Best SaaS Tools To Run A Content Marketing Agency

The content marketing agency business has been facing a lot of headwinds over the past few years. The rise of Generative AI has perhaps commoditized certain aspects of content marketing. It may also seem like the surge in AI and zero-click search has brought down the demand for SEO content.

But as the hype over AI settles down, businesses are coming to terms with a new reality. AI is no longer a differentiator; it’s the baseline. Businesses that treat AI as a business enabler instead of a superpower will navigate this reality much more effectively.

For a Content Marketing Agency, it’s not just AI

AI has caused the biggest generational disruption in marketing. But it’s not everything that can make or break your business.

A content marketing agency is like every other business. You need to ensure sustainable cash flow, keep costs low, and grow your revenue. You can be successful if you can do this while offering the best content marketing service to your clients.

In this article, we will talk about the various SaaS tools that can help you achieve this. To keep information objective, we will be categorizing the tools into various buckets like Administration, Operations, Marketing, and Distribution. Furthermore, we will provide a list of valuable features for each of these tools.

Operations SaaS Tools For Content Marketing Agency

These are tools that a content marketing agency needs to run their operations efficiently. These are powerful enablers that can help you differentiate your business from competition.

StoryChief - AI Powered Content Marketing Platform

StoryChief offers a comprehensive set of content management and distribution tools to run a content marketing agency business. This includes an AI-powered content editor, a content calendar, multi-channel publishing systems, and content amplification tools.

Furthermore, StoryChief also offers tools to generate AI videos, manage social media scheduling, and streamlined content collaboration.

Valuable features:

• AI canvas to create and collaborate on content campaigns
• Powerful integration with third-party content management tools
• Free SEO and social media analytics.

Pricing: Free tier offers access to social media and website analytics. Social media management tools start at $22/month while editorial plans start at $81/month.

G2 Rating: 4.6/5

Airtable - Smart Content Workflows

Airtable is more than just a modern-day spreadsheet. It can be used to deploy smart content pipelines based on traffic and revenue potential. It can also create dynamic content calendar, automate repetitive workflows, and build content repurposing engines.

Its AI agent and integration tools can help bring data from multiple third-party sources and devise a content pipeline that is based on strategic input.

Valuable features:

• Relational database tools
• Client portals
• AI agents
• Custom interfaces.

Pricing: Includes free-tier with limited features. Paid plans start at $20/seat/month.

G2 Rating: 4.6/5

Quillbot - Complete Writing Solution

Quillbot touts itself as a complete writing solution. The platform has a comprehensive list of tools to help with content generation and editing. It is also equipped with AI-enabled image generation and translation features.

Quillbot also has features that aid in building other downloadable assets. This includes tools for PDF management, presentation creator, and image editor.

Valuable features:

• Social media post writer
• AI chat
• AI detector
• Plagiarism checker
• Citation generator

Pricing: The basic limited version of Quillbot is free. Premium plans start at $4.17 per month. This includes advanced features like unlimited paraphrasing, text humanizer, writing suggestions, and so on.

G2 Rating: 4.4/5

Content Snare - Client onboarding and data collection

Agencies routinely have trouble securing all the documents and information from their clients. Content Snare helps avoid the back-and-forth conversations with clients. It does this by collecting and organizing all documents in one place.

The application comes with predesigned templates, a simple client portal, seamless approval system, and automated reminder and follow up system.

Valuable features:

• Unlimited clients and reminders
• SMS and email based reminders
• Custom branding
• Premium integrations.

Pricing: Starts at $42/month for up to 20 active requests and 20 GB storage. Higher priced plans are available for larger number of active requests and storage.

G2 Rating: 4.7/5

Envato - Creative Asset Repository

Envato is a repository of all the various creative assets you will need as a content marketing agency. The platform offers video templates, stock photos, stock videos, audio, photos, fonts, and Gen AI resources in one place.

There are more than 27 million premium assets available on the platform as on date.

Valuable features:

• Unlimited downloads on certain plans
• Text prompt based image and video generation tools
• Compatibility with all major creative software tools like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, and Canva
• Predesigned templates for infographics, and social media

Pricing: Individual plans start at $16.5 per month. Team and Enterprise plans start at $29/month with lifetime commercial license.

G2 Rating: 4.1/5

Marketing & Distribution SaaS Tools For Content Marketing Agency

Content distribution planning is a critical component of a successful content marketing campaign. The right tools can not only help streamlining your distribution process but can also help amplify your content effectively.

StoryChief.io’s social media management tool can automate and schedule your social media posts seamlessly. It also provides valuable insights to refine existing campaigns.

GetResponse - Email Marketing & Automation

GetResponse is an AI-powered email marketing and automation suite. It is ideal for content distribution and amplification. The platform offers a comprehensive suite of content marketing tools. This includes an email newsletter tool, a landing page creator, autoresponder, web push notification system, course creator, and a webinar platform.

These tools help content marketing agencies drive traffic to their content and subsequently grow conversions. The webinar and course creator tools also make it possible for agencies to repurpose their content into helpful courses or webinars for further amplification.

Valuable features:

• AI-powered email sequence creators
• eCommerce integrations
• Conversion funnel builder
• Workflow automation.

Pricing: Starts at $19/month for a list size of 1000 subscribers. Higher priced plans available for advanced features and larger list sizes.

G2 Rating: 4.3/5

ManyReach - Email Outreach

Content marketing involves a lot of outreach and collaboration. You reach out to other content marketers for link campaigns, reach out to microinfluencers to promote your blog or video. You may also need cold outreach to acquire potential new clients.

ManyReach is a cold outreach automation system that helps agencies set up predefined sequences to targeted prospects via email.

Valuable features:

• Credit-based pricing
• Unified Inbox
• Trigger-based follow ups

Pricing: Email outreach plans start at $0 for 250 credits. Paid plans start at $99 for 10,000 credits

G2 Rating: 4.4/5

Analytics & Reporting SaaS Tools For Content Marketing Agency

As a content marketing agency, you are not just responsible for content strategy and execution, but also to track performance and submit periodic reports. These tools are indispensable for analytics and reporting.

AgencyAnalytics - Automated client reports

AgencyAnalytics is an automated report generation tool that helps agencies save time by using pre-designed templates and third-party integrations to seamlessly generate client reports.

Valuable features:

• Custom dashboards
• White labeled branding
• Metric alerts
• Anomaly detection.

Pricing: Starts at $59/month for small agencies with under 5 clients. Larger agencies may opt for higher priced options. Additional clients are priced at $20/month.

G2 rating: 4.7/5

​Administration SaaS Tools For Content Marketing Agency

These are the core blocks of any business, including content marketing agencies. These tools ensure that your business can operate seamlessly and efficiently.

Unitel Voice - Business Phone System

Unitel Voice is a virtual phone number service provider that lets agencies secure their own American phone number for their business. A business phone number is an essential communication channel. But in addition to this, it may also be necessary for other reasons like opening a bank account, securing a business loan, or secure inbound inquiries from directories.

Valuable features

• Auto-attendant
• Toll-free number lines
• Call recording
• Department extensions

Pricing: Starts at $9.99/month. Unlimited minutes start at $24.99/month

G2 Rating: 4.6/5

FreshBooks - Accounting & Invoicing

FreshBooks is a popular accounting and invoicing solution targeted at small businesses. This includes agencies. It provides accountants and business owners the ability to pitch clients, provide project updates, and collect project-related feedback. This is in addition to invoicing, accounting, and time tracking.

Valuable features:

• Financial reports
• Time tracking
• Cost estimation
• Client collaboration

Pricing: Starts at $6.90/month. Unlimited invoicing starts at $21/month.

G2 Rating: 4.5/5

Better Proposals

Better Proposals is a cloud-based tool to create, send, track, and get approval on business proposals. Content marketing agencies use Better Proposals to create proposals quickly with the help of readymade proposal templates.

Valuable features:

• Secure built-in digital signature platform
• 260+ document templates to choose from
• Interactive proposals that are accessible from computer or smartphones
• Proposal tracking and follow up

Pricing: Starts at $19/month. Up to 35% discount on annual plans

G2 Rating: 4.3/5

Quick Summary Of The Tools

Here is a quick summary of all the tools with the starting price and rating.