As content marketing increases in popularity, it seems as though more and more companies are springing up and offering it as a service. The 2017 State of the Creator Economy study (SOCE) found that 8 out of 10 marketers were familiar with content marketing. About 70 percent of content marketers had experience with the concept in the past year. But with so many marketers and brands deploying content marketing strategies, it can be hard to identify the top content marketing companies of today.
Here’s a look at several of the top content marketing companies in business today, and what makes them the best in the biz.
Content Marketplaces & Platforms
IZEA
IZEAIZEA has the largest network of content creators and influencers thus it’s placement at the top of the list of top content marketing companies. It’s also evolution of the very first company to offer content and influencer marketing services. Founded in 2006, the company in recent years has grown considerably, either purchasing or partnering with a number of smaller companies. These acquisitions include Ebyline and Zen Content, along with partnerships with Allison+Partners (which was named the “Mid-Size Agency of the Year” in 2015 by PRWeek) and Rubicon Project. IZEA leverages the largest network of content creators in the world to produce high quality content at any scale. Custom content subscription packages deliver fresh, relevant, and personalized articles each month, delivered directly to clients’ inboxes.
Scripted
Scripted connects freelance content creators and writers with a variety of small businesses and agencies in need of content. Although other top content marketing companies focus on a full range of content marketing services, Scripted sticks to one thing: providing a writing service. Clients with Scripted put together briefs describing what they want from a piece of a content. They can then choose a writer from Scripted’s pool of tens of thousands of writers, or use the agency’s SmartMatch software to find the best writer based on skillset and budget needs. Once the content is written, a client can review and accept it, or ask for revisions.
Skyword
Skyword is primarily a content marketing company that allows brands to share their stories. Its platform allows marketers and content creators to produce blog posts, website content, and videos. Along with automating the content production process, Skyword’s platform also automates the process of analyzing and management content. Page views, video views, and other essential metrics are all part of the platform.
Zerys
Zerys offers a content marketing software platform to plan, produce, polish and publish content. Offering both DIY and full-service solutions, the tools allow marketers to plan strategy, research keywords, and develop an editorial calendar in addition to access to a network of more than 60,000 writers and content creators. The platform is free to use and marketers only pay for content upon approval. Plus, for those who prefer dedicated project managers to help setup and manage their account, a team of content marketing pros is available with the premium package.
Textbroker
Textbroker is a leading article and content writing service offering blog posts, product descriptions, and even technical content. The platform’s authors provide content creation in up to 15 languages for as little as 1.3 cents per word. The platform features a network of thousands of writers for hire and free registration. With the self-service option, marketers have the ability to dictate that level of quality and price paid to authors when buying content, but managed services offers additional support and a personal account manager to help you find the right creators for high-level content.
Writer Access
WriterAccess is a content marketing and creation platform featuring more than 15,000 US-based freelance writers who are screened and star-rated by performance and customer reviews. The platform lets marketers search for and find writers on their own or a service to match brands with writers based on key criteria. Content prices range from 2 cents to $2 per word and cover everything from articles, case studies and blog posts to web copy, editing and white papers.
Contently
Contently takes what it calls a data-driven approach to content marketing. The company and platform were founded in 2012, and at the time were thought to be what would “save journalism.” Today, Contently is one of the top content marketing companies in the industry. It matches brands with vetted writers, photographers, videographers, and more. Its goal is to help those brands create excellent content at scale. It’s been named one of the fastest growing companies by Inc. And actually received an award for investigative reporting from the ASJA.
Fiverr
Fiverr is the ubiquitous freelancer marketplace offering almost any kind of service you can imaging starting at the low cost of only five dollars. Geared toward the “lean entrepreneur,” the marketplace features business-building services including graphics, design, digital marketing, writing, translation, video, animation, music, audio, and programming, just to name a few. For those whose time is money Fiverr is a perfect solution to knock a few things off the todo list like logo design, wordpress customization, voice overs, whiteboards, and social media management.
Upwork
UpWork is a competitor to Fiverr and offers a similar freelance marketplace experience. Here you’ll find a host of web and mobile developers, designers and creatives, writers, virtual assistants, customer service agents, sales and marketing experts, and accountants and consultants. The software allows marketers to find and hire freelance talent. It also facilitates the management of freelance projects transactions. There are three freemium options that range from basic to enterprise, which offers an end-to-end freelancer management system.
Content Marketing Agencies
Convince and Convert
Convince and Convert is a top content marketing company that offers strategic advice and consulting for content marketing, social media marketing, and customer experience. It’s been named to Inc’s 5000 list, as well as one of the top 10 companies in Indiana. Along with offering consulting and assistance to companies looking for content marketing, Convince and Convert operates a media arm, which produces a digital magazine, plus a handful of podcasts and email newsletters.
Newscred
Content marketing company Newscred has evolved considerably since its early days. It started out as a newswire service, but today offers a host of content marketing services. It claims that its mission is to reinvent marketing. The company has received more than $90 million in funding, and now has offices around the world. With more than 100,000 subscribers, it has the largest content marketing community in the world. It has also licensed millions of articles, and primarily works with businesses on the Fortune 2000 list.
Influence & Co.
Influence & Co. produces content that aims to position brands as thought leaders in their industries. As one of the top content marketing companies, it has seen significant growth since it began, growing from two to 75 employees between 2011 and 2015. Influence & Co.’s services include knowledge extraction, content creation, and distribution. The agency specializes in executive branding, content marketing and custom content projects.
Content Creation, Management & Distribution
Curata
Since 2010, Curata has used software to help brands around the world reach their content marketing goals. The company offers both a content marketing platform and content curation software. The software allows marketers to share their content to blogs, social media, and other sources with ease. The platform not only allows marketers to measure and analyze the performance of their content. Marketers can adjust or scale their content strategy as well. Curata has received numerous awards for its work. Topping the list is the 2015 Social Tools Summit Best of Show and Owler’s 2016 Hot in Boston Award.
Kapost
Kapost is touted as “the B2B marketing solution trusted by the world’s best brands.” Built specifically for managing the B2B buyer’s journey, Kapost combines dedicated software with expert service to create thought leadership content that drives revenue and retention. The system centralizes teams, tools and channels with more than 60 integrations with CRM and CMS platforms and open API architecture.
Percolate
Percolate is an all-in-one software solution for global marketing visibility, coordination, and governance. Giving marketers the ability to manage all their marketing across multiple channels, the software solution touts a roster of more than 800 global brands ranging from GE and MasterCard to Timberland and Marriott. Products include high-level marketing calendars, briefing management and content and social media marketing coordination and distribution.
Pressly
PresslyPressly is an enterprise solution for content curation and distribution. Operating as a content hub, the platform solution centralizes content distribution and optimization across a variety of communication and content marketing channels including Newsletters, CRM software, widgets and social media. Pressy’s array of software solutions allow marketers to provide teams with a central information hub, become thought leaders in their industry, transform sales team into trusted advisors, and even leverage employee advocacy.
Canva
Canva is a design platform that allows marketers to easily create beautiful designs, infographics, and documents. The free platform features drag-and-drop functionality and professional layouts. There’s even an iPad app for designing presentations, social media graphics and more on the go. Canva also offers millions of images, stock photography, vectors and illustrations along with photo filters, free icons and shapes, and hundreds of fonts.
Brightcove
BrightcoveBrightcove is an online video platform for publishers, broadcasters, and digital marketers. It’s also one of the top content marketing companies focused on video. The platform’s goal is increasing reach and revenue for marketers through video marketing. Its video content marketing suite supports functions that improve lead generation, commerce conversions and brand awareness. This is all accomplished through the uses of branded video players, live streaming distribution, custom calls to action, embedded forms and actionable insights. Plus, a partner ecosystem features seamless integrations with top content marketing tools and services like Marketo, WordPress, Drupal and Adobe, just to name a few.
Captora
CaptoraCaptora is a top of funnel marketing solution that launches targeted campaigns at scale and with cross-platform optimization. It’s one of the top content marketing companies that offer a complete content creation, management and distribution platform. The solution allows marketers to identify and prioritize the content and conversion opportunities. Users have access to content strategy roadmaps and landing page editors complete with templates, forms, calls to action and A/B testing. Plus, detailed analytics provide campaign portfolio ROI measuring, conversion rate reporting. and actionable channel effectiveness metrics.
SnapApp
SnapApp is one of the top content marketing companies for interactive content. The platform allows you to create personalized content experiences with interactive elements. Such elements include calculators, personality assessments, contests and sweepstakes, polls and surveys, brackets, galleries, quizzes, and interactive videos. The platform facilitates end-to-end content marketing management from creation to publishing to measuring. Features include drag-and-drop tools, built-in responsiveness, and seamless integrations with existing systems.
Opal
Opal is one of the top content marketing companies for marketing team collaboration. The platform facilitates content marketing production with a structure that aims to reduce complexity while increasing collaboration. Opal’s StoryFirst™ framework takes teams out of silos and connects strategy, content creation, and cross-channel distribution in one place. Think of the solution as a project management tool for content marketing efficiency.
Content Marketing Hubs and Dams
Bynder
Bynder is a top digital asset management (DAM) platform. The software’s main function is to act as a central hub for all company materials and messaging. But the platform goes further to connect teams for same-page, real-time collaborative edits and approvals. Users have access to easy file sharing and storage along with auto-formatting for channels and file types. Functionality also includes brand identity style guides to helps insure all branded content is consistent across platforms
Uberflip
Uberflip, the company behind Flipbook, creates custom content hubs that empower marketers to create memorable journeys for their customers. It accomplishes this by delivering what it calls remarkable content experiences. Content hubs are optimized for engagement by various buyer personas so browsers can self-select their own customer journey. The platform features calls to action, marketing automation, data collection, integrations with top marketing tools and services, and detailed insights into content marketing efforts.
LookBookHQ
LookBookHQ is one of the top content marketing companies specializing in content hubs. The platform works to educate prospects and transform them into buyers faster. Software automates a sequence of content delivered in engaging and personalized experiences using data and self-learning algorithms. Plus, analytics data lets you understand how users are engaging with your content and integrates directly with your march stack.
Webdam
WebdamWebdam is a ShutterStock company, so you know this top content marketing company is all about visuals. The platform allows marketers to create, organize, manage and share brand content all on one platform. Products include Workstream, a creative project workflow management system, Webdam, an experience-focused digital asset management system, and Brand Connect, a dynamic brand management guide. The creative solution for content marketers also features integrations with popular apps, cloud security and hands-on customer support.
