 21 Best Content Curation Tools

Content Development

• The 24 Best Online Writing Tools and Apps
• The 24 Best Visual Content Creation Tools
• The 15 Best Audio and Video Editing Tools
• The 17 Best Photo Editing Tools
• The Five Best Infographic Creation Tools and Services
• The Six Best Screen Capture Tools
• The 16 Best Sites for Free Stock Photos and Videos

Content Distribution and Promotion

Website Design and Optimization

• The 17 Best Keyword Research Tools for SEO and SEM
• The 20 Best SEO Rank Tracker Tools
• The 15 Best Special-Purpose SEO Tools
• The 26 Best All-in-One SEO Tool Suites
• The 28 Best Web Design Tools
• The 26 Best WordPress Plugins
• The 12 Best Landing Page and Form Builders for Conversion Rate Optimization

Social Media Marketing

• The Nine Best Facebook Marketing Tools
• The Six Best Google+ Marketing Tools
• The Five Best Pinterest and Instagram Marketing Tools
• The 32 Best Twitter Marketing Tools
• The 29 Best Social Media Monitoring Tools
• The 17 Best Social Media Management Tools
• The 11 Best Social Media Campaign Builders and Ad Monitoring Tools

Influencer Relations

• The 15 Best Content Distribution and Amplification Tools
• The 28 Best Influencer Marketing Tools
• The Nine Best Reputation Management, RSS, and Social Search Tools

Customer and Prospect Marketing

• The 14 Best Marketing Automation Tools
• The Four Best Online Survey Tools
• The Eight Best Social CRM Tools
• The 15 Best Screencasting and Online Presentation Tools
• The 10 Best Customer Service and Customer Engagement Platforms
• The 24 Best Email Marketing Tools
• The Eight Best Online Tools for Sales Professionals

Marketing Analytics

• The 12 Best Competitive Intelligence and Benchmarking Tools
• The 11 Best Content Marketing, SMO, and Marketing Performance Management Tools
• The 29 Best Web Analytics Tools

Business Operations and Personal Productivity

Business Operations

• The Seven Best File Sharing Tools
• The Six Best Online HR, Payroll, and Employee Scheduling Tools
• The 17 Best Project Management Tools
• The Six Best Accounting and Finance Tools for Small Business
• The 12 Best Special-Purpose Business Software Tools

Personal Productivity

• The Four Best Online Education Tools For Business Pros
• The 14 Best Personal Productivity Tools
• The 23 Best Google Chrome Extensions for Digital Marketers
• The 28 Best Miscellaneous Online Tools for Marketers

This is the first in a series of nine posts that will detail the different types of tools to use in each stage of the content marketing process:

• content strategy, planning, and scheduling;
• content writing, development, and creation;
• content distribution / amplification / promotion; and
• content marketing measurement and analytics.

The final post will cover supporting online business tools for marketers.

Again, this is the first post in the Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Tools series.

#1: The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Tools: Introduction