5 Affordable Content Marketing Tools That Every Marketer Must Have

Do you know, around 82% of the marketers report using content marketing in 2021 to pioneer growth and establish their brand’s dominance?

But the task of making high-quality content is full of challenges. While heaps of content already exist on social media, about 2.5 quintillion content is created every day. Due to this, one of the greatest challenges is to stay relevant, fresh, and innovative.

This is where we factor in content marketing tools. You can scale on social media with content marketing tools as they help you create, curate, and share qualitative content.

But which tool is the best for your business? Let us try to answer that question with this list.

1. SocialPilot

SocialPilot

Price: $35 monthly per user

For social media management, SocialPilot is the best platform. It has numerous dynamic features, and it is highly affordable for all scales of businesses.

With SocialPilot, you can schedule and publish posts on social media platforms. You can also shorten the links using the URL shortener.

For those who work as social media marketers, SocialPilot offers the feature of advanced bulk scheduling of posts across different time zones. You can also upload a CSV file with your posts, URLs, dates, and time of posting.

With SocialPilot, you can also repeat a crucial post over all the social media channels a maximum of 10 times a day.

Why select SocialPilot for Content Marketing?

  • SocialPilot has a content curation feature. In this, you can find relevant articles based on the topic you select.
  • You can easily add websites and blog feeds. Subsequently, you can set a number of new posts to send out.
  • It is quite affordable for small and medium businesses.

What do People say about SocialPilot?

Alexandra K

The scheduler function allows me to organize and post content for an entire month in advance. I can be sure that the content will be posted on time and in all different media formats. I can also edit posts after they have been scheduled to go out, posts can be re-shared, and times changed/edits made. The platform is easily navigated and easy to use.

The functions work quickly across all of our business’s social platforms. The social analytics component is very beneficial and serves as a great guide to understanding how your content is doing and who exactly your audience is.

Jenna D

It took me a solid 3 weeks to compare and contrast every single social media scheduling tool on the market, but I’m glad I did it! SocialPilot was BY FAR the best service for the best price. I get more from SocialPilot than I do from HootSuite or Buffer at a fraction of the cost… AND their customer support is unbeatable! Thanks for all you guys do! You’ve helped me and my business more than you’ll ever know!

Lisa D

I am a freelance SMM with a handful of clients and a growing portfolio. I tend to serve smaller businesses and entrepreneurs looking for affordable services. When looking for a content planner, it was important for me to have very specific features while also keeping the cost low so that I could pass saving on to my clients. After researching several options, Social Pilot was a great solution. Since subscribing, I have also been very impressed with their customer service. They are easy to get a hold of and to talk to. I don’t feel like I’m chatting with a robot or someone who only responds with vague prompts.

2. Canva

Canva

Price: $12.99 per 5 users monthly

Considered as one of the best content marketing tools, Canva is full of valuable features that make it stand out.

You can create a fabulous content design in very little time. The user interface of Canva is so user-friendly that people who have no prior experience in graphic content creation can also make pretty good content.

From logos to social media posts and banners, you can create any type of content in Canva.

You also get ready-made templates. Just add elements and text, and you are done. You can also add GIFs and videos. The best thing is that Canva is quite affordable at both individual and enterprise levels.

You can also share editable links so that multiple people can work on one piece of content.

Pros

  • A user-friendly interface enables easy working on content. No need for expertise in graphic design or content creation.
  • Canva offers 250,000+ free templates and 100+ design types on even the free plan.
  • You can also create different types of content from scratch on Canva.

Charity W.

Canva is user-friendly and affordable. It has made creating designs easy and fast. Designing marketing materials for both our offline and online audiences now costs less and doesn’t consume much time. The pros for this product outweigh the cons, I would therefore recommend this software to anyone who isn’t an expert on graphic design and still needs to create appealing and professional-looking materials without spending too much time or money. It is ideal for small businesses.

Cons

  • Since the same templates are available to everyone on the planet, the uniqueness of the content is compromised.
  • As Canva is not a vector-based program, it is not ideal for designing logos. This means that you cannot scale the size of the content you create without reducing the resolution.

Anjali S

It has the worst billing and customer support system. My premium membership renewal needs manual intervention, but for the past 3 weeks, their customer support just sends auto-responder messages, and tickets close or get unresponsive within a few days. I have to create yet another ticket, but the same follows. It doesn’t look like they are interested in paying customers too! Beware if you depend upon this site.


3. iStock by Getty Images

iStock

Price: $40 for 10 images monthly

Images are one of the greatest elements of content marketing. All kinds of content that use images have a higher click-through rate than those that do not have images.

Using iStock, you can get access to a wide range of photo stock galleries for your social media. Here you can find about 88 million royalty-free photos, illustrations, images, videos, and vectors which makes it one of the popular content marketing tools.

You can use AI-powered search to look for high-quality videos and images to put in your social media posts.

Pros

  • With iStock, you get two payment methods, and you can pay with credits also. Image files also have a credit-based cost.
  • Using stock photos is beneficial because you do not have to hire a photographer. The latter is far more expensive compared to using iStock.
  • The images and other content that you get from iStock come royalty-free. This means you do not have to worry about any rights infringement.

Verified User

iStock is extremely easy to use, and I like being able to pop in and find a photo for a marketing need that we don’t already have an in-house photo for. I also like the feature that suggests photos that are similar to the one you’re looking at.

Cons

  • There is no element of uniqueness, as the same library of stock images is available to every other person.
  • Some photos might only be used for editorial use and not for marketing; you must read the fine print on the stock images before using them in advertisements.
  • iStock photos can come off as ordinary; this can limit you from making your brand distinct.

Cody S

It is ludicrously expensive, especially considering https://pixabay.com/en/ is free.


4. Narrato.io

Narrato

Price: $1 per 100 words

Want to hire freelance writers at affordable prices? Narrato is the right platform for you. It is one of the most efficient content marketing tools for small teams. Not only is content delivered on time, you only pay for the content if you think it is good enough.

You do not have to go through the rigorous process of selecting and hiring good freelance writers. The content that you get from the writers is also top-notch. The system sends all the content through an automatic plagiarism check before it is delivered to the client.

Through Narrato, you can also find copyright-free images. There are around four different packs that you can purchase. The basic pack offers you the services of budding writers. The standard pack offers the services of experienced writers. The premium pack offers services of senior writers with domain expertise. The elite pack offers services of expert writers with domain expertise.

Pros

  • With Narrato, you have multiple options you can avail, based on your affordability and needs.
  • The task of ordering on this platform is quick and easy.
  • Every time you search for a writer, the platform finds you a better writer than it did before. The quality of content is the most crucial, and the same is delivered every time.

Shweta S

The quality was good, and the content came in quickly. The platform was super easy to use too. I also liked the fact that there was an option to reject the content if it wasn’t up to the mark. I’ve never had to reject a piece, but it’s reassuring to know that I don’t have to pay for content that misses the mark. Their support team is great, too, and offers helpful suggestions on the best ways to work with the platform.

Cons

  • Finding a long-term freelance writer on your end might be a good option for the long run.
  • You may find good writers at an even lower price on your own.

Sunia M

No work after working diligently for 2.5 months.


5. Feedly

Feedly

Price: $6 per month for 1000 sources

For discovering fabulous content, Feedly is probably one of the best platforms. It is affordable and far more convenient than just browsing through the internet and bookmarking the chosen content.

You can find new and interesting content from the industry of your choice through Feedly. You can also check if a source publishes articles related to your niche.

Once you find the right articles, you can also save them and share them on social platforms. Feedly comprises hundreds of sites giving content to the platform on an hourly basis. Feedly also has an AI research assistant called Leo. This assistant helps in curating the board to give priority topics and trends to track.

Pros

  • It helps you stay on top of all the latest content that is out there on the web.
  • The organizing capability of this platform is flawless. The platform enables you to get a category-wise organization of things.

Verified User

As a journalist, I obtain information from tons of sources. I have a list of specific websites which are regularly updated I know I can count on for good content that sparks story ideas. Feedly saves me a little time by pulling updates into one place to read, so I don’t need to visit many different URLs. I stay updated on publications via Feedly. The user interface is fast and clean.

Cons

  • The process of scrolling through the heaps of content might be time taking.

Verified User

My account was simply upgraded to the Business account and I then paid € 192 (For 2 people, I am just one person). I want my money back.

Spend the Least but Get the Most

With all these content marketing tools, you spend the least yet get the most. For all your content needs, right from finding someone to write the content to scheduling your posts, you get it all at a good price.

Now you can get your content social media ready using these tools. Once your content is all ready to go on social platforms, you can use SocialPilot to schedule the content posting while managing it overall.

We recommend getting some if not all of these tools to see your social media marketing endeavor stand tall.

Frequently Asked Questions

🌟 How valuable is content marketing?

Content marketing is quite valuable. It aids in engaging the audience in the long run. You can use content to tell your target audience about your business and promote your business.

🌟 What kind of businesses benefit from content marketing tools?

All types of businesses can benefit from content marketing tools. Right from IT companies to makeup and beauty brands, various industries can salvage the advantages of social media. With good content marketing at disposal, these brands can thrive greatly.

🌟 How will I know if using content marketing tools is helping my brand?

To know the success of your campaign, you can track fixed KPIs to know how well your brand is performing. There are various KPIs out there, yet you should only focus on the ones that reflect the best on your performance.

🌟 How is using content marketing tools advantageous?

Content marketing tools can help in increasing brand awareness, brand value, lead generation, and customer retention. It also saves you time as most of the things are automated.

🌟 Why is content important?

Content is crucial because it helps make your brand stand out. Through content, you can make your brand discoverable while gaining the trust of the audience.

Author: Sweta Panigrahi

Sweta Panigrahi is a Content Writer at Socialmediamarketing.net. Her strongest pursuit is to capture social media happenings in her well-researched blogs. From codes to meme posts, her search history is a confounding mess. When not typing out blogs, you can find her in a sunny corner scribbling poems.