The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CONTENT MARKETING TECHNOLOGY

Contents

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

Introduction Content marketing is a strategic effort aimed at producing valuable, targeted, and focused web content that attracts and retains customers. When executed properly, good content can become a never ending source of high converting business leads that are essential to your bottom line and the survivability of your business.

3 Introduction

4

5

18

Across all sectors, organizations are placing a great premium on content marketing. In the technology

24

sector, it is relied upon by 95% of marketers. Effective content marketing begins with an idea and the proper tools. Every few months, Silicon Valley is unveiling some new quirky tool that is supposed to be the Holy Grail of content marketing that will power your business to new heights. But how can you know whether or not a tool will be useful to you or not?

The Role of Content Marketing Technology

Content Planning and Editorial Workflow

30

48

Content Promotion Technologies

Content Personalization Technologies

In this guide, we’ll be discussing the current state of the content marketing toolchain, the major players in each part of the toolchain, and how they might be useful to your business. While the landscape

Content Curation Technologies

does change quickly, as of this writing this is what we feel are the best tools to examine.

Content Creation

56

66

Content Publishing Tools

Content Performance & Tracking Tools

86 Conclusion & Contents

2

3

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

The Role of Content Marketing Technology Content Planning and Editorial Workflow

Content marketing has taken pride of place in today’s online marketing environment. Many businesses are looking for “enablers” that will give them a particular edge over their competitors. It is not just possible to compete effectively by creating content through human effort and copywriting skill alone.

That’s why software tools are necessary to assist in the creation and distribution of effective content.

You will need a plethora of tools to assist you with

Across the eight core categories of content marketing

everything from content ideation to content amplification,

tools, there are thousands of tools that marketers can

influencer outreach, tracking and performance amongst

choose from in order to power their marketing needs. It can

others. In the long run, an organization that creatively

be a bit daunting to choose from among all the options.

uses content marketing technology to fine-tune its

That’s why we wrote this eBook. We have compiled a list

marketing strategy is going to beat one that simply

of some of the most potent content marketing tools that

relies on raw human talent. Granted, human talent is

you simply should not do without in 2016 and beyond.

necessary, but it must be aided by the data and user

You won’t need every tool in this book, but you will need

insights that content marketing technology offers.

enough tools to assist you in all eight categories.

If you are managing a large volume of content, you will need tools that can help you in painless planning, organizing and producing your content according to the needs of the business and the schedule. With these content planning and editorial workflow tools, you can accomplish this goal.

Editorial workflow management tools help in tracking the progress of your content development and ensures all the team members and other stakeholders are on the same page. This adds a great deal of efficiency and productivity to your content development.

The tools we recommend for this important task are:

The eight key categories are: •

Content Planning and Editorial Workflow

•

Content Creation

•

Content Personalization

•

Content Performance

•

Content Curation

•

Content Promotion

•

Content Publishing

•

Content Tracking

kapost.com

curata.com

percolate.com

newscred.com

divvyhq.com

marketing.ai

Many of the tools that follow cover more than one category. Enterprise-level tools, in particular, try to provide solutions for multiple categories and have a price to match. An SMB will often need to use more tools to achieve the same results.

Several of these tools are enterprise-level packages.You’ll be seeing them again in later sections.

4

concured.com

5

Content Planning and Editorial Workflow

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

Pros

kapost.com

•

Kapost is built with superb editorial calendar functionality and scheduling features.

•

Kapost is one of the most reliable content planning and workflow management platforms for B2B marketers.

The platform allows marketers to manage cross-channel content development, as well as teams and various stakeholders involved in the content creation process. It can be used for content ideation, managing editorial calendars, content procurement, and tracking.

Kapost allows you to sync your content with various campaigns.

•

Great content analytics.

•

Good customer support and training

Cons •

performance of content.

•

from Kapost account managers •

No clear way of incorporating marketing automation systems or email marketing systems.

Kapost integrates with various content production networks and

No analytics on the sales

•

Kapost could have stronger social

marketing technology partners such

media publishing options and

as Scripted, Curata, and Marketo.

campaign tracking views.

Pricing There are various package tiers that you can choose from. These include the following:

It gives everyone in the team good visibility of the content production process as well as a sense of accountability to ensure meeting all milestones and timelines in the project.

•

ContentGallery: This includes Kapost Collections and starts $800 per month.

•

Content Planner: This includes the Kapost Calendar, Kapost Initiatives, and Kapost Ideas and starts at $800 per month.

•

Combo Package: The Combo Package combines the above two packages and pricing starts at $1500 per month.

Kapost can handle many types of content including blogs, presentations, videos, webinars, landing pages and eBooks all under one platform.

The tool is aimed at medium-sized businesses and enterprises.

•

Suite: The Suite includes the complete line of Kapost packages. Pricing for the Suite Package starts at $3500 per month and the package requires an annual contract.

6

concured.com

7

Content Planning and Editorial Workflow

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

percolate.com

Pros •

Percolate is a tool designed to provide dependable content planning and workflow management tools for B2B businesses.

With their innovative 5-step plan, they seek to address the marketing needs of every business by making sure that your team is all on the same page.

Percolate has acclaimed sourced content recommendations.

•

Impressive workflows for content management and publication.

•

Percolate strives to create a seamless connection between social media strategy and marketing campaigns.

•

Cons •

for social media engagement.

Utilizes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and other social

•

Percolate offers the ability to integrate with third-party DAM, CMS, and CRM tools.

Through Assessing, Deploying, Integrating, Systemizing and Optimizing with Percolate, you can transform how your company communicates with your customers. Percolate’s tools can be applied to campaign planning and management, content marketing and asset management, distribution and social relationship management, and marketing analytics.

Could have improved brand awareness and customer engagement.

platforms to broaden your audience reach.

•

Does not support crisis management

•

Cannot change time zone for different users, making it hard to work with a global team.

Pricing While Percolate does not advertise their pricing, they offer that their prices are based

You can manage all manner of social media channels with Percolate to track trends and engage with your customers.

Percolate also makes it easy to create a campaign across many channels, from blogs to webinars and presentations.

Percolate is intended for mid-sized and large businesses.

on your brand’s unique needs and that they work to maximize your return on the investment in their services. It is stated that there is a core program; no details were readily available as to where the pricing for that started at the time of this publication.

8

concured.com

9

Content Planning and Editorial Workflow

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

divvyhq.com

DivvyHq is a unique SaaS. It was created by a digital marketing agency for digital marketing agencies. With this insider knowledge, they know what needs to be done for content planning and workflow.

Pros

Cons

•

DivvyHq has a user-friendly web interface.

•

Requires internet access to make updates.

•

Excellent team collaboration functionality.

•

Lowest package is missing the

•

DivvyHq allows multiple users

•

working with multiple calendars.

•

No way to track attachments on posts.

Access from anywhere as long as

•

Post duplication has complicated steps

you have an internet connection.

With DivvyHq, you can manage and produce more than just digital content. Their services go beyond basic posting and social media and can help with eBooks, photos, videos, webinars and everything in between. This tool is designed for small to large businesses, but it is not advisable for small startups (under five people).

social publishing function.

which can be time-consuming.

Pricing There are three tiers to the pricing level for DivvyHQ: •

Lite: This includes idea storage, unlimited calendars and content types, production tasks, campaign management and online/email Support for $25 per user per month on an annual contract.

•

Pro: Comes standard with everything in the above package and includes a custom workflow builder, 10 reviewers, and content/social publishing tools. This package starts at $95 per user per month on an annual contract. This is their most popular package.

•

Enterprise: This has all the features of the above packages in addition to 10 more reviewers, global/parent calendar layers, a dedicated support specialist, custom API access and single sign-on. This premier package starts at $195 per user per month on an annual contract.

10

concured.com

11

Content Planning and Editorial Workflow

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

curata.com

Pros

Curata is a content marketing company that focuses on helping their clients with workflow management. They provide two software solutions for the needs of their clients. The first is their content marketing platform and the second is their content curation software. The content marketing platform offers several tools and modules that assist strategy with strategy and production. In addition, it can track leads and help you discover what content pieces worked and why.

We will talk more about the content curation software in the next chapter.

Cons

•

The ability to pull all your content resources to one place.

•

Issues related to updating through Wordpress.

•

Precise algorithms provide content that meets what you are looking for.

•

Doesn’t have an intuitive UI.

•

•

Able to locate influencers on related content.

In need of a finer tuned algorithm for finding content.

Pricing There are four packages offered by Curata:

12

•

Intro: This package includes 1 publishing channel out of their extensive list above. This package costs $667 per month, paid annually.

•

Basic: Comes with 4 publishing channels from their list, costing $850 per month, paid annually. This is their most popular package.

•

Advanced: 9 publishing channels from their list and high volume API comes with this package. The cost comes in at $1167 per month, paid annually.

•

Enterprise: This custom package comes with 10 or more channels and High volume API. Due to the custom nature of this package, Curata does not post a price for this.

concured.com

13

Content Planning and Editorial Workflow

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

newscred.com

NewsCred sets itself apart by focusing on cross-channel and cross-market content distribution from one platform.

NewsCred is a market leader in this niche.

Their clients include Pepsi, Visa, and several other name brands. Their solutions to content creation and cross-channel publishing make it easier for markets to get their stories across the world.

Pros •

NewsCred users have the ability to create content and distribute it to specific target audiences.

•

View real-time analytics and reports.

•

Asset management and content assessments.

•

•

Demo version available before any commitment is required.

Dedicated account managers.

Cons •

Lower levels have only email support.

•

Interface is not user-friendly.

•

Large learning curve for their analytics tools.

Pricing NewsCred does not have their prices published at this time, but it is clearly aimed at enterprises and large brands.

14

concured.com

15

Content Planning and Editorial Workflow

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

marketing.ai

Marketing.Ai is a SaaS that strives to be the center of its client’s content aggregation and marketing solutions.

With the ability to post across platforms, assign authors and keep on top of deadlines, this is a product designed to get the ball rolling on marketing campaigns and to keep the conversation going.

Pros •

Allows for flexible campaigns.

•

View real-time analytics and reports.

•

Content Library.

•

14-day demo.

Cons •

Limited access to content library at lower levels.

•

Clarity between functions could be improved.

Pricing With their creation workflow system, Marketing.Ai enables teams to organize around a particular content marketing function.

Marketing.Ai works with clients through planning, delegation and publishing and every other step of managing the content.

It also has built-in analytics and comes with a content library.

Marketing.AI does not provide pricing plans on their website. They offer a 14-day demo of the product and the suggestion to contact them for more pricing information.

16

concured.com

17

Content Curation Technologies

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

Content Curation Technologies Content curation is the process of gathering information relative to your niche to use as either source material for new content or to repost on your site. A content curation tool will sift through the internet and deliver these content pieces to you.

newscred.com We talked about NewsCred’s workflow features. Now let’s look at their curation package.

Its content curation tool pulls from a tremendous number of channels and integrates them with NewsCred’s workflow software. Imagine opening up a new content job and finding curated pieces ready for research. That’s one reason the big players use this software. Remember,

Along with finding content for your company, content curation tools can also help you to manage

NewsCred is aimed squarely at large enterprises that have to manage massive campaigns.

your content and show trends in your posting. For instance, you can discover whether you might be oversaturating your readers about a particular topic, or missing out on something your audience is interested in.

We have reviewed several tools for content curation: curata.com

NewsCred

Curata

We may have talked about the workflow features first, but Curata, as its name suggests, is a tool focused heavily on content curation. Its core feature is the ability to set extremely specific parameters

Scoop.It

on the types of content you wish to curate using their self-learning engine. You can go way beyond just

Flockler

a simple RSS-like keyword search dump. Then, you can organize and annotate the curated information in the workflow portion, then publish it on a wide variety of platforms. Their innovative and creative technology allows more time to be focused on the campaign and less time on finding content.

Several of these tools are enterprise-level packages.You’ll be seeing them again in later sections.

18

concured.com

19

Content Curation Technologies

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

scoop.it

Pros

This innovative content curation tool is a one-stop shop for your curation needs. Scoop.It is ready to work hard for you. It has the ability to locate content quickly and efficiently, plus editing tools to let you repurpose content and publish it to social media, websites, blogs, and even newsletters.

•

User-friendly.

Cons

•

Wordpress integration.

•

Segment. IO needs to be added.

•

Awesome Plugins.

•

Spell check needed in blogging widget.

•

Free Option for personal use.

•

Can have a slow refresh rate.

•

Free Trial.

•

Mobile app needs improvement.

Pricing There are three levels of pricing for Scoop.It: •

Free: This level includes one top personalized content page or topic page, 1 keyword group, 2 social accounts, 10 scoops per day and basic content filtering.

Scoop.It offers a robust and creative tool for filtering the web at high speeds to keep you and your team up to date on the latest trends. It lets you be a part of the conversation rather than catching up to the conversation.

•

Pro Annual: This level has 5 topic pages, 5 keyword groups, 5 social accounts, unlimited scoops per day, basic content filter, basic customization of topic pages, analytics, and scheduled post. All of this is at $11 per month paid annually.

•

Business Annual: This comes with 15 topics pages and advanced customization of them, 15 keyword groups, unlimited social accounts, unlimited scoops per day, advanced content filtering, analytics, post scheduling, newsletter publishing, website/blog publishing, 3 GB upload/sharing storage of documents and Premium Support. This comes at $67 per month paid annually.

20

concured.com

21

Content Curation Technologies

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

flockler.com Cons

Flockler takes content curation to a whole new level with their innovative central hub that pulls all the tools you need into one user-friendly space. With the Flockler hub, you can curate content based on search criteria, publish that content and monitor social media conversations so you can make sure your message is getting across the right way.

Pros

•

No plugins to design content in other

•

User-friendly simple design.

•

Wordpress integration.

•

Browser-based only, no desktop tool.

•

30-day free trial.

•

Not mobile-friendly.

software and upload to Flockler.

Pricing There are four levels of pricing for Flockler. All plans come with enterprise-level hosting and technical support via email and phone. The pricing is based on how many automated feeds you can have: •

Lite: No automated social feed is the only limitation on this first level.

The price is 49 Euros, which translated to about 56 USD.

You can schedule posts you’ve created or assign a team member to be in charge of just one media stream. It’s perfect for companies that love Twitter. You can create rules that allow you to automatically publish content when particular hashtags are used. Flockler works with most social media outlets, like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

22

•

Basic: 3 automated social feeds in this package for 99 Euros or 113 USD.

•

Pro: 10 automated feeds coming in at 299 Euros or 341 USD.

•

Premium: unlimited automated feeds, coming in 499 Euros or 569 USD.

concured.com

23

Content Creation

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

Content Creation

scripted.com

Curating content is one thing, but finding a writer that can make you quality content over time is crucial to any content marketing campaign. Writing quality content over time is a skill. Not everyone can do it, though there are many writers that think they can. But you don’t have time to waste on try out a lot of different writers.

Scripted is a content marketplace meant to connect marketers with content writers of great skill. Only 5% of writers that apply to scripted are accepted and they are constantly evaluated and scored to maintain the highest quality of content in their marketplace. With their diverse collection of writers, both technical and otherwise, it is easy to find just what you are looking for.

That’s why content marketing marketplaces like the ones we’re about to show you were developed. These sites connect freelance writers with businesses that need

Cons

content while vetting both for high professional standards. If you need a hire a writer, check out these boards:

Pros

Scripted

•

Great content at low prices

•

Easy to use interface

•

Great customer service

•

Finding the right writer can take some research

•

Not enough lead time

•

Writers are not contracted to you for more than one job

Skyword Contently

Pricing The pricing varies across the marketplace depending on the type of content you desire.

It is recommended that you search the marketplace for your pricing needs.

24

concured.com

25

Content Creation

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

skyword.com

Skyword is a content marketplace specializing in branded content and technical writing. Their writers focus on bringing you something that your customers will value and interact with. Their platform operates on telling great stories and working to make the right connection between digital content and consumers. Skyword does not just have a network or writers but also has designers and videographers to better assist with your content needs.

Pros

Cons

•

•

Easy to communicate with writers and edit content

Can be tedious process in posting what is needed

•

Can customize to business needs

•

Analytics could be improved

•

Streamline process by building

•

Takes time for requests to move through the

checkpoints and controlling access

queue which is not good for dated material

Pricing The pricing varies across the marketplace depending on the type of content you desire.

It is recommended that you search the marketplace for your pricing needs.

26

concured.com

27

Content Creation

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

contently.com

Contently is a content marketplace that has served some of the biggest brands, such as Wal-Mart, IBM, and GE. Their platform works on creating, distributing and optimizing content that is branded for your company. They work to streamline the entire content process, allowing for approval and analytics in the same space.

They have a freelance network that spans 60+ countries and has over 55,000 award winning journalists, videographers, graphic designers, researchers, and photographers; to give you access to the perfect talent for your company’s needs.

Pros

Cons

•

Speedy deployment of writers

•

•

Calendar tool to organize projects

•

Analytics can be confusing, needs to be more intuitive

and stay on deadline

•

Site can be slow at times

Simple set up

•

No way to organize content

Pricing The pricing varies depending on the type of content your company needs. It is recommended that you search the marketplace for your pricing needs.

28

concured.com

29

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

Content Promotion Technologies Content Promotion is a key component to every content marketing agency. Creating good content is only half the fight. Getting the message in front of your audience is the only way you are going to generate sales. That’s what content promotion is all about. With so many channels out there, tools are necessary to keep up with the pace of social media.

One thing we’ve discovered is that all the major players in this field use a PPC pricing model. If you are not familiar with this form of pricing, you will need to do some research on it beforehand so you can get the most ROI from your promotion investment.

The tools we will be looking over this chapter are the following:

OutBrain

Taboola

Facebook

Linkedin

Twitter

Dianomi Nativo

30

concured.com

31

Content Promotion Technologies

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

outbrain.com

OutBrain is a content promotion service that operates on its own marketing platform. It focuses on recommending your content to the most premier media outlets, such as CNN, People, and ESPN. It’s quite similar to AdSense. You pay OutBrain to publish your content using a CPC model.

OutBrain, in turn, pays end publishers for putting its links on their sites. In order to match articles with the right end publisher pages, OutBrain uses a set of sophisticated algorithms. Many large companies use OutBrain for their content promotion, including Visa, McDonald’s, and Huggies.

Pros

Cons

•

Premium publishing partners.

•

Difficulty tracking interactions on content.

•

Quality controls on content.

•

Limited options to analyze data.

Pricing OutBrain’s pricing, like most content promotion services, you don’t pay for a package; rather, you set a daily budget and cost-per-click. Once that is done you only pay for visits you receive until you reach your daily budget. There is a $10 minimum for the daily budget, but other than that, there is no contract or annual fees.

32

concured.com

33

Content Promotion Technologies

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

taboola.com

Taboola is another content promotion website geared toward getting your message in front of wider audiences and bringing in just the kind of clients and customers you seek. It is often compared to OutBrain, but there are some differences.

OutBrain uses its algorithms to filter out bad content submissions. Taboola uses crowdsourcing to do the same.

Cons •

Pros •

Exceptional in distributing visuals.

•

Reputation of driving 550 million unique views every month.

May not reach the ideal audience in some cases.

•

Issues with tracking who interacts with content.

•

Reporting constraints.

Pricing Similar to OutBrain’s pricing, Taboola works on a pay-per-click and daily budget pricing model.

You don’t pay for a package; rather, you set a daily budget and cost-per-click. Once that is done you

Taboola works with big name publishers such as NBC, USA Today, Fox Sports and the Weather channel. Leveraging that kind influence, using Taboola has the potential to expand your audience dramatically. Be sure you can keep up with the demand!

only pay for visits you receive until you reach your daily budget. There is no contract or annual fees.

34

concured.com

35

Content Promotion Technologies

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

facebook.com

It goes without saying that Facebook is a social media giant. While it is not a service that is made primarily for promotion, Facebook offers the ability to create sponsored or promoted posts which have a greater reach than standard posts. Facebook also offers PPC ads.

Cons Pros •

Huge Audience.

•

Massive Data Set to utilize.

•

Re-sharable ads can lead to organic promotion.

With billions of people on Facebook every day, and millions on at any given time, this is a great tool for spreading your message.

Another fantastic perk to Facebook is that it is a great place to locate influencers, make them into brand ambassadors and try some organic promotion. However, due to the high churn of postings on Facebook, it can be difficult to gain market attention over time.

•

Facebook has set limits on organic promotion, almost forcing brands to pay to play.

•

Slightly more expensive pay-per-click.

•

Can’t target certain factors.

Pricing Facebook also works on a pay-per-click model with a daily budget and a lifetime budget, giving you the ability to determine how many people you want to come to your site.

36

concured.com

37

Content Promotion Technologies

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

linkedin.com

LinkedIn is a huge business focused social media marketplace. It is a site for professionals to showcase their experience and skills, and for employers to search for candidates that meet their needs. This site has some interesting demographics and gives you the chance to target businesses and clients based on job titles and associations. This can make the work relatively easier for B2B businesses as you can connect and generate sales from the companies you are looking to work with.

Pros •

Site for professionals and businesses

•

May not get a lot of clicks, you will get the right clicks

Cons •

Expensive pay-per-click

•

Ads are not very customizable

Pricing Like other promotion services and sites, LinkedIn works with pay-per-click and budgets. Their average pay per click is around 4 dollars, as compares to others which are around .30 cents.

For B2C marketing agencies, you have the options to look for clients that are familiar with your services or professionals who need them. LinkedIn offers advertisement that you can use to get exactly who you want looking at your content.

38

concured.com

39

Content Promotion Technologies

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

twitter.com

What can you say in 140 characters or less? Quite a lot. Twitter is a remarkable social media outlet in that it lets you say a lot by saying so little. There are billions of people using Twitter every day. Twitter is a great market for those who want to start a conversation with their clients. When you use their sponsored tweets function, you are doing exactly that.

Pros •

Sponsored tweets look native on the timeline of users, which increases click-through.

•

Options to promote tweets or even accounts.

•

Strong with mobile audiences.

•

Improved visuals.

Cons •

Not as large an audience as Facebook.

•

Better for certain markets (entertainment, and media for example.)

Pricing Twitter works on the same pay-per-click model as other social

Twitter’s promoted tweets and ads use data gathered from user profiles and the hashtags they use to determine the best audience for viewing. Also, unlike several other social media channels, you can actually hold a conversation on Twitter.

Twitter is a soft-spoken giant in a world that shouts.

media sites and content promotion companies.

40

concured.com

41

Content Promotion Technologies

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

dianomi.com

Dianomi works with financial content only. It boasts that that 34% of its 55 million unique users are in the top 10% affluence bracket. If the products and services you are selling are aimed at this bracket, this is the content promotion provider to use. Dianomi mostly works with banks, financial institutions, and B2B companies that need promotional services.

Cons Pros •

Focus on financial clients is strong.

•

Competitive ROI.

•

Works with pop-ups with can negatively impress consumers.

•

Complicated set up process.

Pricing As is common with all promotion sites, they work on a pay-perclick or pay-per-lead scale, which requires a daily budget.

42

concured.com

43

Content Promotion Technologies

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

nativo.net

True to its name, Nativo seeks to make content feel and look as native to the sites it promotes on as possible. This sort of native advertising helps to push more click-throughs because it can fool people trying to avoid ads and click-bait headlines. Nativo’s website states that it will improve native ad performance by 300%.

That kind of increase, combined with the monetization of your content, can equal high sales, leads and advertising return.

Pros •

Designed content to blend into publisher site.

•

Distribute sponsored posts on many outlets with one service.

•

•

Pushes posts to publishers site as sponsored content.

•

Cons

Not billed for bot activity.

Quality can suffer when content not made to publications unique audiences.

•

A large portion of readers don’t trust native ad content.

Pricing As is common with all promotion sites, they work on a pay-perclick or pay-per-lead scale, which requires a daily budget.

44

concured.com

45

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

Content Personalization Technologies Content personalization is one of the holy grails of content marketing. What if you could deliver customized content for each person that visited your site? While we’re not quite to a one-to-one match of content to viewer yet, the technology that we do have to personalize content delivery to small segments is pretty impressive.

To do content personalization right, you need to know your audience on a deep level and you need to know how to adjust your ads in minute ways to measure the differences in response.

Thus, tools have been created to take some of the heavy lifting out of content personalization. Many of these tools are built for enterprises since small-niche companies only have to focus on a few core audience types. But when you are marketing to many different audiences, personalization software is a huge help.

Here are some of the tools we’ve studied that focus on this niche:

46

concured.com

Demandbase

Monetate

Sailthru

Certona

47

Content Personalization Technologies

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

demandbase.com

DemandBase is a content personalization site focused on B2B marketing. Through their service, marketers can target specific ads to companies that meet certain criteria such as revenue or products purchased. Think of it as a sophisticated lead scoring platform combined with an advertising service.

Pros

Cons

•

Quality account data in real time

•

No ability to view/search/export missing data

•

Superior customer service

•

Expensive for small companies

Pricing The platform also integrates with the products of more than 25 different companies, including Salesforce and Google. The platform is very popular among tech companies that market to businesses.

Adobe, Microsoft, and Dell are just a few of their clients.

At this time, DemandBase does not publicize their pricing, requiring you to contact a representative for prices and packages.

48

concured.com

49

Content Personalization Technologies

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

monetate.com

Monetate is much like DemandBase, but their focus is on B2C instead of B2B. Monetate helps companies create personalized customer experiences on websites by tracking their demographic information and online behavior. These advertising experiences are multichannel by design. Using demographics, geography, first and third party data, it builds the perfect template for your content to reach your targeted audience.

Pros

Cons

•

Wide variety of features and applications

•

Predictive analytics have room to improve

•

Intuitive UI

•

Challenging dashboard to navigate

•

Proactive customer service team

•

Needs to add same day reporting

Pricing At this time, Monetate does not publicize their pricing. Contact them for a quote.

Monetate also has sophisticated rules software, integrates with most technology stacks, and makes it easy for your marketing team to create many different types of experiences quickly.

Brands such as The North Face, National Geographic, and QVC use Monetate to handle their online marketing.

50

concured.com

51

Content Personalization Technologies

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

sailthru.com

SailThru boasts that it has found a way to talk to customers as individuals with its personalization software. Their core product is designed around email marketing, but it also links email with other channels to create comprehensive experiences.

Email has long been at the forefront of targeted marketing messages. SailThru takes it one step further by using predictive analytics and long-term measurement to build thorough customer profiles.

Pros •

Included functions are useful for most businesses

•

The ability to hand code displays

•

Great customer service

Cons •

Terminology may be confusing and difficult for new users

•

No WYSIWYG Email editor

Pricing At this time, SailThru does not publicize their pricing. Contact them for a quote.

If you use a lot of email marketing in your business, SailThru is a mustsee tool that will increase your open rates, clicks, and conversions.

52

concured.com

53

Content Personalization Technologies

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

certona.com

Certona uses real-time personalization technology to optimize the experiences of people visiting your site. Their platform is designed for omni-channel businesses.

They claim that within 3-4 clicks of a customer’s visit to one of your channels, they can craft a personalized experience based on that behavior. It’s very impressive technology. Utrecht, the art supply company, boosted their conversion rate and AOV by over 10% using Certona’s system. If you work in an omni-channel business, see if Certona’s personalization system will work best for your content marketing strategy.

Pros

Cons

•

Easy implementation

•

Dated interface

•

Ability to adjust on the fly

•

Could improve its dashboard’s

•

Great support

user-friendliness

Pricing At this time, Certona does not publicize their pricing. Contact their representatives for a quote.

54

concured.com

55

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

Content Publishing Tools Once you have your content tuned just right, now you have to put it up on the web. Content publishing differs from content promotion, though there is some cross-over. Content promotion software points readers to where you have published your core content using a content publishing tool. percolate.com

Content publishing tools come in two main categories. Some push content to your core channels. Others, like Tumblr, are a channel in themselves. Several of the tools we’ve mentioned have content publishing features. The right publishing tool makes it easy to make your content accessible to your viewers and the search engines, while also maintaining your overall branding.

lapost.com Like Kapost, it has been mentioned in

We covered Kapost in detail in the first chapter, so we are going to briefly touch on it here. Kapost has the ability to publish across multiple channels, schedule content posting and give you data to analyze your engagement rates. Using Kapost for your publishing needs gives you the ability to manage several channels at once.

The tools we will go over are as follows:

Kapost Flockler Uberflip

Percolate Blogger Wordpress

the first chapter and it serves in very much the same ways. It is a great tool for managing multiple publishing sources

flockler.com Like Kapost, it has been mentioned in the first chapter and it serves in very much the same ways. It is a great tool for managing multiple publishing sources

Tumblr

56

concured.com

57

Content Publishing Tools

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

blogger.com

Blogger is a publishing platform that gives users their own blog space. Blogger is a part of the Google family and requires a Google+ or a blogger account to create and maintain a blog with them. As such, Blogger posts have the ability to be shared with your circles or any others using Google+.

Pros •

Integrates well with other Google products and services

Publishing to Blogger is like any other blog, meaning it features a WYSIWYG editor and the option to edit it in HTML and add elements to the page using CSS. Blogger gives you a way to connect with others and create content that relates to your business.

If you use Google as a major marketing channel and you’re a small business, a Blogger account might be good for you.

•

Easy to use blogger platform for beginners

Cons

•

Large community of writers

•

Must use blogger in draft to use new features

Pricing Blogger is free to use for both commercial and private use.

58

concured.com

59

Content Publishing Tools

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

Cons

uberflip.com

Pros

Uberflip is a content aggregation and publishing platform that allows you to bring all your content to one place and manage its publishing from there. It has some interesting features, such as the ability to tailor content for every stage of the buyer cycle. By having everything in one place, you will never miss a channel and important sales or leads.

•

Easy to use

•

Works with several top outlets

•

embedding tiles on sites •

ex. HubSpot, Wordpress •

Great customer service team

Need more options for

Needs a master stream rather than several smaller streams

•

Needs link shortening integration

Pricing Uberflip has four tiers of pricing according to the needs of the company.

•

Expert: This package comes with 10 custom streams. 50 PDF’s to ‘Flipbooks’, 1 Hub, Unlimited Team Members. For Lead gen, it gets basic integration for some of the top mailing sites, 10 calls-to-action, and gating content. It also comes with Content scores and advanced metrics. All for $750 per month billed annually.

•

Exclusive: This set comes with 15 custom streams, 100 PDF’s to ‘Flipbooks’, 1 Hub, and Unlimited Team Members. For Lead generation, advanced integration for top emailing sites, 15 calls-to-action, and gating content. It also comes with Content scores and advanced metrics. This for $1200 per month billed annually.

Uberflip works hard to convert clicks and visits into leads with calls to action and premium content that gets your clients and potential customers involved and part of the conversation. You can measure the performance of Uberflip to track your return on your investment in the service and see what posts are doing the best with your demographics.

•

Elite: 25 custom streams, 150 PDF to ‘Flipbooks’, 2 Hubs, Unlimited Team Members, Password Protected Hubs, Automated Content Management, and Smart Filters. Advanced integration with the top mailing sites, 25 calls-to-action, and gating content. It also comes with Content scores, advanced metrics, and email reporting. All for $1800 per month billed annually.

•

Uberflip works best for businesses that are already established and have strong sales funnels. It’s an expensive piece of software and might be too much of an investment for small businesses.

Enterprise: This is a custom package starting at $3500 per month billed annually. It includes all the features of Elite and some Enterprise only features that can be added and designed for your company’s needs. You need to contact a representative for the full details.

60

concured.com

61

Content Publishing Tools

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

wordpress.org

Wordpress is THE software for blog creation.

It has two incarnations, Wordpress.Org, and Wordpress.com. The latter is a service that lets you host a blog on Wordpress servers. Most businesses will want to install Wordpress on their own domains. You can get the software at Wordpress.org, but many hosting providers have a way to automatically install it on a domain from the control panel.

Pros

Cons

•

Popular and proven technology

•

•

Easy to use interface

•

Ability to engage large community

Array of choices for themes and plugins can be intimidating

•

Ideally, you must have your own hosting and domain

Pricing Wordpress is free to from wordpress.org but does require you having your own domain

The beauty of Wordpress.org, which is what we will spend the most time discussing is that it does not just make a blog, you can build a whole website. It is also one of the most user-friendly content management systems out there. Wordpress has a famous five-minute install. From there, anyone with some familiarity with HTML and CSS can design a stunning and client-friendly website and blog.

and hosting. Most businesses already have this so it’s not a major concern.

Wordpress is so widespread that many content marketing tools have ways to integrate with it. While Wordpress isn’t best for all use cases (consider Drupal or Joomla as alternates), for many businesses this is enough.

62

concured.com

63

Content Publishing Tools

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

tumblr.com

Tumblr is a unique platform in that it has a very large, young, and active community.

Tumblr’s focus is on displaying short pieces of content. Most content pieces are either videos or pictures. However, it can be difficult to use as a content delivery system for businesses unless you are skilled at creating viral content that will resonate with its userbase, such as creating entertaining infographics. The social side of the service runs on people spreading your content elsewhere through reblogging.

Pros •

Easy to engage blogging community that is passionate and can be made into brand ambassadors.

•

•

Dashboard makes it easy to track and read blogs you follow

Cons

Makes it easy to track and tag

•

No easy way to back up your blog

•

No way to import data from other

content with activity feed •

Simple and user-friendly

blogs beyond cutting and pasting

Pricing Tumblr is free for personal or commercial use.

Tumblr provides user-friendly blogging, the ability to have your own domain name, page customization features, and a great place to publish non-text content.

64

concured.com

65

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology Content Performance & Tracking Tools Analytics are a key part of any content marketing campaign.

Tracking how well your content does with your audience is important to understanding what works for your brand. It’s the best way, besides direct sales, to measuring the ROI of your content marketing campaign, an essential to prove your worth to managers and the C-suite.

Good content performance and tracking tools have two parts. First, they can measure accurately what you want to measure. Second, they can turn those measurements into understandable charts and graphs for presentations.

percolate.com

Percolate has been mentioned in previous chapters. Like any good enterpriselevel tool, it helps you track your content curation in its all-in-one platform. Read back to previous chapters to learn more about this tool, or click the link to visit the website.

There are few tools that just do analytics on their own. Most analytics packages are bundled up with other content marketing tools. Notably, marketing automation software, CRM software, and lead scoring software almost always has an analytics package bundled with it.

Many of the tools here have their roots in marketing automation.

The sites and tools that will be covered in this chapter are:

Percolate

Newscred

Google Analytics

Pardot

Act-on

Infusionsoft

HubSpot

Marketo

Eloqua

Silverpop

newscred.com

We talked about NewsCred in a previous chapter, so we will only briefly touch on it here.

Again, like Percolate, it has built-in analytics and reporting. Refer to the previous entry on NewsCred for more information, or click the link to visit the website.

Trackmaven

66

concured.com

67

Content Performance & Tracking Tools

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

analytics.google.com

Google is the proverbial king of the internet analytics jungle. Unlike the other packages in this section, Google Analytics just focuses on delivering powerful tracking features to any website. It is a staple tool that cannot be dismissed just because it is free. In fact, gaining a solid grounding in Google Analytics and its reporting tools can help you understand whether or not you need something more powerful. But for many businesses, even medium-sized businesses, Google Analytics is the perfect fit.

Pros

Cons

•

Constantly updated

•

Hard to customize view flows

•

Free to use

•

AdWords and Google Analytics

•

Vast range of reports

can be confusing together •

Can be overwhelming

Pricing Google Analytics if free to use for public and commercial use.

68

concured.com

69

Content Performance & Tracking Tools

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

Cons

pardot.com Pros

Pardot by Salesforce is a marketing automation suite with an emphasis on lead scoring. Lead scoring lets you rank visitors along certain criteria to determine whether or not they are ready for different marketing and sales tactics. It’s designed with B2B businesses at heart. A good lead scoring system like Pardot can show you which pieces of content are especially valuable for your conversion strategies.

•

Easy to use interface

•

Customization options

•

Needs to improve email template

•

Confusing connection between social media sites

•

Could use more data filters

Pricing Pardot has three levels of pricing and an additional marketing cloud option for 1-1 support.

•

Standard: This level comes with email marketing, in-depth prospect tracking, lead nurturing, lead scoring & grading, ROI reporting, forms & landing pages, and standard CRM integration. The cost of this level is $1000 per month.

•

Pro: Pro includes all the features of standard, plus advanced email analytics, email rendering preview & spam analysis, email and landing page A/B testing, advanced dynamic content, Google AdWords integration, API Access - Up to 25K calls/day, multiple scoring categories, integrated marketing calendar, social profiles, and chat support. The price for this level is $2000 per month.

•

Ultimate: This level comes with all the features of Pro and Standard in addition to custom user roles, custom object integration, API Access - Up to 100K calls/day, dedicated IP address, and phone support.

•

They also have an additional level called their marketing cloud option. It comes with email marketing, SMS, MMS and push notifications, social media, advertising, and campaign and 1:1 journey management

70

concured.com

71

Content Performance & Tracking Tools

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

act-on.com

Act-on is a marketing automation tool designed to help companies drive better results in brand awareness, demand generation, retention, and customer loyalty. Its unique software allows you to track influencers and press activity and measure the traffic from that. This can help you with future content targeting efforts.

In addition to that, it also has an internal communication platform for your team.

Cons Pros

•

Needs more ways to get dynamic lists

•

Easy to use email templates

•

Landing page builder needs to be optimized

•

Ability to schedule emails

•

Site can be slow at times

Pricing Act-On has two levels of pricing: •

Professional: Professional comes with 1000 active contacts, 3 marketing users, 50 sales users, 1000 API calls/day. This is for $600 per month billed annually.

•

Enterprise: Enterprise comes with 10,000 active contacts, 6 marketing users, 100 sales users, and 25,000 API calls/day. The price for this is $2000 per month billed annually.

72

concured.com

73

Content Performance & Tracking Tools

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

infusionsoft.com

Infusionsoft is a venerable automation marketing tool that has been helping companies for 15 years. It handles CRM, marketing automation, and analytics. If you have enough long-term clients that you need to have a CRM to keep track of them, this is a good choice. However, the learning curve for this software is very high due to all of the different things it can do.

Pros

Cons

•

Powerful integration for campaigns

•

Large learning curve

•

Excellent data collection algorithms

•

Could use better one-on-one account management

Pricing Infusion Soft has five different levels of pricing for every team needs.

•

Essentials: This level comes with CRM, marketing automation, 25,000 contacts, 12,500 emails/month and 3 users; all for $199 per month.

•

Deluxe (Sales Automation): This comes with CRM, marketing automation, sales automation, 5,000 contacts, 25,000 emails/month, and 4 users for $299 per month.

•

Deluxe (E-Commerce): This comes with CRM, marketing automation, E-Commerce, 5,000 contacts, 25,000 emails/month and 4 users for the price of $299 per month.

•

Complete: This comes with everything in the first three levels, except it is 10,000 contacts, 50,000 emails/month, and 5 users. This package is priced at $379 per month.

•

Team: Team comes with everything in complete, except it is 20,000 contacts, 100,000 emails/month and 10 users. This level comes in at $599 per month.

74

concured.com

75

Content Performance & Tracking Tools

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

hubspot.com

HubSpot is an inbound marketing program that integrates blogging, social media publishing, contacts, SEO, email marketing, marketing automation and analytics all in one platform that is easy to use and powerful. Companies have used it to make their marketing transfer from outgoing to incoming by leveraging incredible content.

Pros

Cons

•

User friendly

•

Reporting add-on could use work

•

No coding experience needed

•

Does not group contacts

•

Easy to build with

•

Search function needs improvement

Pricing There are three packages offered by HubSpot: •

Basic: 100 contacts, content creation, and optimization, email marketing, social media suite, marketing analytics dashboard. This costs $200 per month billed annually. The onboarding fee is $600 in addition to that cost.

•

Pro: Everything in basic plus 1,000 contacts, marketing automation, goal-based nurturing, custom workflows, Salesforce integration, smart content, attribution reporting, and user roles.

This costs $800 per month billed annually with an additional onboarding fee of $3,000.

•

Enterprise: This includes everything in the previous two packages, plus 10,000 contacts, revenue reporting, custom event reporting, custom event automation triggers, A/B testing CTA’s. A/B test emails, predictive lead scoring, contacts reporting, company reporting, event-based segmentation.

This costs $2,400 per month billed annually. The additional onboarding fee for this is $5000.

76

concured.com

77

Content Performance & Tracking Tools

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

marketo.com

Marketo is CRM, lead scoring, and customer engagement software that helps companies to attract the right sort of customer, allowing you to set specific parameters to engage, convert and retain them. It has the tools to plan and coordinate marketing campaigns across a team, giving everyone the ability to provide insight and see what needs work. If you are using Kapost, Marketo will integrate with that software to provide a complete content marketing solution.

Pros

Cons

•

Easy to use and set up

•

System is slow at peak times

•

Flexibility in accomplishing tasks

•

Lackluster API

•

Webhooks capabilities

•

WYSIWYG editor needs improvement

Pricing At this time, Marketo does not have their pricing published and request you contact a representative.

78

concured.com

79

Content Performance & Tracking Tools

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

Pros

oracle.com/marketingcloud/products/ marketing-automation

•

User-friendly interface

•

Drag and drop for creating campaigns and emails

Eloqua is a product by Oracle that specializes in engaging with customers and giving them a customized experience.

It’s an omni-channel marketing automation package that lets you plan and execute large-scale ad campaigns and track their performance over time. This is another piece of software that’s targeted more towards large and enterprise businesses.

•

Email tracking

Cons •

Program builder is rough

•

Lead scoring needs work

•

Support is touch and go

Pricing There are three packages offered by Eloqua •

Basic: Starting out at $2,000 a month, this package comes with 10 marketing users, real-time dashboard reporting, benchmarking, insight reporter, unified marketing calendar, basic security, simple interface, could support, mobile friendliness, lead scoring and routing, marketing contact database, multichannel campaigns, app cloud access, stand-alone events, simple emails, simple campaigns, social sign on, profile based segmentation, audience segmentation, marketing asset management, digital body language, dynamic content, sales and notification alerts, 5 users for Eloqua profiler, 5 users for Eloqua engage, API access, Data Import, and Plugin CRM integration.

•

Standard: Starting at $4000 a month this package comes will all the features of Basic, plus 50 Marketing users, 1 insight analyzer, custom security, multi-lead scoring and advanced routing, event management module, digital advertising, advanced data cleansing, 10 Eloqua profilers, 10 Eloqua engage users, and Eloqua data tools cloud service.

•

Enterprise: This package comes with everything in the previous two levels plus unlimited marketing users, 3 Eloqua Analyzers, cloud priority service, sandbox test environment, 20 profiles, and 20 Eloqua engage users. The pricing for this package is not listed and they ask you to contact a representative.

80

concured.com

81

Content Performance & Tracking Tools

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

silverpop.com

Silverpop, or what used be called IBM Marketing Cloud, is yet another CRM designed for engagement and acquisition of new clients and leads. With its behavior marketing platform, it gives companies the chance to capitalize on the trends and behaviors of their clients in real time. It’s used by more than 5,000 brands worldwide.

Pros

Cons

•

Can export Excel into it

•

Very complex and not very user-friendly

•

Can use WYSIWYG or HTML editor

•

Cannot reschedule a campaign

•

Test mailing feature

•

Site can be slow during peak

Pricing At this time, Silverpop does not have their pricing published and requests you contact a representative.

82

concured.com

83

Content Performance & Tracking Tools

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

trackmaven.com

TrackMaven has a great deal of name brand customers, such as Old Spice and Red Bull, both known for their unique marketing strategies. TrackMaven‘s platform allows you to optimize your content across all your media channels and analyses it for campaign effectiveness.

With the ability to communicate through your whole organization, you can report to stakeholders the effectiveness of your content. TrackMaven published and monitors accounts across the full digital spectrum, including blogs, social media, and other digital media.

Pros •

Easy to interpret data

• •

Cons •

Needs insights beyond social

Easy to create graphs

•

Ads intelligence feature can be improved

Multiple filters for data

•

Can be confusing for the first time user

Pricing At this time, TrackMaven does not have their pricing published and requests you contact a representative.

84

concured.com

85

Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing Technology

Conclusion Content Marketing is an every growing and changing arena, with rising competition and changing customer standards.

You need the best tools and resources to stand above the rest. These chapters have contained the basics of each website, including some of the most common pros and cons from reviews all over the web. Proper use of these tools and understanding where you want to go and how to get your company there will improve your productivity, customer engagement and as an end result, increase revenue.

For more information on each of these sites, it is recommended that you explore their websites or contact a representative that can walk you through the process of their site and possibly built a custom plan for your company with you.

Sources All pros and cons were compiled from a variety of sources but primarily came from the reviews on G2 Crowd, Fuel Your Writing, Contently, and Quora.

86