Content marketing platform (CMP) vs. content management system (CMS): What's the difference?

There’s no shortage of new tools and technologies in the content marketing space, so it’s no surprise that 19% of marketers have challenges finding the right content marketing technologies. That’s according to Semrush State of Content Marketing 2022 Global Report.

To support your marketing efforts, you’ll likely need a content marketing platform or content management system—or even both! But what’s the difference between these two technologies? We’re here to give you a straightforward answer.

In this article, we explain the differences and similarities between content marketing platforms and content management systems and which is best for your marketing activities.

First, let’s look at the definitions.

A content marketing platform (CMP) is an all-in-one tool that provides all the tools or features marketers need to plan, execute and measure the success of content marketing campaigns.

Creating marketing content is a multi-step process involving planning, budgeting, content creation, publishing, and measuring ROI. And often, marketers have to use different tools for each of these stages.

A content marketing platform (CMP) solves that problem by providing a single software solution where you can perform all these marketing activities in one place. This saves time and cost, streamlines collaboration, and makes it easier to measure the impact of your campaigns.

Most CMPs have the following features:

One good example of a CMP is Optimizely Content Marketing Platform. With Optimizely Content Marketing Platform, you can:

If you’re looking for a tool that helps you streamline your entire content marketing process, from planning to execution, then you should consider a CMP.

CMPs work best for teams that want to create and distribute content at scale. If you don’t use a CMP, then the alternative is to build a stack of tools that cater to different stages of your marketing process.

Here are the four main reasons to use a CMP:

A content management system (CMS) is a software tool that allows users to create, modify, and manage website content without writing code.

Without a web content management system, you need to have enough technical programming knowledge to be able to make changes to a website. But with a CMS, you can create blog posts, sales pages, and web pages via an intuitive interface.

Most content management systems will have:

For example, WordPress, the most popular CMS in the world, comes with an in-built text editor and post scheduling features.

You can also extend the functionality of some content management systems through the use of third-party tools and applications. WordPress, for example, has over 55,000 plugins that extend the functionality of the core tool.

A CMS is often considered a basic marketing tool. Anyone who publishes content regularly on their website will most certainly either need a CMS or already use one.

Here are the three main reasons to use a CMS:

From the discussion above, it’s easy to see that a CMP and a CMS differ significantly, even though they have some overlap. The main differences between them lie in the focus and features.

A CMP is a more specific marketing tool. It is designed to help marketers through the entire content marketing process, from content planning to creation to marketing.

In contrast, a CMS is a more general tool that can be used in different contexts. It focuses mostly on website content creation and publishing and may be used for purposes other than marketing, such as simply sharing and updating information about an organization or person.

While most CMPs have content creation capabilities, they may not have the capability to produce specific types of content, such as visual sales pages — those can be produced with a CMS. Most CMPs, however, allow users to publish blog posts and regular articles to their desired content management system.

CMSes are perfectly suited for creating and publishing a variety of website content, from simple blog posts to dynamic landing pages. However, most CMSes do not contain marketing features by default, but some of these features can be added if you need them.

For example, in WordPress, you can add an editorial calendar, SEO features, and analytics monitoring through the use of third-party plugins. However, additional tools may not work as smoothly as they would in a CMP, which has all the necessary tools included out of the box.

Below is a summary of the differences between content marketing platforms and content management systems.

The simple answer is that most businesses need both. This is because each tool performs specific functions that the other may not perform as well.

Plus, both tools are usually complementary and can work together. For example, Optimizely Content Marketing Platform supports several CMSes by default and allows you to publish directly to your desired CMS, alongside any formatting, tags, or categories you set.

However, if you have to choose a single solution for your business, then here are a few things to consider:

If you’re looking for the best content marketing platforms, we’ve compiled a list of the top five platforms you should consider.

Now we’ll share four of the best-known content marketing systems.

And that’s a wrap! Now you know the difference between a content marketing platform and a content management system, and you can make the best choice for your business.