Monday 30 November 2015

How to Use Social Media at Every Stage of the Sales Funnel

Thinking of social media as part of the phrase ‘social media marketing’ is an unduly limited way to approach it. 
Many customers are using social media more than ever before and the challenge doesn’t stop at marketing. We need to find ways to make meaningful connections with customers at every stage of the sales funnel.
The purchase funnel is a consumer focused marketing model (just like social media) that has stood the test of time. Over the years, there have been various additions, modifications and adaptations to this funnel, based on changing consumer behavior and sales cycles.
And that funnel is no longer a cone-shaped conduit that drains more and more customers as they pass through it. Rather, I’d like to think of it in the form of an escalator…
sales-elevator
And it’s your duty as a marketer to keep it moving upstairs.
So where does social media fit in? How do we tie our posts to each stage of this funnel? What kind of engagement would be appropriate at each step?

Awareness

Your customers are just embarking on their not-yet-intended journey. They might be aware of your brand without interacting with it.
The more consumers interact with your brand the easier they’ll be to market to further down the funnel. Interaction needs to be earned by appropriate content. At this stage, it’s about the oft-neglected social media goal of increasing engagement.

Engage proactively

Want more engagement? Ask questions, post surveys, ask for feedback, anything to generate a response. Getting more engagement means more organic reach and arguably better search rankings, and that’s great, but these are side effects. What really counts is that engaged audiences mean more site visits and hopefully more conversions.
If you want to know how engaged your audience is, you need to drill down deep into your social as well as web analytics. A tool that combines social media management and monitoring, such as Oktopost, can help you stay on top of customer conversations and get insights on their pains and pleasures. You can then respond to them in real-time.
You can go on to identify top brand ambassadors, create and gamify social loyalty programs that track people’s contributions and reward engagement with your posts. 
This is an excellent way to drive organic reach, and can be done by means of competitions or on a points system where activities you want to reward, like likes, shares or comments, earn points which go towards items of value. 

Organize events

Events can include live Q&A’s, webinars, competitions or live events. Facebook is well suited to organizing all of these. 
search-engine-watch-connect
You can also include giveaways or prizes in return for content, engagement or submissions. Do check Facebook’s rules before you design your competition. And remember: competitions can be killer email capture tools too.

Encourage user-generated content

Get people to post on your timeline, your wall, your page, by encouraging contributions. 
This works when you ask for feedback about content, about customer experience from previous customers, or when you solicit responses that involve your offering. 
If you sell art pencils, solicit people’s drawings, maybe as part of a competition; if you sell automotive parts, ask people for their best pictures of your product in place, or their worst/funniest fix-the-truck story. 
If what you sell is a bit more ethereal, harder to take a photo of, try being more playful and asking for Gifs or images based on the experience of using your product. 

Familiarity

At this stage, customers are familiar with your brand. That’s good because, while familiarity and engagement don’t produce purchase intent by themselves, when customers do want to make a purchase, your brand will be one of the providers they’ll consider before making a decision.
You’re looking at consumers who are fans, who like your posts and favorite your tweets and read your blogs. This is where social media starts to segue to more solid forms of content like white papers and it’s where email starts to take over too.
That’s a good thing: email is awesome. We’ve all heard about how 91% of consumers use email daily, 66% have made an online purchase as a direct result of an email marketing communication, and the ROI on email is a stratospheric 4,300%.

Socialize on email

But what is better is email and social media together, powered by effective email auto-responders (time or action based messages), automating campaigns and segmenting your contacts, something that can be done even more effectively using the audience insights that Twitter and Facebook so kindly give us access to.
tweet-activity
Emails to existing subscribers can be more accurately targeted using social media. Brands can also use emails to encourage social engagement, driving more activity with consumers who are still at the awareness stage and pushing them forward towards familiarity.

Consideration

At this stage of the funnel, the consumer is actively considering a purchase. They’re looking over their options and contrasting one offering, one brand and one reputation with another.
Your brand might be familiar to consumers, but it’s your reputation that will help tip the balance in many purchase decisions. Where that’s not the case, you might be competing on brand values or on features.

Build and nurture your reputation

Reputation can be managed using social media, and it is a good source of positive sentiment reviews since positive reviews typically come from social channels while negative ones are more often from review sites
Use share buttons combined with social proof on your website so each positive review can easily be spread across social channels.
Don’t forget video. An active YouTube channel can push positive content to the top of the page, improving your visibility, traffic, and consequently, reputation.

Highlight features, show value with your content

A segment of your customers will be keen on your product’s features. Make sure you’re shooting for high search ranking on pieces of content that describe specific features, especially if they’re high ranking keywords in your space or if your offering is unique in that area. 
Again, using YouTube can be effective here, but so can using social to drive traffic to blog posts that discuss specific aspects of your offering and describe features.
If you’re creating a lot of content and you want to know how well it’s working so you can target it more effectively, you might want to try a tool like SqueezeCMM, which lets you track the responses your content is getting, and will even construct user journeys so you can follow your readers and viewers along your content funnel.
squeezecmm-dashboard

Purchase

At this stage consumers have decided to buy, and they’re buying from you. That’s great!
It’s important to continue to engage with consumers throughout the purchase period – when they make their payment and when their product arrives are two key moments that should see you reach out. 
This is another perfect opportunity for a tandem email-social upsell or cross-sell. Targeted cross-selling emails can generate a jump in transaction rates and when emails are combined with Facebook ads, the jump is even more pronounced.
Finally remember that several social networks now allow you to sell directly through the social channel. Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter all have ‘Buy’ buttons. 

Loyalty

After purchase, consumers divide into three groups. Some will leave and not purchase again. Others will return, for a few purchases. And some will become brand advocates. These are the best customers you have and they’re not just figuratively the lifeblood of your business, they drive revenue.
Encouraging more customers into the ‘loyalty loop’ post-purchase should be a priority for every business. Repeat customers cost less to market to and spend more, and their positive experience of your brand and offering translate into customer reviews with ‘upbeat sentiment’ (read: better NPS) and content, all of which carry enormous clout with other consumers.
Data from your social logins can also be used to maintain contact with single-purchase customers and encourage repurchase.

Use social channels for customer care

Customer support on social media can be a double-edged sword. 
Customers expect rapid responses on social media and won’t settle for less. Disappoint them and your reputation will suffer. Deliver on time, and watch your own customers champion your brand. Twitter is a popular channel for customer care, and it may be a good idea to make sure you have a Twitter channel purely for customer service.

Put in place loyalty programs

You can run a traditional loyalty program on social media. Facebook is particularly well set up for this, and it’s more effective when it’s integrated well with what’s happening on-site.

Reward referrals

Referral marketing rewards existing customers for bringing you more customers. Despite being as old as the hills, it’s still thriving – even Google offers cash for Google Apps for Business customer referrals. Referrals are far and away the most trusted form, of advertising, so brands should do everything they can to encourage them.
Social media accounts for a third of all referrals traffic, and a clear majority of that comes from Facebook, with Pinterest a distant but growing second. 

View from the top

Social media doesn’t just belong at the top of the funnel. Each stage of marketing, sales and retention has a place for social media, and the numbers clearly show that it’s well worthwhile for businesses to integrate it at every touchpoint of the customer’s journey.
To view the original article Click Here

21 Essential Strategies for Growing Your Business With Inbound Marketing [Infographic]

From content creation, SEO, and social media to lead generation, lead management, and analytics, marketers who follow the inbound methodology have a lot of different channels and tactics to manage and master.
But the great thing about inbound marketing is that it pays off over time. It sets businesses up to get found by their target buyers more easily, and then helps them through every single stage of the buying process -- from stranger to brand advocates.
Which of these channels and tactics are involved in which stage of the buying process? What do inbound marketers need to do -- and when -- to attract, convert, close, and delight?
Check out the infographic below from ELIV8 to learn about 21 inbound marketing strategies that can help move future customers down the funnel and accelerate the growth of your business. (And click here for an interactive guide to inbound marketing.)
How have these inbound marketing strategies helped you grow your business? Share with us in the comments.

Sunday 29 November 2015

A Social Media Approach Every Small Business Should Be Using

A Social Media Approach Every Small Business Should Be Using
Are you a small business owner looking to expand your online presence?
Would you like to know how to use social media to connect with your target market?
While the effective use of social media continues to elude many small business owners, there are proven benefits to establishing a solid online presence.
Sure you know that social media can create relationships, establish trust and earn a client for life. However, dominating your niche or market requires a strategic approach.
So, how can your small business benefit from social media?
Below is a 7-step social media approach that every small business should be using. Put these pieces in place to increase reach and grow your business!

Social Media Approach Every Small Business Should Be Using

1. Build a Credible Reputation

If you want to build authority in your industry, social media can establish a name and reputation.
From content to conversation, getting involved is a great way to get started. For many, it’s taking an established offline reputation and transitioning it into online currency.
Sound overwhelming? It doesn’t have to be.
There are many ways you can do this.
    • Pay attention to what your fans, followers and clients are saying about you or your company. Now inject yourself into the conversation.
    • Respond with helpful comments or timely information. Tools like Mention make it easy to track real-time conversation around your brand.
  • Solve problems on a daily basis and always put your best foot forward. Be a giver first  – give of your knowledge, expertise and experience.
“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” ~ Samuel Johnson

How to Make This Work in Your Business

DAVIDsTEA has built a reputation through their social channels as lively, engaging, and always entertaining.
One look at Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter and see why a consistent presence matters.

Create an easy checklist that you can follow daily to maintain consistency. Spell out  each step you’ll take, which social channels will support your goals and what objectives you look to achieve.
I love to do this with mind-mapping software. It makes visualization so much easier and all of a sudden the task now becomes manageable.
Here’s an example of what this might look like.

2. Attract Potential Clients

In a fast paced online world, the competition for attention is tremendous.  In order to stand out and attract potential clients, you must combine strategy with creativity.
Social media marketing is a perfect tool to assist with that.
Make use of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest andInstagram to share your company story. Tell it in a way that motivates and inspires potential clients to connect and engage.
Where do you get started?

How to Make This Work in Your Business

To begin attracting your perfect client across various social networks, consider these tips:
  • Spend time identifying where your target market spends their time. Is it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest? Once you know where they want to receive your message, then begin to craft it.
  • Take time to determine what you will talk about. This is not a time or place to be spammy or promotional. You want to offer insight and give away your knowledge freely to begin earning trust and building rapport.
  • Like, circle or follow competitors and other local businesses. Pay attention to what they’re doing well and where there’s opportunity to do better. Pay attention to who they’re interacting with and how they’re engaging their community.
  • Ask questions! This is a quick and easy way to find out what matters most to those connecting with you online.
  • Be the solution! Once you ask the question, it’s time to solve it like Tiny Buddha does in this tweet.

3. Connect With Like-Minded Business Professionals

Connecting with other business professionals might be counter-intuitive to how you’ve done business offline. But in the online world, relationships are everything.
Social media is an excellent way to connect with like-minded business professionals and build a mutually beneficial relationship.
However,  there are right ways and wrong ways to connect.
The right way? Strategically reaching out to people within your industry, niche or community.
The wrong way? Randomly sending out requests or long DM’s (with no prior relationship) to simply “add to your numbers.”

How to Make This Work in Your Business

Join LinkedIn Groups, Google Plus Communities and Blog Tribes to connect with others talking about and sharing similar content to your own.
Take the time to comment on their latest post or offer feedback on an interesting tweet. Have a Facebook Page? Your newsfeed is a great way to do this!
From your page, go to your page by clicking on the “View Pages Feed” link directly under your cover photo. Now scroll through and begin to share their content and actively engage.

Networking with professionals within your industry and then sharing their content creates goodwill and reciprocity.
It also stretches your reach beyond your network, tapping into their established following.

4. Diversify Your Marketing Efforts

In traditional marketing, would you limit yourself to only one outlet? I can’t imagine the answer is yes.
Likewise, don’t box yourself into a corner with social media. Spread your wings, try something new and determine what works best for your business.
By mixing social media with online advertising and PR efforts, you will be able to expand your business further than you ever imagined.

How to Make This Work in Your Business

Don’t reinvent the wheel. Repurpose evergreen content into new media.
Test an Infographic, video, podcast or graphic quote on different social channels.
Keep your content fresh and your social networks alive and interactive through a variety of media types.
Test, test, test to identify what’s working and what’s not.
5. Make Your Time and Money Count
Do you find yourself hopping from one social network to the next?
Do you often get sucked into Facebook, only to realize you’ve lost hours out of your day?
You’re not alone.
Creating a solid social media strategy can streamline your efforts and simplify your daily to-do’s. It gives life to your mission, vision and values and provides a roadmap towards success.
Stop wasting time and money on one-off tactics and get clear on why you’re using social media. Once you know your why, it’s much easier to understand the how.

How to Make This Work in Your Business

Get clear on how you can tackle social media in a productive and meaningful way. Take time to map out the keys to your success.

Your 6-Step Action Plan

  • Define Your Goals
  • Stand Out Online
  • Research
  • Create an Integrated Strategy
  • Translate Your Established Brand
  • Track and Measure Your Success

6. Drive Traffic to Your Website/Blog

As a small business owner, your website and the content on your blog are the backbone of your online presence.
Not convinced that blogging is the right marketing solution for your business?
As Neil Patel with QuickSprout points out,
Blogging generates the most traffic for companies, and when you’re consistent at it, blogging leads to more search traffic. In fact, blogging is the #1 traffic-increasing factor, while SEO is #2.”
So beyond the benefits mentioned above, what else can a blog do for your business and personal brand?
  • Establishes you/your business as an industry leader
  • Builds credibility through the know, like and trust factor
  • Decreases marketing costs through an integrated strategy
  • Allows potential customers to self-select and move through your sales funnel
  • Generates the right kind of leads, bringing your perfect customer to your doorstep
Where do you begin? Identify your WIN.

How to Make This Work in Your Business

If you want to build a successful blog, you need to know who you’re talking with, what problems you solve, and the opportunity within each of those.

WIN: Who, Issues, and Needs

  • Who: Who will you be talking with on your blog? List your target market. Mine for example is small business owners, entrepreneurs, and marketers.
  • Issues: What issues is your target market dealing with? Mine would be finding enough time to manage social media, juggling a business online and offline, budget, conversion, results.
  • Needs: What are the needs of your target market? This is where you’ll start to identify opportunity. What problems can you solve and what solutions will you provide?

7. Nurture Relationships

Social media is extremely useful when it comes to keeping in touch with your past and current clients.
By connecting with them on Facebook and other social networks, you can build a bridge that can prove extremely beneficial in the future. Not only will you stay top of mind, but you’re creating relevance.
With consumers attention spans hovering around 8 seconds, the more brain cells you can earn, the better off you will be once they’re ready to make a purchase or connect with your business.

How to Make This Work in Your Business

Sharing an experience is important, but crafting it and having a purpose is even more important. Focus on the “telling” of the story.
The goal is to help your audience and potential clients relate – whether it’s to you and your business or to a past client through a positive testimonial.
Start creating your own stories and watch how people react. You’ll be surprised at how easy it is to draw in a client when you allow them to understand who you are and connect with you on a much deeper level.

Final Thoughts

There are many benefits to your small business getting active on social media.
How can you better position your business across social media to welcome new customers? And how can you use social media to endear customers to your small business?
Answer those questions and unlock the benefits and power of social media in your small business.
To view the original article
Click Here

The 31 Best Tools for Improving Your Writing Skills

Words are hard.
Whether you're a published author or just getting started with blogging, it's not always easy to string words together in a way that makes sense, sounds good, and makes the reader feel something.
But every marketer should be able to write -- and, more importantly, every marketer can write. It's just a matter of finding the writing environment that works best for you, expanding your vocabulary, asking for feedback (and listening to it), and practicing.
Luckily, there are a slew of great tools you can use to help improve your writing. Check out the list below, and feel free to add the most helpful ones you use in the comment section.

Download The Marketer's Pocket Guide to Writing Well for free tips on how to become a better writer.

The 31 Best Tools for Improving Your Writing

1) Daily Page

"Writer's block is a comforting lie we tell ourselves so we can stop writing and go do other, more pleasurable things," said Beth Dunn, HubSpot's UX writer and editor. "If your fingers still work, you can write. Sit down at the same time every day and start typing."
Want to get into the habit of writing every day, but don't know what to write about? Daily Pageemails you a writing prompt every morning, and you have the rest of the day to write your response. Once you've written your response to the prompt, you can either share it or keep it private.

2) 750 Words 

Another way to practice your writing is to do a "brain dump" exercise using a tool like 750 Words. "Brain dumping" means getting all that stuff in your head down on paper -- without having to worry about incomplete ideas, tangents, and private stuff.
It's not blogging or status updating -- it's just you, writing whatever you want on a totally private account, without ever having to title your content or tag topics or share with your friends.
What it does do is track your word count so you're sure to write 750 words (about three pages of writing). Plus, it's gamified, which makes it kind of fun: You get a point for writing anything at all, two points for writing 750 words or more, and more points if you write consistently. And every time you write, it'll give you some cool statistics on how much time you spent writing, the feelings and themes of your words, and so on.
Image Credit: 750 Words

3) Twords 

Publishing content on a consistent basis is crucial in the blogging world. Our own research concludes that companies that commit to regularly publishing quality content to their blogs tend get the most website traffic and leads -- and those results continue to pay out over time. Tools like Twords can help bloggers commit to writing consistently.
Twords calls itself "the app that nudges you to write." It notifies you when you haven't written in a while so you can keep yourself accountable -- and even gives you the option to connect with others who will help keep you accountable. It also tracks your writing so you can start to see patterns for the days you're blogging more versus less, and so on. Finally, it includes some cool resources like a prompt library and articles about habit formation, writing resources, and so on.
Image Credit: Twords

4) Your Own "Swipe File" 

I read about a "Swipe File" on the "Kopywriting Kourse" blog and loved the idea. Basically, a swipe file is just a folder where you can curate cool stuff you come across, like advertisements, copy, emails, etc. "Save things that make you click, sign up, laugh, or go 'whoa!'" says the post. The purpose? To flip through it for inspiration.
A swipe file can be physical or digital.
  • A physical swipe file would be something like a folder or envelope where you can keep print ads, pieces of copy, letters, and so on for inspiration.
  • A digital swipe file on desktop would be a digital folder, like one on your desktop. Whenever you see something interesting, screenshot it (by pressing Command + Shift + 4 on a Mac or Ctrl + Shift + 4 on a PC) and dragging that screenshot to your swipe folder.
  • A digital swipe on your mobile device is good for all the stuff you see when browsing the internet on your phone or tablet. The author of the post, for instance, created a specific folder in his iPhone and made a Phone Swipe File there. He stores screenshots when he sees something on mobile that grabs his attention.
Image Credit: KopywritingKourse.com

5) Help me Write 

What better way to make sure you're writing about stuff your audience actually wants to read than by actually asking them? When you create a profile using Help me Write, you can post ideas of what you're thinking about writing about. Then, you can share those ideas with your network via Twitter, Facebook, email, and so on -- and ask your networks what they'd like to read most. They'll be able to vote on their favorites, and you'll be able to pick topics and better manage your time. 

6) Blog Topic Generator

Do you have an overarching theme or keywords in mind for your next blog post, but you're not sure at which angle to tackle it? HubSpot's Blog Topic Generator could come in handy. Simply type in three keywords, and the tool will auto-generate five potential topics for your post. If you're not keen on the suggestions, you can always click "Try Again" and it'll give you five more topics.

7) Trello

Writing efficiently and organizing well is a part of writing well. Use a tool like Trello to collect content ideas, assign them to different members of your team, attach due dates, collaborate with other team members, track their progress, and move them from conception to completion.
Here at HubSpot, we add all our blog post ideas to Trello, turning each idea into a card that we can expand on with notes and move from list to list with a simple drag-and-drop.

8) Google Docs

There are many ways you can use Google Docs to improve your writing. For example, you can use the research tool to do online research on the topic you're writing about, find quotes or educational information, and so on (see #4 on this list). You can use it to request edits or comments from your peers. It even has a built-in dictionary.
One of my favorite ways to use Google Docs to improve my writing is by crowdsourcing ideas from my coworkers. Here at HubSpot, the blogging team uses this method all the time -- and it shaves off a significant portion of research time that goes into curated posts. The result? Better examples and more comprehensive posts with less effort.

9) Quora & 10) inbound.org

Speaking of crowdsourcing, Quora is a great place to go for crowdsourced answers if you want to reach outside your network. Simply search for a keyword, follow topics related to the topics you're interested in, and/or post your own questions.
If you're looking for answers from inbound marketers specifically, inbound.org is a great place to source answers from professionals. Here's an example of a post where the author asked about people's productivity and time management habits.

11) Blog Post Templates & 12) Ebook Templates

If you're all set on a topic but need help with organizing your writing so it's interesting to read, you may want to check out our free, downloadable blog post templates or ebook templates, depending what you're writing.
  • The blog post templates will give you an outline of five different types of blog posts: how-to posts, listicles, curated collections, SlideShare presentations, and newsjacks.
  • The ebook templates are available as both PowerPoint and InDesign files. All you have to do is paste in your text, drop in your images, add your company's logo, and voila -- a finished ebook.

13) oTranscribe 

If you're writing something that includes an interview with someone else, oTranscribe is a great tool that'll make the transcription process much less painful -- allowing more time for your own writing and analysis.
There are a lot of transcription tools out there, but this one is one of my favorites. It's a web app for transcribing interviews created by Elliott Bentley, a graphics writer at Wall Street Journal. The audio player is integrated with the editor meaning you won't have to click back and forth. You can pause, play, rewind, and fast-forward using keyboard shortcuts. Every second, it automatically saves the transcription to your browser's storage. You can export it to plain text or Google Docs. Finally, it's open source under the MIT license.

14) Coffitivity

Ready to start writing? Here's a tool that'll boost your productivity. A study out of the University of Chicago found that a moderate level of ambient noise, or "white noise," helps people be more creative. While there are a lot of white noise generators out there, Cofftivity is my favorite. It offers non-stop café background sounds at varying intensities, from "Morning Murmur" and "University Undertones" to "Lunchtime Lounge" and "Brazil Bistro."

15) E.ggtimer.com & 16) Tomato Timer

If you like to write with a little pressure (or you're just on deadline), then tools likee.ggtimer.com and Tomato Timer are useful (and free). Both of these tools offer a "pomodoro" option, which refers to the Pomodoro technique: a time management technique created by Francesco Cirillo based on periods of distraction-free work followed by short breaks -- which is supposed to be optimal for productivity.

17) ZenPen 

If you don't do well with distractions while you're writing on a computer, then use a tool like ZenPen to help block out all the distractions and focus on your writing. It's a web app that gives you a "minimalist writing zone." There are a few, minimalist features available to help you stylize the text, add hyperlinks, and block quotes. Once you're done, simply copy the text and paste it in your blog editor or wherever you'd like it to go.

18) Power Thesaurus & 19) Thesaurus.com 

Power Thesaurus isn't just any thesaurus: It's a crowdsourced thesaurus that provides alternative word choices from a community of writers. The word suggestions are totally original, and are based on the editorial work of a team of writers and years' worth of reviews visitors' suggestions.
But hey, when you want a good ol', regular Thesaurus, you can't beat Thesaurus.com.

20) Twinword Writer 

Here's another help that'll help you if you get stuck on a word and don't want to leave your browser or skim through synonyms. If you type using Twinword Writer, it'll automatically sense if you pause because you're stuck on a word. Then, it'll analyze the context of your writing and open a box suggesting alternate words you can use. You can also click any word to get suggestions.

21) Prompts 

If you like typing out posts or ideas using your iPhone and tend to hit a wall in the middle of a thought or idea, this $2.99 iOS app may be worth the investment. It uses an algorithm to make suggestions for what you should write next. It also tracks stats about your writing habits, can remind you to write regularly if you allow it, and lets you schedule the best day and time to write based on your writing history.
Image Credit: Prompts

22) Factbrowser

While you're writing, you may find you need to support your ideas with research. Tools like Factbrowser search facts, stats, reports, studies, and surveys. Their research covers a wide range of topics, including social networks, gaming, specific industries, holidays, coupons, marketing, and so many more.

23) BrainyQuote 

You may also find you want to include a quote from a famous author, politician, celebrity, or other public figure to strengthen your writing or inspire your readers. BrainyQuote is a library filled with millions of interesting quips that you can search by speaker (from Aristotle to Dr. Seuss to Audrey Hepburn) or by topic (like peace, success, leadership, and more).

24) Hemingway App

Ernest Hemingway, admired for his succinct writing style, is the namesake for this handy editing app. Want to make your content more easily readable? Paste your text into this free web app and it'll assess your writing and identify opportunities to make it simpler. First, it sums up how readable your writing is with a grade. Then, it suggests how to improve readability. (Read this blog post for more tips on simplifying your writing.)

25) AtomicWriter 

Here's another tool that'll assess your writing -- but this time, it'll assess it depending on your specific target audience's reading level and which content they relate to the most. After all,writing for your target audience is an important part of content marketing.
How? Simply hook up your Google Analytics and social media accounts to AtomicWriter, and then paste your content into the app. It'll analyze your historical data and engagement data from those accounts, and then tell you whether it's suitable for your target audience. 
(It's also available as a Chrome Extension here.)
Image Credit: Jeff Bullas

26) Grammarly & 27) Correctica

Once the actual writing part is done, it's time to edit. While human editors will be able to catch most grammatical errors, editing tools like Grammarly and Correctica are great tools for triple-checking before you press "publish" or "send." Both free tools check for grammatical errors -- and Grammarly even checks for plagiarism.

28) Draft 

When you upload your document to draft (from cloud services like Dropbox, Evernote, Box, or Google Drive), there's a lot you can do with it. You can edit your document, share it with colleagues or friends, and manage your friends' suggestions -- much in the same way you can with Google Docs.
One big differentiator, though? Draft lets you call on a staff of reviewers to get suggested edits. It calls itself the "Uber for copyediting." If you don't have anyone to help you edit your document, simply import your document and press "Ask a Professional." (Learn about more features here.)
Image Credit: Draft

29) Cliché Finder 

Unleashed too many clichés in your most recent piece of content? To help your writing be more specific, it's generally best to avoid clichés. To ensure you leave no stone unturned, paste your text into Cliché Finder and it'll highlight any you missed so you can replace them with more specific text.

30) Listly

When you're creating list posts -- like this one -- it's easy to hit a wall. Sure, you know there are other great examples out there, but you've already exhausted the ones you know of. With Listly, you can invite your audience to contribute to your list. The Listly community can then vote on list items to move them up the list. 
You can either embed the interactive list in your post or use it do conduct research before you publish to ensure that the examples, items, or tips you're including are the best of the best.

31) Style Guide

The more content your business puts out, the more consistent that writing and messaging should be. This includes everything from what official names to call your products or services, down to whether to use an Oxford comma.
At some point, most companies accept that they'll need to develop a writing style guide: a document that indicates the basic rules of writing we'll all agree to follow (like whether I should've capitalized the "a" after the colon in this sentence).
Most businesses adopt either the AP Stylebook, or the Chicago Manual of Style. If you want to customize your style guide, you can download the writing style guide template we've created here.
Which tools for improving one's writing would you add to the list? Share with us in the comments.
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