Like a lot of the content marketing tool questions I get on Quora, it’s hard to pinpoint just one answer to your question. 

What I can do is round up the top 5 go-to tools that I’ve been using since I started in this industry—the ones I’ve stuck with because they’re easy and have consistently proven to be useful. 

1. Google Docs

When you’re developing content, there’s no better tool than a platform that lets you edit and collaborate with your creative team without having to worry about version issues. Google Docs is widely used, simple, and straightforward—and best of all, it’s FREE.  

Google Docs is where all the grunt work of content development gets done before the final, polished presentation gets published online. I personally don’t know any content marketer who doesn’t rely on Google Docs to draft their content. Everyone from newbies to veteran industry players continue to rely on this platform to collaborate with team members, edit content, and simplify the publication process.

2. Grammarly

You’ve probably seen the ads for Grammarly and heard everyone saying how game-changing this platform is. They’re not lying. I wear a lot of hats as a content marketer. As much as I would love to go over all the details and make sure I’ve checked all my content for typos and errors myself, I often don’t have the time to do so. 

Grammarly helps me significantly minimize my error rates. It’s so intuitive and thorough that I can’t even imagine a time before Grammarly was available to help me polish my content. You can easily download their app or install the browser extension on whatever browser you’re using. 

3. Ahrefs

By now you probably know how important SEO is for content marketing to be effective. Ahrefs is so useful for basic SEO research. It features a dashboard that’s easy to use and understand and can help you track everything from keyword rankings, analyzing competitor keywords, and daily traffic.

4. Trello

This platform is best for keeping track of tasks and project management. It keeps all your team’s projects in one place and lays them out in a simple, visual way so you can easily track progress. It’s also customizable so you can use it for project management as well as for tracking sales pipelines, marketing roadmaps, or whatever you need.

5. Canva

Visuals are a very important part of content marketing. Sadly, not everyone has the talent to create eye-catching graphics using the usual tools like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. That’s where Canva comes in. Canva gives you access to a massive database of templates that help simplify the design process for even the most inexperienced graphic design newbie. It also has essential tools that you can use to make the whole process faster and easier.  

Hope my answer helps! If you have additional questions, feel free to leave a comment below or head over to our Twitter and LinkedIn.