visual-content-marketing-toolsContent marketing is one of the most effective forms of online marketing available to businesses today.

Not only does content help you to spread the word about your products and services, share your expertise, and reach new audiences, it also helps with your SEO and social media marketing.

Visual content is especially effective, which is why many marketers now focus on images, videos, and other forms of visual content to boost their marketing efforts.

However, making the most of visual content often involves using some specialist tools, so here are a few of the best that can give your marketing efforts a boost.

Free Image Sources

Inbound marketing can be a highly effective technique, as explained in this whitehat SEO blog post about inbound marketing. But you need to make sure you go about it in the right way, and using the right images in your content is important.

So where can you find these images?

The best option is to take them yourself, which will ensure all of your images are completely original to your business. However, this is not always a viable option, especially for smaller businesses.

Fortunately, there are many websites online where you can find free images to use in your content. These all have slightly different rules about how you can use the images. While some require attribution and a link, others do not, so it is always important to read the guidelines.

Some of the best include Flickr, which has a huge selection of Creative Commons images you can use with attributions; Pixabay, which allows you to use the images without any attribution; Public Domain Pictures, which provides a source of images in the public domain; and FreeRangeStock, which also has a good selection of images.

Image Creation Tools

Often it is not enough to simply have a source of images to use. As well as finding them, you will want to edit your images. This can help you to change them up and make them more eye-catching, or simply make them more suitable for the content you are publishing.

In this case, image creation and editing tools are very useful.

Photoshop is the most well-known image editing tool. However, it is expensive, and it may not be necessary for the simple edits that you want to make.

Instead, why not try out PicMonkey? This is one of the most popular editing tools, and it is great for creating effects with your images. You can use it to touch up your images, add  filters, add text in various fonts, and much more.

Pixlr is another free tool that is similar to Photoshop. You can do most of the things you need to with this, and it’s easy to use.

And you could always try out the free version of Photoshop online if you don’t need all the bells and whistles of the full version.

Social Media Tools

There are also visual tools with a special focus on social media that you can use. One good option is Canva, which is simple and very effective as well as being free to use. You can use this tool to create different graphics and styles, and it is a good image editing tool in itself. But you can also use it to create images for specific social networks.

Or you could use the Landscape tool from Sprout Social, which does exactly what you would expect. You can quickly resize images with a click so that they are suitable for specific social networks.

Free Gifs

As well as images, you may want to use Gifs in your content marketing. Gifs are short animated videos that are often used for humorous effect, and they are great to insert into blog posts.

Use a site like Giphy to search for some good ones, and then save the ones you like. You can then use them when you need them in your content.

Create Charts

Charts are another useful way to use visual content, especially when you have a lot of data that you want to present in a simple and effective way.

Use a tool like Datawrapper to quickly create visuals that you can then use in your blog posts or presentations. People love stats and charts when they contain interesting info, so make use of them.

Useful Design Tools

Sometimes you may want to design new documents like landing pages and brochures, but you may not want to hire a designer or use an expensive tool like InDesign. One option you can try out is LucidPress.

This fantastic tool makes designing easy. Everything is done in the browser so you don’t need to download any software, and there is a free version you can try out first and a pro version with more advanced features. All in all, it’s a great little tool.

Infographics

Infographics are another popular form of content that you can share. But creating them often requires the services of a designer. If you would like to create one without a designer, use Easel.ly.

It has free and pro versions, and you can quickly use an infographic template to come up with your own version. It’s simple to use, and you can create excellent infographics with it.

Take Advantage of Visual Content

Visual content is a fantastic way to get more shares and engagement with your content marketing, so make sure you focus on using images, videos, gifs, infographics, and more as much as you can. Use these tools to help you, and start getting more from your content.

Author

Clwyd Probert, CEO and founder of Whitehat, has many years of international experience in both the technological and marketing side of the industry. Having been based in New York, and now London, he has worked in the competitive markets of hedge funds and investment banks. As an entrepreneur, he has built and developed several different companies over the years.

In addition to his commitments to the Whitehat Inbound Agency, Clwyd is also heavily focused on delivering practical advice to businesses and entrepreneurs at seminars. For instance, he recently ran marketing seminars for attendees at The Business Show, held in Olympia, and has arranged a small seminar for a group of highly talented female entrepreneurs. All of this a big plus for us, as it helps keep us one step ahead of the competition when it comes to the fast-changing world of inbound marketing in London and all over the United Kingdom.

As if that’s not enough, in his spare time Clwyd is also a highly respected international photographer, working with and supporting animal charities at home and abroad. As a patron of Hope4Apes, and The Battersea Cats and Dogs Home and The Born Free Foundation, he has worked alongside Brian May and Sir David Attenborough and Virgina McKenna.