Let’s face it, content marketing can be difficult. Finding the time and inspiration to successfully develop, publish and promote great content can present a number of challenges for even the most seasoned marketers.

Thankfully, there are plenty of useful resources available to lend a hand, helping us deliver more creative solutions to generating leads, building relationships and driving sales. The difficulty is selecting the ones that work and the ones that simply create more effort.

To help sort the wheat from the chaff, here are 5 content marketing resources that I regularly employ to help me achieve my goals.

  1. BoostSuite: This is a co-marketing platform that helps marketers build strong connections with others in the field and share quality content across related websites. By collaborating with marketers worldwide, you’ll not only boost the amount of content you publish but also attract new visitors to your site. To ensure quality, all content is reviewed before being shared with the community. BoostSuite provides both freemium and affordable subscription options, giving marketers a chance to try co-marketing without any risk.
  2. Periscope: Twitter’s new live broadcasting technology could be the next big thing in content marketing. Periscope has the potential to completely change the way we think of broadcasting. Broadcasting is no longer a one-way communication channel. Individuals and corporations now have the ability to connect and engage with their audience directly. Oh, did I mention, like Twitter, Periscope is 100% free to all users.
  3. iContact Pro: A smarter email and social media marketing solution. iContact Pro’s marketing automation technology enables marketers to better deliver the right message to the right people at the right time. Learn how iContact Pro made me a smarter marketer in just 60 minutes.
  4. HARO: Put simply, HARO is a great place to meet journalists, bloggers and other media types. HARO’s free service sends three emails per day to subscribers offering the opportunity to contribute insight to all manner of articles, broadcasts and global media events.
  5. Guardian Masterclasses: Not all content marketing resources can be found in the online environment, sometimes you’ve got to get out into the real world. The Guardian newspaper runs a series of inspirational, educational courses (including my own email and social media masterclass) from its HQ in central London. First time visitors should be prepared to suffer considerable office-envy – the place is amazing. Don’t worry if you cannot make it to London, The Guardian also offers bespoke courses which can be hosted at a venue of the clients choosing.

What tools do you use to help fuel your creative content marketing efforts? Share your comments below.