Marketing Tools: Content, SEO, Email, Social, Design

Marketing & Content Tools

Content is how you grow. These tools help you create, optimize, and distribute content without a team.

Notion – Content Creation Workspace

What it is: An all-in-one workspace where you organize ideas, draft content, manage your editorial calendar, and build knowledge bases.

Why: Notion's flexibility lets you build a content system that fits your workflow—not someone else's template.

Setup:

Columns:
- Title (text)
- Status (select: Idea / Outline / Draft / Review / Published)
- Type (select: Blog / Twitter / LinkedIn / Newsletter)
- Publish Date (date)
- URL (url)
- Tags (multi-select)

Columns:
- Title (text)
- Type (select)
- Published Date (date)
- URL (url)
- Views (number)
- Engagement (number)
- Notes (text)

Columns:
- Idea (text)
- Source (text: conversation, article, tweet, etc.)
- Date Added (date)
- Potential (select: High / Medium / Low)

# [Title]

**Target Keyword**: [keyword]
**Intended Audience**: [who this is for]
**Goal**: [what I want readers to do]

---

## Outline

- Intro: [hook, problem, promise]
- Section 1: [main point]
- Section 2: [main point]
- Section 3: [main point]
- Conclusion: [summary, CTA]

---

## Draft

[Write here]

---

## SEO Checklist

- [ ] Keyword in title
- [ ] Keyword in first paragraph
- [ ] Keyword in at least one H2
- [ ] Meta description (155 chars)
- [ ] Internal links (3+)
- [ ] External links (2+)
- [ ] Image alt text

---

## Notes

[Research links, feedback, revisions]

My Notion Workflow:

1. Capture ideas in Idea Inbox (via mobile or web clipper)
2. Weekly review: Move high-potential ideas to Content Calendar as "Idea"
3. When ready to write: Change status to "Outline", fill in template
4. Write draft, change status to "Draft"
5. Edit, change status to "Review"
6. Publish, change status to "Published", add URL
7. Move to Content Library for tracking

Cost: Free for personal use (plenty for solopreneurs). Plus Plan ($10/month) adds unlimited file uploads, version history, and advanced permissions if you need them.

SEO Research – Ubersuggest + Google Tools

What it is: Tools to find what people are searching for, so you create content that gets found.

Why: You can write amazing content, but if no one searches for it, no one finds it. SEO research helps you create content that matches search intent.

Tools You Need:

Ubersuggest (freemium):

Keyword research, content ideas, and competitor analysis. Free tier gives you 3 searches per day. Paid plans start at $12/month for unlimited searches.

Google Keyword Planner (free):

Shows search volume and competition for keywords. Requires a Google Ads account (free to create, no ad spend required).

Google Search Console (free):

Shows what keywords your site already ranks for, plus crawl errors and indexing issues.

Google Trends (free):

Shows search interest over time and regional differences.

SEO Research Workflow:

Keyword: "how to start email marketing"
Volume: 2,400/month
SD: 35
PD: 12

Good target! Medium volume, low difficulty, clear intent.

My SEO Research Routine:

I spend 30 minutes every Monday researching keywords for the week's content. I keep a running list in Notion of "Target Keywords" with volume, difficulty, and content angle notes. This way I'm never stuck wondering what to write about.

Cost: All free if you use the free tiers. Ubersuggest paid ($12/month) is worth it if you publish content regularly.

Alternatives:

Mailchimp – Email Marketing

What it is: An email marketing platform for building your list, sending newsletters, and automating campaigns.

Why: Email is the most direct channel you own. No algorithm decides if your audience sees your message.

Setup:

<!-- Begin Mailchimp Signup Form -->
<div id="mc_embed_signup">
<form action="https://your-audience.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=123&id=456" method="post" id="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" name="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" class="validate" target="_blank">
    <div id="mc_embed_signup_scroll">
	<h2>Subscribe to our newsletter</h2>
<div class="mc-field-group">
	<label for="mce-EMAIL">Email Address </label>
	<input type="email" value="" name="EMAIL" class="required email" id="mce-EMAIL" required="">
</div>
	<div id="mce-responses" class="clear">
		<div class="response" id="mce-error-response" style="display:none"></div>
		<div class="response" id="mce-success-response" style="display:none"></div>
	</div>
	<div style="position: absolute; left: -5000px;" aria-hidden="true"><input type="text" name="b_123_456" tabindex="-1" value=""></div>
    <div class="clear"><input type="submit" value="Subscribe" name="subscribe" id="mc-embedded-subscribe" class="button"></div>
    </div>
</form>
</div>
<!--End mc_embed_signup-->

Subject: Welcome to XPS Insights!

Hey [First Name],

Thanks for subscribing! I'm [Your Name], and I write about [your topics] every [frequency].

Here's what you can expect:
- Weekly insights on [topic 1]
- Tools and frameworks I actually use
- No fluff, no spam, unsubscribe anytime

Your next email will land in your inbox this [day of week].

— [Your Name]

P.S. Hit reply anytime—I read every response.

My Email Workflow:

I batch-create content on Mondays, write my newsletter draft in Notion, then paste it into Mailchimp on Wednesdays for a Thursday send. I track open rates and click rates, and experiment with subject lines to see what resonates.

Key Metrics to Track:

• Open rate: Aim for 20-30% (industry average is ~21%)
• Click rate: Aim for 2-5%
• Unsubscribe rate: Under 0.5% is healthy

Cost: Free for up to 500 subscribers. After that, Essentials plan starts at $13/month (up to 500 contacts). Standard plan ($20/month) adds automation, retargeting, and A/B testing.

Buffer – Social Media Scheduling

What it is: A tool to schedule social media posts in advance across multiple platforms (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram).

Why: Posting consistently on social media is hard. Buffer lets you batch-create content and schedule it to post automatically, so you're not glued to your phone all day.

Setup:

Twitter:
- Monday-Friday: 8am, 12pm, 5pm
- Weekend: 10am

LinkedIn:
- Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 9am, 3pm
- Sunday: 11am (thought leadership content)

Thread on building a solopreneur tech stack:

1/ Your tech stack should solve problems, not create them.

Here's my minimal setup for running a one-person business:

2/ Communication: @Slack for async team communication (with freelancers), @Loom for async video updates.

No more "quick calls" that eat your deep work time.

3/ Project Management: @Linear for tasks, @Notion for docs.

Linear keeps me focused on what's next. Notion is my second brain.

4/ Development: @github for code, @Vercel for deployment.

Push to main, it's live. No DevOps headaches.

5/ Marketing: @buffer for social scheduling, @mailchimp for email.

Batch-create content, automate delivery.

6/ Analytics: @plausible for web analytics, @stripe for revenue tracking.

Simple dashboards, no data overwhelm.

That's it. 9 tools. No bloat.

What's your essential tool?

My Buffer Workflow:

Every Sunday, I spend 1 hour creating social posts for the week. I write 5-10 tweets, 2-3 LinkedIn posts, and schedule them in Buffer. This gives me consistent presence without constant context-switching.

Cost: Free plan (3 channels, 10 posts each). Essentials plan ($6/month per channel) for unlimited posts and advanced analytics. Pro plan ($12/month per channel) adds first comment, hashtag manager, and link shortening.

Canva – Design & Visual Content

What it is: A drag-and-drop design tool for creating graphics, social media images, presentations, and more—without needing design skills.

Why: Visuals matter. Canva makes it easy to create professional-looking graphics quickly, so you're not stuck staring at a blank Photoshop canvas.

Setup:

Colors:
- Primary: #4A90E2 (blue)
- Secondary: #F5A623 (orange)
- Neutral: #4A4A4A (dark gray)
- Background: #F8F8F8 (light gray)

Fonts:
- Heading: Montserrat Bold
- Subheading: Montserrat SemiBold
- Body: Open Sans Regular

Logos:
- Full logo (horizontal)
- Icon logo (square)
- Monochrome logo (white on transparent)

Blog Header Template:
- Size: 1200x630px
- Background: Brand color or image with 40% opacity overlay
- Title: Montserrat Bold, 64px, white
- Subtitle: Montserrat SemiBold, 32px, white
- Logo: Bottom right, 100px wide

My Canva Workflow:

When I write a new blog post, I duplicate my blog header template, update the text, export as PNG, and upload to my CMS. Takes 2 minutes. Same for social posts—duplicate template, customize, schedule in Buffer.

Design Best Practices:

Typography:

• Use 2-3 fonts max (one for headings, one for body)
• Maintain clear hierarchy (heading 2x larger than body text)
• Ensure readability (contrast between text and background)

Color:

• Stick to your brand colors (consistency builds recognition)
• Use color to guide attention (bright accent colors for CTAs)
• Ensure accessibility (4.5:1 contrast ratio for text)

Images:

• Use high-quality stock photos (Unsplash, Pexels are free sources)
• Avoid cheesy stock photos (no fake handshakes or generic office shots)
• Add overlays or filters for consistency

Layouts:

• Follow the rule of thirds (place key elements off-center)
• Leave white space (don't cram everything in)
• Align elements to a grid (Canva has built-in alignment tools)

Cost: Free plan is generous. Canva Pro ($14.99/month) adds Brand Kit, background remover, resize magic, and 100GB storage. Worth it if you create visuals regularly.

Next Steps

You now have a complete marketing and content toolkit:

• Notion: Organize your ideas and content workflow
• SEO Research: Find what people are searching for
• Mailchimp: Build and nurture your email list
• Buffer: Maintain consistent social presence
• Canva: Create professional visuals quickly

These tools work together. You research keywords in Ubersuggest, outline your content in Notion, design visuals in Canva, schedule social promotion in Buffer, and send it to your email list in Mailchimp.

Next chapter: We'll cover analytics and measurement tools to track what's working (and what's not).