Top Content Planning Tools for Streamlined Marketing
There are hundreds of tools available serving different purposes when it comes to content planning and marketing. We outline some top content planning tools to outsmart your competition and ensure your company’s long-term growth and success. But it doesn’t have to be that way. With a content planning tool, you’re not just organizing content—you’re empowering your team to collaborate efficiently and deliver content that hits the mark every time.
Key Takeaways
- StoryChief is a powerful content marketing platform that allows for streamlined content creation and distribution.
- Google Workspace offers a suite of tools for collaborative content planning and document management.
- Microsoft 365 provides robust features for content creation, editing, and collaboration.
- Asana helps teams manage projects and tasks, making it easier to plan and execute content strategies.
- Airtable combines the simplicity of a spreadsheet with the power of a database to organize content planning.
1. StoryChief
StoryChief is a content marketing platform for content collaboration, planning, and content distribution. It’s a centralized hub that enables marketing team members to manage every aspect of their content planning process from start to finish.
With StoryChief, you can easily collaborate, brief, assign, write, optimize for SEO and readability, review, approve, and publish content.
Additionally, you can involve your team in creating website content, newsletters, videos, webinars, podcasts, and whitepapers. You can also promote your content across various channels, including social media, ambassadors, influencers, and press lists.
StoryChief integrates with all kinds of CMSs which means you can publish content to your website hassle-free, with a single click. StoryChief then allows you to track the performance of your content from several dashboards and reports.
StoryChief is also a great content planning tool for WordPress and HubSpot. The distribution platform enables easy publishing to a CMS.
Pricing starts at 30 USD per month for individuals up to 220 USD per month for teams, and 400 USD per month for agencies. Dive in risk-free with our 7 day free trial. So you have plenty of time to understand the power of StoryChief without commitment.
With StoryChief, we plan a year of content ahead, working closely with our clients to define a clear focus. Once the content calendar is set and approved, every piece of content flows seamlessly from StoryChief.
Remember, while not every content planner offers automated publishing, all-in-one platforms like StoryChief save significant planning time thanks to 1,000 direct-publishing integrations. Start planning your content today.
2. Google Workspace
Google Workspace unites various Google planning tools, allowing your team to do anything online, from communicating via Gmail, Chat, and Meet to collaborating on content in Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Google’s suite enables easy file management, real-time file syncing, and team collaboration from any place and device.
3. Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 offers convenient desktop-to-online file synchronization and real-time collaboration in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Also, communication, planning, to-do listing, and other capabilities are available.
Microsoft 365 suite features desktop and online content planning tools for all-in-one app task completion. It’s a good option for anyone from independent content writers to multi-level marketing teams and enterprises.
4. Asana
Asana is a project planning tool that enables easy workplace management through an intuitive dashboard. The workspace is customizable so that you can adjust it to the goals of your project. You can also streamline your internal communication and progress tracking through various integrations. Moreover, you can export Asana to Excel as a data backup option.
Asana stands out as a project management software that goes beyond basic task automation. It distinguishes itself with a robust set of features for intricate project planning, including timeline visualization for easy scheduling and better project timelines understanding.
Asana is consistently one of the most popular marketing planning tools around. You can create tasks and subtasks, easily assign tasks to other teammates, and use dashboards to track the progress of your project. Asana includes chat functionality so team members can stay in communication no matter where they are as well as file sharing options to keep things organized. It also offers automation so you can simplify your workflows and reduce errors.
Furthermore, Asana enhances resource management and workload management. It employs task automation and process automation to reduce manual effort, thus increasing efficiency. This project planning software has revolutionized the traditional planning process, making it easier for teams to reach their goals.
5. Airtable
Airtable is a powerful yet easy-to-use database tool for information management and collaboration. With the view of a spreadsheet, this tool can be a practical content planner. With no coding involved, build models of content pages for your website, define relationships between them, and manage different types of content with great visibility.
Interface Airtable
Airtable is a low-code project management platform that makes it easy to build and customize workflows for your team. The tool’s key strengths lie in its dynamic database capabilities, allowing users to create custom fields, assign categories and tags, and easily sort and filter content.
Best features
- Pre-made templates make it easy to get started
- Adds AI to automations for the creation of assets like creative briefs, blog posts, product descriptions, and more
- Organize data with custom views like grid, kanban, calendar, or gallery
- Easily integrate your workflow with other applications
Pricing
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Free Plan | $0 |
| Paid Plans | Starting at $10.99/user monthly |
Spend less time moving things around, and more time creating great content. Try it free! 🙌
6. Trello
Trello, a popular project management tool, has become a reliable and straightforward option for content planning. Its simplicity and versatility make it a go-to choice for many content creators. Trello offers an intuitive board system. With boards, lists, and cards, the tool provides a visual representation of the content planning process. You can effortlessly create lists for different stages of content creation, such as ideation.
Trello’s card system is not just a mere project planning software. It acts as a comprehensive project management tool enabling efficient resource management and providing clarity on project timelines.
Understanding Trello’s Card System
Trello utilizes a unique project management software designed to streamline project planning, workflow management, and processes. This utilizes a card system to effectively manage resources, timelines, and tasks.
Why Trello is a Favorite Among Agencies
Key aspects like project timelines, scheduling, and process automation are easily tracked and adjusted, making Trello an indispensable tool for project planning. Its unique capabilities significantly enhance the planning process, positioning Trello as a preferred planning software for professionals across industries.
7. ContentCal
ContentCal is a versatile tool that serves as a single source location for your social media content planning and scheduling. Its user-friendly design makes it easy for the entire marketing team to adopt and use it successfully. Everyone can easily visualize the content strategy and lay out a steady diet of relevant content to post to the company’s social media accounts.
8. GatherContent
GatherContent is an all-in-one content marketing platform for managing all your content operations from creation to exporting to CMS. It provides a structured approach to content planning, allowing you to create and manage content templates, define content workflows, and assign tasks to team members. This streamlines the content creation process and ensures a consistent and efficient workflow from planning to execution.
Key Features
- Create, collaborate on, and store all your content on one platform
- Add content guidelines for your team to refer to
- Invite collaborators
- Export your publications to the CMS
Pros
- Centralized content organization and planning interface
- Structured approach to content planning
- Efficient workflow from planning to execution
Cons
- The tool only supports social media scheduling. You will need another tool if you want to auto-schedule to your blog, email newsletters, content hubs, or PR lists.
- Although visually appealing, the user interface can be quite difficult to navigate.
GatherContent allows businesses to keep content operations consistent across all channels thanks to convenient content management features.
9. Notion
Notion is a project management software that helps streamline business workflows and operations through visual task and process organization. It offers a versatile and customizable workspace for streamlining your content creation process. Its drag-and-drop interface allows easy creation and customization of pages, tables, and databases. The tool’s collaboration features facilitate real-time teamwork with task assignments, comments, and progress tracking.
Best Features
- User-friendly interface to map out and structure your content planning efforts.
- In-app team collaboration, progress tracking, task prioritization, and file management.
- Integration of content planning tools and APIs to create a powerful hub for managing all content.
Cons
- The platform can be a bit difficult for beginners or for simple content tasks.
- No ability to track changes when collaborating on content with multiple collaborators.
Pricing
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Free Trial | $0 |
| Monthly Plan | $99+ per month |
Notion offers a comprehensive solution for content planning, but it can’t publish your content directly.
10. CoSchedule
CoSchedule is a content planning tool designed to simplify the process of content planning and empower creators and marketers with its comprehensive suite of features. The tool’s interface is designed with user experience in mind. The clean layout and logical organization make it easy to find and manage your content efficiently. It also serves as a centralized hub for all your content planning needs.
Why CoSchedule
CoSchedule’s content calendar is a versatile and AI-powered tool designed to streamline and optimize the way marketing teams organize, plan, and execute their strategies. It offers features that enhance collaboration, organization, and efficiency. These include a marketing calendar, campaigns, Kanban project management, tables, AI assistance, social publishing, project tracking, and reporting.
Customer Stories
See how CoSchedule customers have found success. The tool is trusted by over 70,000 teams and 30 million people, and it saves teams an average of $5,000 per employee per year.
Build Your Case for CoSchedule
Get your custom ROI report & see what your team could save by switching to CoSchedule!
Popular Use Cases
Explore how marketers and teams use CoSchedule Calendar products. From scheduling to execution, CoSchedule provides a range of products tailored for different platforms and needs.
Resources
Tools Free!
- AI Writing Tools: Generate first-draft content in just a few clicks. Explore CoSchedule’s library of free AI-powered writing tools.
- CoSchedule is a powerful tool for managing your marketing projects, but if you’re struggling with content overload, Planist.ai can simplify your strategy and turn chaos into order. With features like AI Insights, Auto Planning, and tailored advice, Planist.ai makes content creation easier and smarter. Ready to elevate your content strategy?
Conclusion
In today’s competitive landscape, leveraging the right content planning tools is crucial for any marketing team aiming for success. With hundreds of tools available, selecting the ones that best fit your needs can significantly enhance your team’s efficiency and output. From organizing content and scheduling posts to facilitating team collaboration, these tools are designed to streamline your workflow and ensure consistent, high-quality content delivery. By integrating these top content planning tools into your strategy, you not only outsmart your competition but also set your company up for long-term growth and success. So, take the time to evaluate your options, and choose the tools that will best support your marketing goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a content planning tool?
A content planning tool is software designed to help marketers and content creators organize, schedule, and manage their content across various platforms. It streamlines workflows, facilitates collaboration, and ensures consistency in content delivery.
Why is content planning important?
Content planning is crucial for maintaining consistency, ensuring your team is well-informed about posting times, and aligning your content with your overall marketing and SEO strategies. It helps in managing multiple marketing channels efficiently and effectively.
How do I choose the right content planning tool?
When selecting a content planning tool, consider your specific needs, goals, and budget. Evaluate the features offered, ease of use, and how well the tool integrates with your existing systems. A good tool should streamline your workflow and enhance team collaboration.
Can content planning tools improve team collaboration?
Yes, content planning tools are designed to enhance team collaboration by providing a centralized platform where team members can share ideas, assign tasks, and track progress. This ensures everyone is on the same page and can contribute effectively to the content strategy.
Are there free content planning tools available?
Yes, there are several free content planning tools available, such as Trello and Google Workspace. While free versions may have limited features, they can still be effective for small teams or individual creators looking to organize their content efforts.
What are some top content planning tools?
Some top content planning tools include StoryChief, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Asana, Airtable, Trello, ContentCal, GatherContent, Notion, and CoSchedule. Each of these tools offers unique features to help streamline your content planning and marketing efforts.
