While content marketing, as a discipline, truly began long before the advent of digital publishing technology and social media, the tools we have at our disposal today have provided us with content options that are virtually as unlimited as our imaginations.
So what tools do the experts consider essential to their processes for strategic content planning, creation, and management? We asked a few of our Content Marketing World speakers to share a few of their top recommendations.
 When it comes to creating content, I prefer to do my first drafts directly onto my computer. But I love having a set of colored pens to outline ideas on the page and to unplug to be able to edit work.- Heidi Cohen (@HeidiCohen)
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 If we are talking about life or death in terms of content marketing, my response would be WordPress. Over the past two years, my firm has completely migrated our blog and content sites to WordPress and haven’t looked back. From a marketer’s perspective it is extremely customizable and easy to use. Our content program wouldn’t be the same without it.- Amanda Maksymiw (@amandamaks)
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 The Internet. I mean really, we’d all be out of jobs without it, right?OK, but seriously, I’d be lost without the content calendar templates I set up for clients and the ability to bookmark and organize links, ideas and content for a later date. I’m also a huge fan of SproutSocial right now as it’s not just a great content scheduler, but a decent application for listening across multiple online channels and digging in to the analytics about how successful your content is. As long as I have great content sources and ideas, templates for keeping it all organized, and a way to monitor results, I’m good.- Melissa Harrison (@alleecreative)
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 HubSpot is critical to the success of our agency, and the marketing campaigns we run for clients. Their platform gives us the tools to create and optimize content, but, more importantly, it connects content to performance, including lead volume and sales conversions.- Paul Roetzer (@paulroetzer)
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 I’ll go the boring route: my ears. Tools come and go, but what stays consistent is that in order to tell a good story, you need to listen to a lot of good stories. And without a good story or set of stories, designed for a particular audience, any content marketing effort will fall flat.- Michael Sweeney (@mjsweeney)
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 If I were stranded on a deserted island, I would want WordPress (or a comparable blogging platform) and TweetDeck. I use them both every day. In fact, TweetDeck is open on a second monitor while I write on the first.- Waynette Tubbs (@waynettetubbs)
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 Ah, where would we be without our shiny tools?It won’t come as much surprise to those that know me that I’ll pick the content distribution workhorse – SlideShare. It’s a key element of how we share our content and seek to engage with new audiences, especially for the early buying-stages.In fact I’m such a big fan that @jchernov and I will be co-presenting a session on SlideShare at CMW this year. If you’ve never understood how marketers can use it to directly influence visibility and revenue, then drop by for some eye-opening stories.- Todd Wheatland (@toddwheatland)
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 Xmarks. It’s browser bookmarks in the cloud. I maintain an elaborate taxonomy of content (and social media) marketing tools, vendors, resources, articles, Tumblrs and SlideShares … all instantly accessible on any computer and easily sharable when someone asks me for a reference.- Joe Chernov (@jchernov)
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 When it comes to writing tools I can’t live without Scrivener. Part Evernote, part Microsoft Word, and part mind mapper, Scrivener’s billed as a ‘complete writing studio’ and for me, it’s delivered on the promise. I can easily write, structure and revise everything from video scripts, podcast ideas, blog posts, and even my book with ease, grace and style and I can do it all in one place. For anyone who’s embarking on a content marketing initiative, I recommend you give Scrivener a shot.- Andrew Davis (@tpldrew)
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It seems that content marketers rely on a few tried-and-true standards, but are starting to incorporate some innovative new tools that are likely to grow in popularity as the industry continually evolves.
Did they miss any products that you wouldn’t want to live without in your content efforts? Feel free to give a shout-out to your top technologies in the comments below.
Want additional guidance for meeting your content marketing challenges? You can get more great advice on tools and technologies when you attend Content Marketing World on September 4–6 in Columbus, Ohio.
