November 16, 2016 // 8:00 AM (Original post date)
Written by Sophia Bernazzani | @soph_bern
Does any aspect of your job intimidate you?
For content creators, sometimes the most stressful part of the role can be opening a completely blank document to start a new project.
Whether it's writing a blog post, designing an infographic, or creating an ebook, it's challenging to start creating a new piece of content from scratch, especially if you've never done it before.
Download our full collection of free content marketing templates here.
Here in the HubSpot content shop, we want to take the work out of it for you. Instead of trying to master how to create every type of content in existence, cut down on the stress and inefficiency and read about our collection of nearly 400 free, customizable content creation templates.
We've broken this list down into types of content marketing, so jump ahead if you specifically want: Content Planning Templates, Written Content Templates, Visual Content Templates, or Email Templates.
Content Planning Templates
A Content Planning/Goal-Setting Template
(Download the content planning template here.)
HubSpot teamed up with Smart Insights to create a content planning template that will help you put together an effective content marketing plan for either your business or those of your clients. These templates will help you complete a SWOT analysis on your content marketing efforts (and develop a plan to improve them), define the right objectives and KPIs for that plan, brainstorm content ideas and map these across your funnel, and create a timeline for your content plans.
A Content Mapping Template
(Download the content mapping template here)
You know you need a content marketing strategy in place to support the success of your inbound marketing and sales organizations. But how do you get started? We've created a content mapping template so you can walk through your target audience's buyer's journey. The template helps you identify buyer personas, their challenges and needs, and to brainstorm content that provides solutions. You'll come away from the template with tons of targeted blog post ideas to attract your audience to your site and convert them into leads.
A Buyer Persona Template
(Download the buyer persona template here.)
Marketing with buyer personas means marketing smarter. This buyer persona template will help you easily organize your research to create your very own buyer personas. Use it to create beautiful, well-formatted buyer personas that you can share with your entire company, while learning best practices for persona research along the way.
3 Blog Editorial Calendar Templates
(Download the blog editorial calendar templates here.)
Having an editorial calendar for your marketing content will save you a whole lot of time -- not to mention sanity -- as you plan your content release timeline. We realize there isn't a one-size-fits all solution, so we've created three editorial calendar templates to use at your leisure: one for Google Calendar, one for Excel, and one for Google Sheets. (Read this blog post for a step-by-step guide for using the Google Calendar template.)
2 Social Media Content Calendar Templates (for 6 Social Networks)
(Download the social media content calendar templates here.)
With so many different social networks to manage, a social media manager's life becomes a lot easier when they can plan which content to share on each account -- and when. This easy-to-use social media content calendar for Microsoft Excel lets you organize your social media activities far in advance. Use it to plan your updates and learn how to properly format your content for the six most popular social networks: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest.
Written Content Templates
5 Blog Post Templates
(Download the blog post templates here.)
Here's the thing with blogging: There isn't one, easy template you can fill in to produce a quality content offering. You need to spend some time brainstorming a title, outlining core content, and so on. While our templates are by no means a fill-in-the-blank type of deal, they'll walk you through the critical steps for creating the following five blog post types:
- How-To Post
- List-Based Post
- Curated Collection Post
- SlideShare Presentation Post
- Newsjacking Post
We've seen these formats crush it on our blogs, and we would love for you to use them to hit your own goals.
5 Ebook Templates
(Download the ebook templates here.)
Year after year, marketers cite lead generation as one of their top content marketing goals for the year. If you want to succeed at lead gen, then you need content offers -- like ebooks -- to help you get there. Our internal creative design team went to work building five, beautiful ebook templates -- in both PowerPoint and InDesign -- for you to download, customize, and use.
A Press Release Template
(Download the press release template here.)
While public relations has adapted to be more lovable and less spammy, press releases can be effective when used correctly. Our press release template takes this into consideration and provides an inbound-optimized version. This means the template can help you script press releases and do so in a format optimized for sharing on your company blog. It's built in Microsoft Word, so you can easily adapt and customize as needed for your PR needs.
50 Call-to-Action Templates
(Download the call-to-action templates here.)
Redesigning your call-to-action buttons can improve clickthrough rates by 1,300% or more. That means visitors will spend more time on your website, and it'll encourage them to become leads. To help you design clickable calls-to-action, we've built 50 pre-designed CTAs for you. These CTAs are super easy to customize, so you don't need to know any fancy design programs -- just PowerPoint.
Bonus: There's also a handy free tool in there that lets you track your CTA clicks in real time so you can see the exact number of clicks that your designs are reeling in.
Visual Content Templates
195+ Visual Marketing Templates
(Download the visual marketing templates here.)
Not a designer? Not a problem. We partnered with graphic design software company Canva to create over 195 visual marketing templates that are easy-to-use, work for any industry (finance, dentistry, agriculture, law -- we've got 'em all), and are completely free. Best of all, they're ready to edit in Canva's online design tool, which is included for free with this set of templates. The templates include...
- Infographics templates
- Facebook ad templates
- Facebook post templates
- Twitter post templates
- Email header templates
- Blog title templates
- Facebook cover photo templates
- Twitter header templates
- LinkedIn cover photos templates
15 Infographic Templates
(Download the infographic templates here.)
We've created fifteen, pre-designed infographic templates right in PowerPoint (+ five bonus illustrator templates). That way, marketers can skip the frustrations and start creating the graphics right away. Within each template, we even provide guides to teach you how to use the templates effectively.
100 Social Media Graphics Templates
(Download the social media graphics templates here.)
Visual content is 40 times more likely to be shared on social media than any other type of content. But we know well that creating visual content takes more time and resources -- which why we've created these 100 customizable templates for you. These templates are in PowerPoint, so they're very easy to edit -- no Photoshop skills required. Simply customize the text on an image, save it, and post it to social media.
5 Social Media Cover Photo Templates
(Download the social media cover photo templates here.)
I don't know about you, but I sometimes have trouble keeping straight the different size dimension requirements on different social media networks. To take the guesswork out of it and to avoid frustrating re-designs, we've created five templates in PowerPoint that are pre-sized for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+. You can customize them for your social networks without researching design specifications -- don't worry, we've got it covered.
3 PowerPoint Templates
(Download the PowerPoint templates here.)
PowerPoint can be a powerful tool for lead generation, brand building, and thought leadership. Don't let boring slides stand in the way. You don't have to be a designer to create beautiful slides. To help you get started, we've created three, eye-catching PowerPoint templates so you don't have to start from scratch or rely on standard, old-school styles.
Bonus: We've also included four video tutorials on PowerPoint tricks in there so you can learn how to enhance images, clean up your text, install premium fonts, and so on -- right in PowerPoint.
5 SlideShare Templates
(Download the SlideShare templates here.)
Creating a SlideShare presentation in PowerPoint doesn't have to be daunting. With the right and tools at your disposal, you can easily create an engaging, visual presentation -- all without fancy design programs, huge budgets, or hiring contractors.
To help you make a SlideShare of your own, we've created some free PowerPoint presentation templates for making awesome SlideShares -- so your presentations will look great and be a breeze to put together. (Read this blog post for tip on how you can update and edit the templates to suit your specific needs.)
Email Templates
15 Email Templates for Marketing and Sales
(Download the email templates for marketing and sales here.)
Did you know that workers spend almost one third of their time at work reading and replying to emails? There are many ways you can streamline your inbox to save time, but you ultimately will still have to create and send emails. That's where these templates come in. We've written the copy for 15 emails marketers and sales reps are likely to send over and over again to save you time and get you results.
There you have it, content marketers: over 386 templates to help you start creating content easily and quickly and further your inbound success.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published in November 2013 and has been updated and for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
