The Ultimate Marketing Tech Stack

If you're a marketer, you obviously know how important software is to the growth of your business. But with so many softwares to choose from, how do you know which ones are right for your company? We know how intimidating it can be to sort through the long list of tools you can leverage to boost your marketing efforts, and, unfortunately, software reviews can sometimes be misleading — not every company has your same perspective or standards. 

If you're looking for a truthful answer in your quest for the perfect software stack, here it is: The best tech stack you can choose for your marketing efforts will depend on the specific needs of your company. But, there are some types of software that every marketer should be leveraging. 

The Foundational Marketing Tech Stack

1. Content management systems
2. Customer relationship management
3. Marketing automation software
4. Conversational marketing
5. Video hosting
6. Reporting and analytics
7. Sales enablement
8. Search engine optimization
9. Paid search
10. Paid social
11. Account-based marketing
12. Project management
13. Content creation and collaboration
14. Graphic design

1. Content management systems (CMS)

A website is a necessity for every company. Content management systems should be the first software on your list to enhance your marketing efforts. Creating a clean website with well-laid-out conversion paths is key to executing a strong marketing strategy. While there are a ton of options out there you could take into consideration, here are a few of the top CMSs we suggest:

HubSpot CMS

The HubSpot CMS allows developers to build flexible themes and content structures while providing marketers with an easy way to create and edit pages on their own. The HubSpot platform is also a one-stop shop for all your marketing, sales and service needs, making it a great option for companies looking to grow their business on a consolidated tech stack.

WordPress

WordPress is definitely a standout CMS. Users say one of the top benefits of WordPress is that it is extremely user-friendly. WordPress started out as a blogging software but now allows users to create and host their website too. One of the biggest drawbacks of WordPress is its frequent updates, causing changes to your website without warning.

But overall, many WordPress users would highly recommend it. While we created our website on the HubSpot CMS, we frequently work with WordPress users and can attest to the strength of the platform.

Wix

Wix is another CMS that has gained a lot of traction recently. It is a great option for those who are new to web development and know little about HTML. Wix is one of the cheaper options, which could be great for people who are testing the waters with website creation. The downside many users have found with Wix is their customer service. If you are facing a problem or have a question, there is not an actual person there to help you. Instead, you have to go through help forums.

2. Customer relationship management (CRM) software

Another foundational software you'll need in your marketing tech stack is a CRM software. Gone are the days when people successfully tracked their leads through an Excel spreadsheet. CRMs help you manage relationships with your customers and prospects. But more than that, CRMs enable you to simplify your outreach methods through workflows and reminders. Here are a few CRM options we recommend considering.

HubSpot CRM

The best thing about the HubSpot CRM is the fact that it is user-friendly and integrates seamlessly with other tools in your tech stack to promote better marketing and sales alignment. If you are looking to get the most bang for your buck for all your marketing efforts, HubSpot seems to be the obvious choice. While HubSpot had catered more to small and medium sized businesses in the past, they have recently added more advanced features and flexibility for the complex needs of enterprise sized companies.

Salesforce

Salesforce has long been the leader in the cloud-based CRM industry for pretty solid reasons. With its ability to tailor, schedule and individualize reports, the flexibility with this CRM software is one of its key attributes. The setback with Salesforce is its lengthy implementation process and the fact that it is definitely better suited for enterprise companies rather than small-to-medium businesses.

Microsoft Dynamics

Dynamics is another solid option for larger companies who are seeking deeper insights regarding business intelligence. The problem Dynamics faces is integration capabilities. Because it is a Microsoft product, it is optimized for integration with other Microsoft products such as Sharepoint, Outlook and Office 365, but if you are looking to implement other types of marketing software, your options are limited.

Zoho

The last CRM software we'll mention  is Zoho. This software is suited for those smaller companies who likely have little experience with CRM software. Zoho is a great option if you are looking for something cheap. However, Zoho is basic in that it lacks a good share of the advancements other CRMs offer.

3. Marketing automation software

The final must-have tool in your marketing tech stack is a marketing automation software. Marketing automation platforms play a pivotal role in campaign execution and have been proven to be key growth drivers for businesses. Marketing automation platforms are flexible in that they provide users with the ability to run their email marketing campaigns, social media campaigns and nurture campaigns all from one central location. If you are considering a marketing automation software, we recommend looking into:

HubSpot Marketing Hub

If it wasn't already evident, we are definitely HubSpot fans. HubSpot is the world's #1 inbound marketing platform. From blogging, social media monitoring and publishing, SEO, email marketing and analytics, Marketing Hub provides their customers with a user-friendly and well-rounded marketing experience for customers of all sizes.

Pardot

Pardot is owned by Salesforce, and with a good share of the market leveraging Salesforce as their CRM software, the fact that Pardot integrates with it rather seamlessly is a huge advantage for this software. Unlike some of the other options though, Pardot is not the most user-friendly of marketing automation platforms.

Marketo

Marketo is best suited to enterprise-level customers due to its scalability. Users say their favorite part about Marketo is that the customers have a strong voice. Marketo takes their customer's recommendations on features into consideration on a frequent basis. The biggest issue with Marketo is its speed. It can be slow, particularly when creating smart lists, which tends to be one of the more frequently used features in marketing automation.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is probably less notable than the previously mentioned software but could be a great choice for companies who have little experience with marketing automation. It is affordable, easy to use and provides users with a wide variety of email templates. Unfortunately, Mailchimp provides users with little customization and flexibility and would not be a great choice for those who are experienced with marketing automation platforms.

Other Marketing Software to Consider

The foundational software we mentioned above are critical elements of your marketing strategy. If you don't already have a CMS, CRM and marketing automation platform then those should be your top priority. But if you already have the foundational software and are looking to expand your marketing tech stack even further, here are some other types of software that can improve your marketing efforts.

4. Conversational marketing software

The use of conversational marketing has increased significantly over the last few years. With its ability to shorten sales cycles and improve customer experience, incorporating chat into your overall marketing strategy should be top of mind for most companies. Here are some of our top suggestions for software to implement your conversational strategy:

• Drift: Drift is the world's lead conversational marketing and sales platform. Its diverse set of sales enablement tools and playbooks make it a great choice for those looking to implement a powerful conversational strategy.
• HubSpot: HubSpot's conversations tool is easy to use and a great option for companies just starting out with conversational marketing.
• Conversica: Conversica is known for its ability to engage with leads through all stages of the marketing and sales funnel without the need for human interaction. Depending on your stance regarding the need for human interaction, this could be a blessing or a curse.

5. Video hosting software

Video marketing is starting to become a must-have for all companies. But leveraging it effectively requires not just tools for video production but also software to host the finished product. Here are some platforms to help you get started:

• HubSpot: At their annual INBOUND conference in 2018, HubSpot released HubSpot Video. HubSpot Video gives you the ability to create, host, manage, customize and measure video inside of HubSpot. It comes free for all pro and enterprise customers.
• Vidyard: The great thing about Vidyard is that they aren't just a marketing tool, they are a sales enablement tool. Their new feature GoVideo is providing sales teams with a creative and interactive way to reach out to prospects through video.
• Wistia: Wistia is known for being an all-in-one platform for video creation, hosting and management. The easy-to-use software provides users with a wide variety of tools to enhance video creation.
• YouTube: YouTube is free, and while it is most known for its social and B2C usage, the tool also has customizable business channels. Because YouTube is a search engine, it can help spread awareness of your brand and your video. The downside is that there's a lot of non-business related content on the platform as well, and you can't control what other videos are featured around your content.

6. Reporting/analytics software

In today's data-driven world, it's no surprise that reporting and analytics tools are on our list for software you should adopt. Here are a few of our favorites:

• HubSpot: Over the last few years HubSpot’s reporting and analytics features have grown leaps and bounds. Their powerful, easy-to-use builder allows you to create customized reports that can be added to up to 200 dashboards and sent directly to your team’s inbox. 
• InsightSquared: InsightSquared helps simplify sales operations with actionable, real-time intelligence. It is a great software for sales forecasting and pipeline management.
• Grow: Grow is a great option for smaller businesses looking to leverage a business intelligence software. It is simple to use and helps businesses report on key metrics.

7. Sales acceleration/enablement software

After you've successfully executed your marketing initiatives, you'll want to make sure your sales team is set up for success when you pass off your qualified leads. Sales acceleration and enablement tools are where your sales reps will live in order to work the database. Here are some sales enablement tools we recommend for sales acceleration and enablement:

• HubSpot: The HubSpot Sales Hub provides users with a variety of sales enablement tools to automate and simplify the selling cycle.
• SalesLoft: SalesLoft is a sales engagement platform that enables an easier flow of communication between a salesperson and a lead.
• Gong: Gong is a conversation intelligence platform that allows sales teams to analyze their sales calls.
• Outreach: Outreach is a sales engagement platform best known for its efficiency in moving opportunities through the pipeline.
• Crystal: Crystal uses AI to predict anyone’s personality based on their online footprint, which can help you learn more about your audience and appeal to a wider demographic in a more personalized way.

8. SEO tools

Organic traffic plays a huge role in your lead generation efforts. Aligning your website content with a solid SEO strategy is a great way to make people more aware of your brand. Here's a list of what we consider to be the best options for SEO software:

• SEMrush: SEMrush is a great tool for those who want to understand the full scope of their SEO efforts. Not only is it great for looking into your own keyword rankings, but it provides you with competitor research as well.
• Moz: If you're an SEO beginner, Moz provides a good basic tool for SEO research and analytics set at a reasonable price.
• Google: With Google being the top search engine by far, leveraging their own SEO tools is kind of a necessity. Google doesn't provide the extensive insights of SEMrush, but considering their extensive market share of web search, we recommend becoming familiar with Google Search Console, Google Ads and

  Google Analytics

9. Paid search tools

While SEO is a huge driver of website traffic, it typically takes a while to gain some traction. We suggest doing some paid advertising to get some quick wins while working toward improving your organic reach. Our top SEM platforms are:

• Google Ads: Google Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers pay to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, video content and generate mobile application installs within the Google ad network. It is a great way to generate traffic and leads from Google.
• Bing Ads: Bing Ads is Microsoft Advertising’s answer to Google Ads. It provides almost all of the same features as it’s competitor, except for the fact that the Google ad network is much bigger than Bing’s. This is the primary reason why it’s not used as frequently, but for some advertisers, Bing’s niche network can help reach their preferred audience.
• WordStream: WordStream allows you to manage your paid advertising efforts and even grades the effectiveness of your campaigns
• SEMrush: SEMrush is not only a great tool for SEO, but also for those looking to gain additional insights on their paid advertising efforts. We recommend SEMrush to companies looking for a platform to help manage and support their entire search engine marketing strategy.

10. Paid social

• Facebook Ads: With a user base of nearly 2.5 billion people, Facebook has by far the largest network in social media. Facebook Ads allow advertisers to reach audiences within that vast network with hyper targeted campaigns based on website engagement, demographics and lookalike audiences.
• Twitter: The Twitter network might not come very close to rivaling Facebook, but at 330 million active monthly users, it’s nothing to thumb your nose at. According to WordStream, Twitter also offers engagement rates of 1–3%, which is much higher than Facebook’s 0.119% making it a great channel for advertisers looking to grow their audience.
• LinkedIn: At 310 million, the number of active monthly users on LinkedIn comes in just under Twitter’s, but where LinkedIn wins out is in the makeup of their network. More than 61 million users on their network are in senior positions and 44% have an income above the national median. This combination makes it the perfect option for companies looking to reach decision makers.
• Instagram: With the ability to piggyback off of Facebook’s network, Instagram has a lot to offer in terms of size. However, their focus on visuals and creativity combined with the fact that 63% of their users are aged 18 to 35 means that it’s not the best option for all advertisers. For those with product, influence or coach-based business, Instagram has a lot to offer.

11. ABM software 

Unlike inbound marketing, account-based marketing focuses on identifying good-fit companies prior to identifying their interest. This marketing strategy typically works well for companies with a niche customer base. Here are some suggestions for platforms that would be beneficial to you if your company leverages account-based marketing:

• Terminus: Terminus is the industry's first account-based marketing platform that enables users to accelerate the velocity of its users' sales pipelines.
• Madison Logic: Madison Logic focuses on the unification of display advertising and lead generation. This full-funnel solution provides comprehensive data to track efforts.
• Demandbase: Demand base is a subscription-based software that focuses on ad targeting and web personalization.

12. Project management software

As marketers and salespeople, we wear a lot of different hats. Sometimes, it's difficult to keep up with all the projects we have going at one time. We suggest using a project management software not only to keep yourself up to date with ongoing projects but to keep the rest of your team up to date as well. Some great project management platforms include:

• Accelo: Accelo is a cloud-based service operations automation that includes features for project management, email integration, retainer management and sales tracking.
• Basecamp: Basecamp is an effective, real-time communication tool that allows various teams to stay in the loop with project delegation and completion.
• Asana: Asana project management software allows teams to easily coordinate projects and assign deadlines.
• Mavenlink: Mavenlink is unique in that it hosts project management and time tracking abilities under the same platform.

13. Content creation and collaboration software

Content marketing is the backbone of a successful inbound marketing strategy. A strong content strategy differentiates successful companies from the unsuccessful. Here are some ideas for content creation and collaboration software:

• GatherContent: GatherContent provides users with an easy and flexible content collaboration platform to manage your content pipeline.
• Google Docs: With many people using Gmail, Google Docs provides users with an easy content creation platform that is integrated with their email account.
• Ceros: Ceros is a content creation and collaboration platform that allows users to create interactive and engaging content.

14. Graphic design software 

Making sure your content is designed in a visually appealing, readable way can majorly improve its effectiveness. Here are some tools we recommend for graphic design:

• Adobe Creative Cloud: Adobe Creative Cloud is a clear standout for graphic design. Whether you are creating icons in Illustrator or enhancing the look of your e-book in InDesign, Adobe can be leveraged in a variety of ways. However, these tools are built for professionals with in-depth experience in their respective fields. While they offer the most control and custom setting for designers, a novice will have difficulty leveraging these platforms without prior training.
• Sketch: Sketch is great for marketers who are newer to graphic design. On the plus side, it's pretty easy to use, but on the downside, it doesn't provide users with nearly as many features as Adobe.
• Canva: Canva is another great choice for people with little graphic design experience. For those looking for something simple and quick, Canva is a great choice.

Key Takeaway 

As you can see, there are a  lot of software out there that would be beneficial to your marketing tech stack. And while we've mentioned quite a few in this post, there are way more out there that could be an asset to your business. 

Making sure your tech stack is set up to support your company's growth while aligning everyone around the same goals is just as important as choosing the right technology and platforms to begin with.