Thanks to the fast-paced development of technology, there's always some fancy new way of presenting information to your prospects. Usually, it's so cool that you wish you could replicate it - if only you knew where to start! It's difficult when you lack the technical skills to execute (and budget to hire someone to do it for you).

How can you keep up with the ever-shifting trends in creative online content?

Luckily, there are companies out there willing to make content creation easy for us technical simpletons. That way you can quickly create variety in your content without breaking your budget.

Here's our pick of the best online content creation tools for those of us who lack techie expertise:

1. Content type: Infographic

Infographics are so popular because people like visual content, and unlike memes and .gifs which can only serve to entertain, infographics are data rich and easy to consume and share.

Piktochart

This tool is great for people who want to be able to create infographics without any knowledge of Photoshop. While there are ways to create infographics for free (using Powerpoint, for example), it just doesn't come out as professional-looking. For an example here's one of our most popular Piktochart creations.

They have a bunch of predesigned templates and icons that you can fiddle with. It takes a couple of hours to get used to the tool, but once you get the hang of it you can knock over a well-planned infographic in 2-3 hours.

2. Content Type: Video

The numbers have spoken - you just can't ignore video. People love it because it's easy to sit back and watch. That's why YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine.

Powtoon & Sparkol

Powtoon and Sparkol are animated video tools. They're great if you want to be able to create one of those cool whiteboard drawing videos without spending thousands of dollars.

In fact, you can use Powtoon for free if you don't mind keeping their branding on your video. Here's an example of what you can do with the paid version:

Again the structure is templatised so it will probably take a few hours of tinkering with what's available to get used to it.

Wistia

This tool is recommended by SEOMoz & Hubspot, and it's perfect for video creation and distribution. In particular, we like the fact that it has integrated statistics and email marketing. Plus, a new feature they've just released lets you embed CTAs wherever you want.

Here are screenshots of the options you have at your disposal:

While there are plenty of video creation tools out there, Wistia's key differentiator lies in its ability to integrate with email marketing tools and track engagement with your video. A complete list of their features can be found here.

3. Content Type: Presentation

This is a great content type for B2B marketers, because it's visually appealing and doesn't take much effort to consume.

Prezi

The obvious tool to use is Powerpoint, but this tool really brings presentations to the next level, moving your buyer through your content piece by piece. It's pretty amazing how much it can do. The way it works is kind of hard to put in words, so here's an example:

As you can see it's got so much more functionality than your typical Powerpoint presentation.

Don't forget the link to lead generation!

Having beautifully crafted content is great, but if you fail to consider where it fits into your buyer's journey, it will ultimately miss the mark. This means that it won't attract visits, won't convert visits to leads, and won't push leads further down the funnel towards being sales-ready.

To get your content to achieve its true purpose, you have to

• Know what information your buyers want as opposed to the information you want to distribute to your buyers. Guessing won't work. You need to hear it straight from them.
• Then there's the issue of distribution. You can't create it and expect people to come to you. You need a proper distribution plan. How can you get your content in front of their eyes?

Unlike our B2C counterparts, content creation is about much more than making your company look good. Ultimately, it's about generating high quality leads.

If you are interested in getting more information about how to create digital content that generates leads, download our free ebook:

What tools are you experimenting with? How have you found them? Let us know in the comments section below.