6 Tools to Automate Your Content Creation & Marketing Workflow
Marketers are often found spending one-third of their time on repetitive tasks. That's why they're usually left feeling that there aren't enough hours in the day for all the tasks in their content creation and marketing workflow. The good news is that marketing automation tools can take the most time-consuming and repetitive tasks off your hands. There are choices for these tools out there, but which ones are going to be the best for you? That's the question we're going to answer today.
Read on to find our top picks for marketing automation tools that could help transform your content creation and marketing workflow. But first, a bit on the importance of using marketing automation tools.
Why are marketing automation tools the need of the hour?
Most marketing teams today are struggling to keep on top of all the tasks in their content creation and marketing workflow. They are constantly on the lookout for ways to complete the same tasks more efficiently and in less time. That is where marketing automation tools come in. These tools can automate tedious parts of content creation, social media posting, email marketing, ad management, and other marketing tasks. Some can also simplify project and task management by creating automated workflows.
The benefits of using these marketing automation tools? Well, there are many -
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With automation, there are less chances of human error
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Your team can focus on more strategic initiatives as the repetitive tasks are taken care of
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They can help you create more targeted content to enhance user engagement
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They can easily manage increases in workload without compromising anything
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They can ensure consistency across all your marketing channels, which helps build your brand identity
Top 6 marketing automation tools to simplify your workflows
There is a wide variety of marketing automation tools available today, each designed for automating different parts of the content creation and marketing workflow Check out some of our top picks -
1. Flowlu - Project & task automation
Flowlu is a business management platform that offers a suite of powerful tools to simplify project and task management for marketing teams through automation. You can set up workflows for automatically updating task statuses and assigning them to team members, and also for automatic reminders. There is also a time-tracking feature that lets you keep an eye on the time spent on different tasks, which helps in identifying bottlenecks and improves efficiency.
The best thing about this marketing automation tool is that it adapts to any workflow you have. Planning your projects and coming up with ideas is made easy with the mind maps feature, while Kanban boards and Gantt charts help in organizing and tracking your projects.
The platform also offers useful collaboration features and plenty of storage space, which makes it easier for you and your team to work on marketing projects, from anywhere. If you're working with Google Drive, Calendly, Mailchimp, or any other platform, Flowlu easily integrates with a bunch of tools to ensure a smooth and seamless workflow. You can check out all the integrations offered by the platform here.
Another unique thing about the Flowlu platform is that it is capable of scaling with your marketing needs. The tool offers plans tailored to various team sizes and project complexity levels. In addition to project management, Flowlu also helps in financial management, allowing you to track everything from project budgets to invoicing and expenses. You can generate detailed financial reports to ensure that your marketing projects stay within budget.
Packed with various features for content project management, automation, and collaboration, Flowlu allows marketing teams to focus on what they do best - crafting better content
Pricing: Flowlu plans start from $29 per month. There's also a free plan that supports a maximum of 2 users.
2. Narrato AI Content Genie - Automated content creation
Narrato is an AI content platform packed with tons of AI tools designed to help you create marketing content faster and better. Among these tools is the pioneering AI Content Genie, an AI autopilot for content creation that automatically generates blog posts and social media content for you every week. The tool only needs you to provide your target themes and a website or blog URL as a one-time input. Based on this, it starts generating fresh weekly content picking ideas from the provided themes and your website content.
The AI-generated posts (including the visuals) can be edited, after which you can publish the content directly from the platform to the marketing channel of your choice. This tool works seamlessly with WordPress, Webflow, and all the popular social platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram). Plus, you can set up custom integrations using Zapier and the Narrato API.
Narrato's AI Content Assistant offers 100+ other AI tools and templates for custom content generation for blogs, emails, social media, and websites. Notable features include the AI topic generator, AI long blog writer, AI social media post generator, AI copywriter, AI email writer, AI product description generator, and more. For custom visuals, you can use the AI image generator, and for SEO, you can get tailored suggestions from the AI SEO brief generator. There is also an AI bulk content generation feature, that lets you create hundreds of content pieces in one go.
Narrato AI can be a useful tool for automating your entire content creation workflow, right from planning to publishing. The platform also offers some useful features for content project and team management, like custom workflows, workflow automation, task management tools, content calendars, and more.
Pricing: Narrato pricing plans start from $36 per month (includes 4 user seats), and there's also a free trial available for those who want to test out the tool.
3. HubSpot Marketing Hub
HubSpot is a popular marketing automation tool, offering a complete growth suite that comprises marketing, sales, and support tools. When all your data and growth activities come together in a single platform, it can open up a world of automation possibilities. Hubspot's marketing platform offers various tools for content management, social media scheduling, email marketing, and analytics.
HubSpot's marketing automation tool comes with an intuitive visual board for designing conditional workflows (both simple and complex workflows) for your marketing projects. While it might take some time to master all marketing automation software, once you do, you'll be able to successfully set up your marketing campaigns on autopilot.
With HubSpot's automation tools, you can set up basic autoresponders for your email list. You can also set up rules for targeting specific users with the right email, website experience, and more. HubSpot's marketing automation tools are all designed to help you grow your business efficiently, reducing the time spent on repetitive tasks.
HubSpot's Marketing Hub is fundamentally different from other marketing automation tools because of one key reason: It focuses on inbound marketing. That includes content and search marketing. Plus, with integrated Sales, CRM, and Service Hubs, your team can collaborate with different departments.
Pricing: Hubspot marketing hub plans start from $800 per month (and include 3 user seats).
4. Canva
For marketing teams that need to ramp up their visual content production, Canva could be a godsend. This design tool simplifies the creation of professional-looking graphics with its drag-and-drop interface and huge library of templates, elements, fonts, and other design assets. Recently, they added a bunch of new AI features, as part of Canva's Magic Studio. These AI-powered tools are all designed to automate time-intensive design tasks and make the entire design process more straightforward.
Canva Magic Studio suite includes the Magic Switch, which lets you quickly convert a design into another format. For instance, if you've created a presentation, you can simply use AI to turn it into a video, without manually changing the layout or text. It can also automatically translate your designs into more than 100 languages. This AI feature could be useful for marketing teams that want to create multichannel campaigns from one design.
The platform also comes with text-to-image and text-to-video features, which are a part of the Magic Media tool. These AI features let you create short videos or images from text prompts. You can generate the videos by uploading your existing images to Canva’s asset library.
The Magic Studio on Canva also includes several photo editing tools. There is Magic Grab which can automatically separate any subject in an image for editing, repositioning, or resizing. Then there is the Magic Expand tool, which allows you to extend an image beyond its original frame. The full list of Magic Studio features is available on the Canva website.
Even if you're a newbie at graphic design, Canva's AI-powered design features can help you create social media posts, presentations, marketing brochures, and more with relative ease. It also has team features like templates and brand kits to keep your designs consistent.
Pricing: Canva plans start from $100 per year per person. There is also a free plan available for users just getting started.
For those exploring alternatives to Canva, several other design tools offer robust features for creating high-quality visuals. Movavi video editor, for instance, is known for its video editing capabilities but also includes a range of graphic design tools that are user-friendly and effective. Adobe Photoshop remains a top choice for more advanced graphic design needs, offering powerful editing tools and flexibility for professional designers. Affinity Designer provides a cost-effective alternative with strong vector design capabilities and a one-time purchase fee, while GIMP, an open-source option, offers a wide array of features for users comfortable with a more hands-on approach to graphic design. Each of these tools presents unique strengths, making them valuable options depending on your specific design requirements and budget.
5. Sender
Sender is a leading SMS and email marketing automation tool that could be a good budget-friendly option for small and growing marketing teams. It offers everything you'll need to run successful email campaigns, including an easy drag-and-drop email builder, heatmaps, and detailed analytics.
Using Sender, you can personalize your email content with ready-made email templates, expand your email list with popups, and use the email design builder to create top-performing emails. When your email campaigns are decided, you can easily set up automated workflows and deliver the right messages to the right audience through smart segmentation.
Besides this, Sender also offers other useful features for order confirmation emails, win-back emails, cart abandonment recovery, feedback emails, and more. The best thing about this marketing automation tool is that the email marketing automation features are available for free (for a maximum of 2,500 subscribers).
Pricing: Sender plans start from $15.83 per month. There is also a forever free plan for businesses just starting out.
6. Ahrefs
For marketers focused on SEO, Ahrefs could be a good choice. It automates many parts of your SEO strategy, like site audits, competitor analysis, rank tracking, and more.
This marketing automation tool comes with a Site Audit feature that could save you hours of time with its ability to run scheduled website checks monthly, weekly, or even daily. It scans your website for potential issues, ensuring that it remains optimized and running smoothly.
Another notable feature on the platform is Ahrefs Alerts. It lets you keep an eye on how often your brand is mentioned online. You can also track your website’s backlinks. Manually monitoring these alerts can be quite time-consuming, so this tool could really help streamline the process.
Besides site audits and alerts, Ahrefs also comes with a convenient SEO reporting tool. You can use it to schedule PDF reports daily or weekly to track various aspects of your strategy. By setting up these SEO reports, you can automate keyword rank tracking, website auditing, competitor tracking, and overall monitoring of your website’s performance. Creating these reports with Ahrefs could save you hours of time. Say, if each report takes around four hours to prepare from scratch, automating them could save you roughly 16 hours per month.
Overall, Ahrefs is a well-rounded marketing automation tool that offers a wide array of features, like keyword research, backlink analysis, and competitive analysis, all designed to boost your SEO game.
Pricing: Ahrefs plans start from $129 per month.
Wrapping up
Wrapping up our exploration of marketing automation tools, it’s clear that automating your content creation and marketing workflow can save time, reduce human error, and also enhance your team’s creativity by freeing them from repetitive tasks.
With Flowlu’s comprehensive project management capabilities, you can keep on top of your content projects more effectively. Narrato's Content Genie can swoop in to create, schedule, and distribute your content, while HubSpot Marketing Hub brings it all together with robust marketing automation features. Canva takes the stress out of crafting stunning visuals, and let’s not forget Sender, which ensures your email campaigns are well-optimized for conversions. Finally, Ahrefs gives you the insights you need to fine-tune your SEO strategy and stay ahead in the competitive content game.
Using these tools means that you can spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time on what truly matters—engaging effectively with your audience. Experiment with the tools that best fit your business needs and continually assess their impact to ensure that your marketing workflow is streamlined.
Marketing automation tools are software platforms designed to automate repetitive tasks in content creation, social media posting, email marketing, ad management, and other marketing activities. They are important because they save time, reduce human error, enable more strategic initiatives, enhance user engagement, manage workload increases, and ensure consistency across marketing channels, thus building brand identity.
Marketing automation tools offer benefits such as reduced chances of human error, allowing teams to focus on strategic initiatives, creating more targeted content, managing workload increases effectively, and ensuring consistency across marketing channels to build brand identity.
Flowlu offers project and task automation, automated workflows for task statuses and assignments, time tracking, mind maps for project planning and idea generation, collaboration features, integration with various tools like Google Drive and Mailchimp, scalability based on team size and project complexity, and financial management capabilities including budget tracking and invoicing.
