Content Marketing Planning Tool Selection Guide

Finding the right content marketing planning tool can be overwhelming with so many options to consider.

In this post, we'll cut through the noise by outlining the key criteria for selecting the best content planning solution to fit your unique needs and budget.

You'll learn the core features to look for, see a side-by-side comparison of top tools, and discover how to seamlessly integrate a new platform into your existing workflow for content creation success.

Introduction to Content Marketing Planning Tools

Content marketing planning tools provide a centralized platform for content creators and marketers to strategize, plan, create, publish, and analyze content campaigns. As the best planner for content creators, these tools aim to streamline workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and optimize content performance.

Understanding the Role of Content Marketing Planning Tools

Content marketing planning tools serve as media planning tools helping content creators and teams:

Develop an editorial content calendar and plan campaigns based on goals
Collaborate with team members on content ideation and creation
Access content templates and easily create posts
Schedule and publish content to multiple channels
Analyze performance to iterate on content strategy

With features like workflow automation, content analytics, and calendar scheduling, these tools take care of the heavy lifting - allowing creators to focus on producing high-quality content.

The Impact of Planning Tools on Content Creation & Marketing

Adopting a content marketing planning tool provides several key benefits:

Saves time through content creation automation, removing manual efforts in writing, formatting, publishing posts.
Allows easy tracking of real-time analytics like views, engagement, conversions to optimize content performance metrics.
Enables organized collaboration so teams can seamlessly manage review cycles and approvals.
Offers flexibility to publish, update or remove content from one centralized interface.

For modern digital content publishers and marketers aiming to boost productivity and online growth, planning tools are invaluable in executing successful campaigns.

What is the best tool for content planning?

Content planning is a crucial part of any effective content marketing strategy. The right tools can streamline the planning process, enabling content creators to organize ideas, create editorial calendars, collaborate with team members, and distribute content more efficiently.

When selecting a content planning tool, it's important to consider your budget, team size, and specific needs around organizing content, managing workflows, and analyzing performance. Here are some top options to consider:

Simple Content Organization Tools

Basic tools like Trello, Asana, and Airtable make it easy to organize content ideas into lists and cards that can be prioritized, assigned due dates, and shared with others. These flexible platforms allow you to create customized workflows for content planning tailored to your needs.

Robust Marketing Platforms

All-in-one marketing platforms like HubSpot and CoSchedule have built-in content planning features alongside other marketing capabilities like email, landing pages, analytics, and more. While pricier, these tools provide robust planning functionalities like editorial calendars, content ideation, approvals, and distribution.

Specialized Content Planning Tools

Dedicated content planning platforms like Kapost, Percolate, and Skyword focus specifically on streamlining content workflows from idea generation to distribution. They provide tailored functionality for collaboration, scalable content creation, and detailed analytics on content performance.

When selecting a tool, carefully assess your budget, team size, and need for simplicity vs advanced marketing features. Testing different platforms to find the right balance of functionality and ease of use can ensure you choose the best fit.

What is a content marketing tool?

A content marketing tool is software designed to help manage, optimize, and automate various aspects of a content marketing strategy. These tools aim to streamline content creation, collaboration, distribution, analysis, and promotion across platforms.

Here are some key things a content marketing planning tool can help with:

Content planning and ideation: Features like content calendars, brief templates, and collaboration tools allow teams to effectively plan and brainstorm content.
Content creation: Some tools provide templates, writing aids, design functionality, and integration with other content tools to assist with creating diverse content formats.
Content optimization: SEO tools, readability checks, headline analyzers, etc. help create search-friendly and engaging content.
Content distribution and promotion: Social media scheduling, email marketing, and automation enable efficient distribution across channels.
Performance tracking: Analytics provide insight into content metrics like views, shares, backlinks to optimize efforts.

Benefits of Using a Content Marketing Tool

Adopting a content marketing planning tool offers several advantages:

Increased efficiency - Automation, templates, and workflows reduce manual tasks and speed up content operations.
Improved collaboration - Smooth information sharing and task delegation between team members.
Enhanced optimization - Data-driven insights to create high-performing content tailored to your audience.
Expanded reach - Seamless multi-channel content distribution.
Better results - Track real outcomes like rankings, traffic, conversions to refine strategy.

For small teams or individuals managing multiple content initiatives, a good content planner for social media can provide structure, direction, and the necessary capabilities to succeed.

How do you create a content marketing plan?

Creating an effective content marketing plan is key to driving business growth through engaging online content. Here are the main steps to develop a solid content strategy:

Set Your Mission and Goals

Clearly define your content marketing mission aligned to broader business objectives. Outline specific, measurable goals you want to achieve (e.g. traffic, leads, sales).

Establish Key Performance Indicators

Determine the key metrics and KPIs to track how your content performs towards hitting your goals. Common metrics include impressions, clicks, CTR, shares, backlinks, conversions, etc.

Know Your Audience

Research your target audience - their pain points, goals, preferred content types/formats, etc. Tailor content to their needs.

Assess Current Position

Audit existing content types, topics, channels and analyze performance. Identify content gaps to address.

Figure Out Content Channels

Determine which content channels (blog, social media, email, etc.) to focus on based on audience preferences.

Decide on Content Types

Create a variety of content types - articles, infographics, videos, podcasts, etc. Map types to stages in buyer's journey.

Identify and Allocate Resources

Assess team skills and bandwidth. Hire freelancers to fill gaps if needed. Create processes for ideation, creation, distribution.

Create an Editorial Calendar

Plot topics and content types over time, assigning owners, tracking progress. Integrate campaigns, promotions, events.

Following structured content planning steps will lead to more engaging, higher-performing content. Continuously optimize based on data and audience feedback.

What are the 7 steps of content marketing?

Content marketing is a strategic process that involves creating, distributing, and promoting valuable content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. Here are the 7 key steps to develop an effective content marketing strategy:

1. Determine the Purpose

Define your goals and objectives. What do you aim to achieve through content marketing? Common goals include increased brand awareness, lead generation, SEO rankings, conversions, etc.

2. Understand Your Audience

Conduct audience research to determine their pain points, interests, preferred content format and platform, etc. Create buyer personas to represent your target customers.

3. Define Key Performance Measures

Identify the key metrics you will track to determine the success of your content marketing. These may include traffic, leads, sales, conversions, social shares, etc.

4. Examine Existing Content

Conduct a content audit to take stock of current content and identify gaps to fill. Assess performance of existing content.

5. Align Content to Answer Questions

Ensure content directly addresses key questions and pain points of your audience uncovered during research.

6. Identify Distribution Channels

Determine the right platforms and channels to reach your audience - website, email, social media, SEO, etc.

7. Develop a Content Calendar

Map out all content you will create and promote over time. Plan topics, formats, platforms, promotion strategy, and success metrics.

Following this structured approach will set your content marketing strategy up for success. Revisit and refine the process continually for optimal results.

Criteria for the Best Content Marketing Planning Tool

Choosing the right content marketing planning tool is crucial for content creators and marketers to streamline their workflow. An effective tool should have an intuitive interface, facilitate collaboration, and provide insightful analytics.

Assessing User-Friendliness for Efficient Content Strategy and Creation

When evaluating planning tools, ensure the interface is easy to navigate. Creators should be able to quickly build content calendars, plan campaigns, and track assets without friction. An intuitive dashboard allows you to focus on optimizing strategy rather than learning complex software. Prioritize tools with minimal onboarding time so you can maximize productivity.

Collaboration Features: The Heart of Media Planning Tools

Robust collaboration tools empower teams to plan and publish content efficiently. Features like shared calendars, asset libraries, and multi-user task assignment streamline workflows. Furthermore, built-in messaging and comment functions facilitate rapid iteration. With the right collaborative features, globally distributed teams can function as one.

In-Depth Analytics: Measuring Content Marketing Performance

The best tools provide detailed analytics on content performance across channels. Tracking key metrics like reach, engagement, conversions, and ROI equips you to continually refine strategy. Granular data on specific campaigns and assets enables optimization at a tactical level. With a data-driven approach, creators can leverage analytics to guide future content planning, facilitating continual improvement.

Comparing Top Content Marketing Planning Tools

Content marketing planning tools help streamline the creation, scheduling, and distribution of digital content across multiple platforms. With so many options to choose from, it can be tricky finding the right fit for your business needs and budget. This section compares some of the top content planning platforms based on key criteria like features, pricing, and suitability for different users.

Planable: A Comprehensive Content Marketing Management Tool

Planable stands out as one of the most fully-featured content marketing planning tools available. It offers an all-in-one platform to:

Create and collaborate on content using built-in editors
Build an editorial calendar with drag-and-drop scheduling
Automate posting to social media channels
Analyze performance with custom reports

With both free and paid plans, Planable suits solopreneurs to large teams. The customizable workflows and integrations with top social platforms make it easy to streamline multi-channel content publishing.

For those needing an end-to-end solution for ideation to distribution, Planable is arguably the top choice. The breadth of features allows full control over content strategy execution in one place.

CoSchedule: A Top Choice for Content Marketing Agencies

CoSchedule is another robust content marketing calendar software loved by agencies and enterprises. It excels at facilitating team collaboration with features like:

Centralized editorial calendar
Comments and task assignments
Multiple user permissions
Calendar heat map for high-level planning

The focus on work management also makes CoSchedule a great pick for larger content teams. Though the interface leans more towards function over form, it gets the job done for coordinating complex campaigns.

For agencies managing many clients, CoSchedule offers white-labeling options. This allows full brand customization for maintaining professionalism when collaborating externally.

As a dedicated social media management platform, Loomly stands apart in optimizing and scheduling social content. Top features include:

Curating content from RSS feeds
Posting queue for multi-channel publishing
Hashtag recommendations for better engagement
Auto-syncing new blog posts for social sharing

For those focused purely on social media, Loomly has the specialized tools to save time. The automation frees up effort to refine messaging and strategy.

With a forever free plan for one social profile, Loomly is also the best content planner for social media for solopreneurs on a budget. The free offering is relatively fully-featured, with paid tiers adding more profiles and granular analytics.

Integrating Content Marketing Tools into Your Strategy

Integrating content marketing tools into your overall strategy is crucial for streamlining workflows and unifying data across platforms. As a content creator or marketer, you likely use various software solutions for social media management, SEO optimization, analytics, and more. Choosing tools that integrate with each other can have tremendous benefits.

Seamless Platform Integrations for a Unified Content Strategy

When core content creation and marketing platforms integrate with your other software solutions, it leads to:

Automated data flows: Content and engagement metrics can flow between platforms without manual exports or duplication of work. For example, key social media analytics can automatically sync with your SEO tools.
Centralized dashboards: With bi-directional integrations, you can view all your vital data like content performance, links, backlinks, etc. in one place, saving you from toggling between platforms.
Smoother workflows: Integrations eliminate friction points in processes like content distribution from creation tools directly to your social media management platform.

As you evaluate tools like content marketing planning software, ensure they integrate with solutions you already use daily. Platforms like SEMrush, Google Analytics, Meta Business Suite, Hootsuite, etc. This unity ultimately leads to better visibility into what content resonates with your audience.

Leveraging Content Templates for Fast Content Creation

The best content marketing planning tools provide pre-designed content templates and assets to accelerate content creation. These can include:

Social media post templates
Blog post frameworks
Email newsletter layouts
Infographic designs
Video content storyboards

With content templates tailored to different formats and channels, you remove the hassle of starting from scratch. This is especially useful when you need to produce a high volume of content regularly.

When assessing tools, examine the template variety and customization options available. Can you edit colors, fonts, and design elements? How easily can you insert your brand assets? Prioritize flexibility to repurpose templates across campaigns.

Evaluating Pricing Models for Content Marketing Solutions

With the wide range of content marketing tools now available, pricing models differ greatly. As you determine the best solution for your business, compare:

One-time license fees vs monthly/annual subscriptions
Per-user pricing vs unlimited team members
Pay-as-you-go models based on usage metrics like number of posts
Tiered plans with increasing functionality

Understand how factors like number of user seats, usage caps, account downgrades/cancellations, etc. can impact long-term costs.

For small teams and startups, tools with free tiers can be useful to get started. However, assess feature limitations carefully before committing. Often the premium tools merit the investment for unrestricted access to time-saving capabilities.

Creating a Content Calendar: A Template for Success

A content calendar is an essential tool for planning and organizing your content marketing strategy. Using a dedicated content planning software can streamline the process of creating and distributing quality content across channels in a consistent manner.

The Essential Role of a Content Marketing Calendar

A thoughtfully designed content calendar provides numerous advantages:

Schedules content creation and distribution by date to maintain a steady stream of fresh assets
Organizes campaigns, topics, and content types by week or month for easy tracking
Allows collaboration with team members by assigning content ownership
Identifies gaps in content or heavy posting periods to balance the schedule
Integrates with analytics for data-driven decisions on what works

By planning ahead using calendars, content marketers can develop more resonating assets easier.

Designing a Content Calendar Strategy for Your Business

An effective content calendar matches your publishing cadence with audience needs. Here are some tips:

Audit existing content and platforms to understand content volume and performance
Define overarching themes and topics to focus your content efforts
Set measurable goals for each content type - social posts, blogs, videos etc.
Identify peak engagement periods to align important campaigns
Use multiple calendars for different platforms if posting volume is high
Allow for real-time additions like trending topics or breaking news

Revisit your calendars often and use analytics to spot gaps and improvement areas.

Content Calendar Examples and Best Practices

Here is a simple Excel-based template displaying best practices:

Key takeaways:

One calendar for different content types
Ownership and status tracking
Links actual content for easy access
Future planning and publishing dates
Campaign and topic organization
Performance tracking

Using the right content planning tools can simplify calendar creation further. Evaluate solutions that allow easy calendar customization, team collaboration, and integration with your content workflow.

Conclusion: Selecting the Optimal Content Marketing Planning Tool

Choosing the right content marketing planning tool is key to streamlining your content creation and distribution. With so many options available, it can be overwhelming to decide which solution best fits your needs. This concluding section recaps key considerations and recommends next steps to select the ideal planning tool for your content marketing success.

Summarizing the Path to Content Marketing Success

When evaluating planning tools, be sure to assess how well each platform aligns with your current content creation and social media management workflow. Consider the following:

Integration capabilities - The tool should integrate seamlessly with your existing content marketing platforms like CMSs, email providers, analytics software, etc. This allows you to centralize and optimize planning.
Customization - You need a solution that is flexible and customizable to match your content processes, templates, workflows, and team structure.
Collaborative features - Managing a content calendar and planning content requires input from many stakeholders. Choose a tool with built-in collaboration tools like comment streams, task assignments, approvals, etc.
Analytics - Robust analytics around content and campaign performance are crucial for optimizing plans. Prioritize tools with strong reporting.

Ultimately, the best content planning platform for you will align with your current tech stack while allowing ample flexibility to adapt as your processes evolve.

Next Steps for Implementing Your Content Planning Template

Once you've selected a planning tool, focus on integration and proper setup:

Integrate the software with your existing content marketing, social media management, SEO, and analytics platforms using native connectors and APIs.
Build out templates for your recurring content like newsletters, blog posts, social updates, etc. Map these to your editorial calendar.
Train your team on using the platform so content planning is centralized and collaborative.
Set up notifications and alerts related to approvals, deadlines, etc. to keep all stakeholders aligned.

With the right planning tool now integrated into your content operations, you'll be set up for content marketing success. Continually use performance data to optimize your editorial calendar and content plans over time.