Marketing is everchanging, and you need to continuously adjust your strategy to the latest trends. Online marketing is even more volatile as things that worked a few months ago quickly become old news. But if there’s one thing that’s here to stay it’s content marketing. While the type of content you create and the platforms you use may change a lot through the years, the core of content marketing remains unchanged. Customers are no longer interested in aggressive advertisements and prefer companies that publish thoughtful and helpful content instead. This actually works in small businesses’ favor, as producing good content is far cheaper than running an ad on TV or YouTube. Moreover, if a customer finds your service through your excellent content, they’ll be more loyal to you than by finding your company via a random Google ad.
Creating top-quality content isn’t a walk in the park. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes that people don’t think about when watching a video or reading a blog article. You have to do extensive research, make sure that your writing and editing are perfect, and come up with creative ideas that haven’t been done before. With so much content online already, coming up with something completely original is quite challenging. So, you need to make yourself stand out from the crowd by having more in-depth research, a unique writing style, a more eye-catching design, etc.
Additionally, you should make sure you’re creating something that brings value to your online business. For instance, imagine you run a clothing ecommerce store. It doesn’t make sense for you to share your thoughts on the last Game of Thrones episode. Instead, you need to research what your target audience is looking for and create content accordingly. It goes without saying that your product should be included in the content to generate leads and sales. Finally, you need to take the time to manage all of this, as consistency is key to growth. That’s why most companies have a dedicated marketing team to focus on how to bring your business marketing strategy to the next level.
Your content needs to be of the highest quality. That’s the only way for you to stand out from your competitors and rank well in search engine results. Fortunately, there are plenty of tools to make the process easier.
Semrush is one of the most popular SEO suites on the market. Although a bit pricey, the platform comes with everything you need to rank at the top of search engine results.
From keyword planning to content ideas, market research, social media management, and PPC campaigns, Semrush is your best friend for all types of digital marketing strategies. Additionally, while it can be overwhelming at first, we found the solution to be intuitive the moment you get the hang of it.
The best part is that there’s a free version with enough features for a small website to take its first steps on SEO. Plus, Best Reviews readers get an extended 14-day free trial for Semrush Pro, and all plans are protected by a 7-day money-back guarantee.
If you browse the web (which we can be fairly sure you do), you’ve probably seen a Grammarly advertisement. From those ads we can see that Grammarly markets itself as a provider of grammar check software that works for every occasion, offering different insights depending on the type of text being written. More than just a spelling corrector, it will also check your sentence structure and make vocabulary improvement suggestions while always considering the style and tone you wish to deliver. In other words, it’s like having a watchful English teacher suggesting changes to help you share your message without spelling or grammar mistakes, and with the most clear and engaging wording. From Facebook posts to academic essays, Grammarly will be there to make sure your writing is always excellent.
Canva is one of the most popular graphic design platforms on the market. Not only is it extremely easy to use, but it comes with thousands of templates that allow you to create beautiful designs in just a few minutes. Although it doesn’t offer the same flexibility as other apps like Photoshop, it’s the perfect solution for anyone who doesn’t have advanced design skills but needs to create visuals for social media, websites, reports, and more. Canva also caters to businesses by allowing coworkers to edit images together and providing shared file management. Canva offers a limited free plan that you can use forever. But considering all the features and templates you get with a paid plan, the $9.99 per month subscription is worthwhile.
Launched in 1992, Rosetta Stone has over two decades of experience in teaching students a new language. The result is one of the most thorough and effective language learning apps in the industry. The software covers over 20 languages, tackling reading, writing, listening, and speaking with an immersive approach. It’s so intuitive that we didn’t even notice we were learning new vocabulary.
While courses are on-demand, Rosetta Stone does provide 6-week personalized study plans that consider students’ goals. In addition to the usual classes and exercises, the language learning platform also offers live sessions with native speakers and expert tutors, interactive stories, an audio companion, and much more. Prices start at $13.99 per month, and there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee to try out Rosetta Stone risk free.
From social media posts and YouTube videos to leaflets – eye-catching visuals are essential for any marketing campaign. With millions of images, video clips, and music tracks, Shutterstock is one of the biggest media libraries on the market. It offers content from more than one million contributors, and it features a user-friendly mobile app that you can use on the go. The best part about Shutterstock is that you can easily find the media you’re looking for. Unlike some of its competitors, where the search function doesn’t work as it should, Shutterstock always shows you relevant visuals for your search queries. Unfortunately, Shutterstock isn’t cheap. But at least you can choose between on-demand, monthly, or a team subscription. Additionally, you can try out the service for free for 30 days, which allows you to download up to 10 images at zero cost.
With video content now being the most consumed form of media, there’s no room for poorly edited visuals – keeping up with the competition requires high-quality and engaging clips. Fortunately, Movavi Video Editor is here to help with its extensive set of tools and uncomplicated user interface.
From basic trimming to more advanced features like effects designed for YouTube, Movavi Video Editor is great for both quick and complex editing processes. To make life even easier, there are many AI-powered tools that automate editing tasks.
Prices of Movavi Video Editor start at $4.58 per month with a one-year subscription, or there’s the option of making a one-time purchase that’s far cheaper in the long run. It’s also possible to test the video editing solution at zero cost by taking advantage of the 7-day free trial.
Video and audio recording are a great help for various types of businesses. If an engaging video showcasing your product is a great way to gather new customers, interviews are much easier to do when using an audio recorder. However, it’s essential to add subtitles to cater to people who don’t know your language, and interview transcriptions help tremendously when going over the data. Doing this manually is time-consuming and expensive, though. This is where Amberscript steps in, a cloud-based transcriber partnered with major household names, such as Netflix and Disney+. With its attractive online interface and close-to-perfect transcriptions, Amberscript may easily become the go-to service for anyone who needs to add helpful text to their video and audio recordings. The service supports a variety of file formats and boasts a comprehensive support page. All this is wrapped up in an affordable plan, and the best part is that you can try everything yourself for free.
Video is one of the best ways to reach an audience these days. No wonder more people are realizing how important it is to create appealing videos, whether they are entrepreneurs, marketers, or academics. Animated videos go one step further, as they’re fun and easy to follow, but getting them right can be challenging. From the creators of the video editor Filmora, Wondershare, comes Anireel – a video creator that helps produce animated videos easily. With its straightforward interface and tons of tools, such as a character creator, it feels like you’re playing a video game when you’re actually making informative content. All the sounds used in your animation are also fully customizable via dubbing, background music, and sound effects. Even beginners will never feel lost with the various built-in guides. And despite being such a detailed program, it’s not expensive, with the company offering both attractive prices and many features for free.
Today, videos are one of the most popular types of online content. As such, video editing has become increasingly accessible, but people are continuously looking for new ways to express their creativity and ideas. Enter VideoScribe, a simple program for making a variety of whiteboard animations. The software’s easy-to-use dashboard is accompanied by numerous animation tools, and it even lets you work with photos. With its plethora of premade templates, almost anyone can find a theme that suits their needs, be it a marketing presentation or a surprise for a friend’s birthday. It’s also entirely secure to work with the software, as the company keeps a close eye on your data all the time. VideoScribe goes the extra mile with its extensive support, such as with its step-by-step video guides. Finally, the service’s reasonable prices start at $14 a month, and users can try out the 2D animation software without reaching for their wallet through its limited 7-day free trial.
Not all of us are blessed with artistic abilities. So, when you need an eye-catching design for your business, it’s time to call in the experts – like New Jersey-based graphic design service, Penji. Since 2017, the company has been creating top-notch custom logos, UX designs, packaging, marketing materials, and more for businesses of all sizes and niches. With over two million designs from the top 2% talent in the world, it’s never been easier to keep your brand on point alongside an on-demand graphic design company like Penji. The easy-to-use platform also lets clients communicate with designers, who tweak and revise the designs until the customer is satisfied. To top it all off, Penji allows for unlimited design requests, regardless of the subscription chosen. But before committing, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee to take a closer look at Penji risk free and see whether it meets your graphic design needs.
With a solid reputation on the market since before remote work was so popular, Microsoft 365 remains a reliable reference for workplace productivity software. The entirely cloud-based platform offers businesses a comprehensive digital workspace with various collaboration and communication tools in one place. All files created with Microsoft 365’s apps, such as its three major components Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, are instantly saved on the cloud and synced across all devices. This means that the documents are always backed up and accessible from any device by any team member, not to mention that file links are available for sharing too. Microsoft 365 Business annual subscription plans start from $6 per user each month. What’s more, the platform is subscription-based, meaning there are no additional payments for updates or new versions of the software and its apps. But the best part is that there’s a 30-day free trial for users to thoroughly test the platform before committing.
Since its launch in 2022, Extensis Connect– a combination of Suitcase Fusion and TeamSync – has been innovating non-stop in the font management industry. Following this merge, the software became a desktop and web-based font manager tool designed to help users find, view, organize, and use different fonts.
Fundamentally, the platform simplifies font management and improves workflow for designers and creative professionals. Features range from font search and sharing to more advanced technology like AI-recommended font pairings.
When it comes to pricing, the structure couldn’t be more straightforward: there are only two subscription plans, with prices starting at per user per month with annual billing. For those who don’t want to commit straight away, there’s a fully interactive demo they can use to test out the platform and get the hang of it before committing.
The first thing you need to figure out when using content to grow your business is what your potential customers are searching for online. This can be done by using a keyword planner, like Semrush, but this type of platform can be quite expensive. So, many small business owners go with free options, such as Google Trends or Google Keyword Planner. They’re more limited, but you can get an overview of which topics you should address. For example, let’s say you sell TVs and discover that everyone is talking about the remake of Final Fantasy VII. It’s the perfect opportunity to write an article about the best TVs to give customers the best gaming experience possible.
The next step is to create content for the platforms your customers use the most. Writing SEO-optimized content and sending out a newsletter is something that all businesses should do. But depending on your industry, it may be more worthwhile to limit your efforts to a select number of social media platforms. Although you can repurpose content to publish across multiple platforms, it’s usually best for small businesses to focus on just a few outlets. Each platform has its unique features, making it difficult to focus on all of them simultaneously.
Creating engaging content is just the first step of growing your business online. When it comes to social media, you need to make sure content is published when your customers are online. Meanwhile, newsletters should be tested over time to check which one gets the highest open rate. Finally, a marketing strategy is only going to work when everyone in your team is on the same page about published content, branding, and your company’s tone of voice.
The Best Reviews team researches and tests all products first-hand. We've been reviewing products and services since 2012 and are proud to only publish human-created content.
©2012-2025 Best Reviews, a clovio brand –
All rights
reserved
