How to streamline your workflow with content marketing automation

Creating content is essential for every business. You need to consistently produce blog posts, engaging social media updates, persuasive web copy, and informative email newsletters.

Each piece of content plays a role in educating customers, guiding them through the journey from prospect to paying customer. However, the process can be time-consuming, and the workload overwhelming. 

You’re likely dealing with repetitive tasks like editing, scheduling, publishing, and performance tracking. However, a content marketing automation system can make things easier and faster.

In this article, I’ll discuss how to streamline your workflow with content marketing automation. Also, I’ll provide tips that have helped me simplify my work over the years, so you can focus on what matters most. Let’s get started.

What is content marketing automation?

Before we go into how to streamline your workflow with content marketing automation, let’s understand what content marketing automation is.

Content marketing automation uses software to streamline and optimize content creation and distribution workflow. Instead of manually managing each step, automation tools can assist with:

• Identifying relevant keywords and generating content ideas
• Managing content calendars
• Scheduling posts across multiple platforms

User-generated content (UGC) creators create ultra-relatable and shareable posts using content marketing automation platforms. You can find UGC creators and collaborate with them to learn how to use content marketing automation techniques in your content marketing.

The first thing that often comes to mind when some people hear the word automation is artificial intelligence (AI), such as AI writers, AI meeting notes, and transcription tools. However, content marketing automation isn’t entirely about AI and machine learning. 

Many processes are automated using simple, rule-based software. The goal is to create a more consistent, efficient, data-driven content marketing strategy.

9 tools to streamline your workflow with content marketing automation

Managing multiple clients and campaigns adds to the complexity of content marketing. That’s why I rely on a set of automation tools to help me stay organized and save time.

Without further ado, here's how to streamline your workflow with content marketing automation using these tools:

1. Semrush

My content marketing workflow begins with keyword research and competitor analysis. Semrush does it efficiently, offering access to both local and international keywords. Its Topic Research tool is useful for brainstorming blog ideas, as it generates trending topics and related questions that people are searching for. 

How can you streamline your workflow with content marketing automation using this tool? Simply enter a keyword or topic of interest, and you’ll get a list that includes headlines, related searches, and questions. This content marketing automation tool ensures you never run out of content ideas.

Pricing: Starts at $139.95/month

2. Surfer SEO

Another tool to streamline your workflow with content marketing automation is Surfer SEO. It helps me analyze top-ranking pages and provides data-driven insights on the keywords I’ve gathered.

Surfer’s Content Editor feature, which you can also access on Google Docs via an extension, offers real-time suggestions to improve SEO while I write. This tool ensures my articles are optimized for search engines before I even publish them.

Pricing: Starts at $79/month

3. Grammarly

Nothing turns readers away faster than grammatical errors and awkward phrasing. With Grammarly, I can ensure that every piece I create is polished, professional, and error-free. 

This tool detects typos, improves readability, and refines sentence structure, saving me time on manual proofreading. With this AI grammar checker, you can automate content marketing processes without sacrificing quality or clarity.

Pricing: Free

4. Buffer

Buffer is a must-have for scheduling posts across multiple platforms, allowing consistent engagement with your audience. It ensures that I show up online regularly on all my social media accounts. 

An amazing feature that can help to streamline your content marketing workflow with automation is the ability to repurpose existing posts and customize them for different platforms. And the best part is that it works on both mobile phones and desktops.

Pricing: Start with a free account or pay $6/month

5. PublishPress Planner

When managing a large content calendar, using a tool like PublishPress Planner is a great way to streamline your workflow with content marketing automation. This plugin allows you to schedule content for publishing on WordPress.

You can also create notification workflows to know when a blog post goes live or send reminders to editors to proofread a post. The pro version of the tool integrates with Slack, so you can get notifications directly on your phone without logging into your WordPress account. 

Pricing: Start with a free account or pay $69/site

6. HubSpot

HubSpot is another automation tool that can streamline your content marketing workflow, especially when sending drip emails. It’s my go-to platform for automating email marketing campaigns and nurturing leads efficiently. 

The tool allows me to create audience segments, send personalized email sequences, and track engagement metrics, all in one place. This automation ensures my emails land in inboxes at the right time, increasing open rates and conversions.

Pricing: Get started for free

7. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is one of my go-to content marketing automation tools for reaching subscribers directly. The email marketing platform allows you to set up automated messages based on a customer’s browsing behavior on your website or previous purchases.

Its SMS marketing provides a digital customer engagement platform for offering discounts and recovering abandoned carts faster. Plus, Mailchimp offers detailed analytics to refine your email marketing strategy for better results. 

Pricing: Starts at $20/month

8. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is great for measuring content performance and audience behavior on a site. It allows me to track key metrics like page views, bounce rates, and traffic sources, so I can see what’s working and what needs improvement. 

Having solid analytics forms the foundation of your content optimization strategy. It's a crucial step in streamlining your workflow with content marketing automation.

Pricing: Free

9. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is another tool I use to track content performance. Its Content Explorer feature provides in-depth analysis of your webpage’s keyword ranking, social shares, backlinks, and traffic over time.

The Site Explorer tool also shows what your competitors are doing, so you can improve your overall content marketing strategy. With Ahrefs, you can confidently streamline your content marketing workflow, ensuring your content ranks higher and attracts the right audience.

Pricing: Starts at $29/month

Tips to streamline your workflow with content marketing automation tools

Approaching automation the right way can maximize the efficiency of your content marketing efforts. Here are some practical tips on how to streamline your workflow with content marketing automation tools:

• Create templates: Whether you’re writing blog posts or newsletters, starting from scratch is time-consuming. Use a template to fasten the process and ensure brand consistency.
• Group similar tasks: To streamline your workflow with content marketing automation tools, group similar tasks, like research, writing, and editing, into one time block. Managing similar tasks allows you to stay focused. 
• Use triggers: Create automation rules that trigger certain actions based on predefined events. If someone downloads a whitepaper, the system should automatically enroll them into your email list, assign them to a sales rep, and enter the information into your CRM.
• Regular content auditing: Set reminders to update your existing content. This ensures your information stays current and continues to perform well in search rankings.

Final thoughts

Content marketing doesn’t have to be overwhelming when you can streamline your workflow with content marketing automation tools. With the right set of tools, you can save time, maintain brand consistency, and focus on creating high-quality content that drives results. 

If you haven’t already, now is the time to integrate automation into your content marketing workflow. Remember to use the tips I shared so you can maximize your automation tools and achieve your marketing goals.