The Top Marketing Tools for B2B Startups

So you started a B2B business in today’s digital-first age? Congratulations! As another step in developing your marketing strategy, you’ve got to select the right tools that will help set up your business to drive growth. And, simply put, there are an overwhelming number of marketing tools available. Take a deep breath, we are here to help.

The B2B marketing landscape is rapidly evolving, with a growing number of digital-first tools that cater to businesses of all sizes. From social media management to CRM to graphic design, there's a tool for every marketing need.

In this post, we're diving into the essential B2B marketing tools that can help take your startup's marketing strategy to a whole new level.

Website

Your website is the foundation of your online presence and a crucial component of your B2B marketing strategy. It is the first point of contact for potential customers, partners, and investors, and it can make or break your business's credibility and success.

A solid website not only looks professional but is also designed to engage and convert visitors into leads and customers. This requires a range of features, such as intuitive navigation, clear messaging, strong calls-to-action, and a user-friendly layout. It should also be optimized for search engines, load quickly, and be accessible on all devices.

• Webflow: Webflow is a top-rated website-building tool that helps anyone create custom, responsive websites with no coding skills required. It contains a flexible and intuitive drag-and-drop editor. Webflow has features like web hosting, eCommerce capabilities, and SEO optimization tools. 

• Hubspot: Hubspot is known for its CRM software, but it also boasts a powerful website-building tool that integrates with its marketing and sales tools. The Hubspot website builder includes lead capture forms, landing pages, and analytics to help businesses drive traffic and convert leads. Hubspot provides a complete range of tools that streamline processes and increase ROI for organizations seeking an all-in-one marketing solution.

• Wix: Wix is a user-friendly website construction tool with a variety of themes and a drag-and-drop editor, making it an excellent alternative for businesses looking for a simple and cost-effective website solution. It has aesthetically attractive designs and eCommerce features, as well as SEO optimization tools and third-party app connections.

• Squarespace: Squarespace is a drag-and-drop website building tool that's popular with creative professionals and small businesses looking for a polished and professional-looking website. Squarespace also has e-Commerce capabilities, SEO optimization tools, and integrations with third-party apps.

• Custom build: Technically not a tool, this involves hiring a web developer or agency to build a website from scratch based on the business's unique needs and goals. While a custom build can be expensive, it allows for unlimited customization and flexibility.

All in all, having a professional, engaging, and optimized website is essential. By choosing the right website tools, you can create a website that not only looks great but also drives traffic, generates leads, and ultimately helps your business grow.

Email Marketing

Email marketing has become an essential part of any digital marketing strategy and still has the biggest ROI vs other marketing channels. It enables businesses to reach their target audience directly and effectively.

• Mailchimp: Mailchimp may be one of the most popular email marketing tools. Why? Because it has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for businesses to create and send email campaigns. It provides templates that can be customized to match your brand, and allows you to automate your email marketing efforts. You can track your email performance and make data-driven decisions to improve your campaigns. You can also integrate it with other tools, like social media platforms and landing page builders, to create a cohesive marketing strategy.

• Active Campaign: Active Campaign features email marketing, marketing automation, and CRM in one platform. You can create targeted email campaigns based on user behavior and it provides detailed analytics on email performance. You can also segment your audience based on their interests and behaviors to create personalized campaigns.

• Customer.io: Customer.io helps businesses send targeted messages based on user behavior. You can track and analyze user behavior through your website, then trigger email campaigns based on that behavior. With Customer.io, you can create hyper-personalized campaigns that resonate with your audience. 

• Hubspot: Hubspot’s email marketing features allow businesses to create and send targeted email campaigns, automate email sequences, and track email performance. With Hubspot, you can create landing pages, track your lead's behavior, and manage your social media presence. You can also integrate it with other tools in the Hubspot suite to create a seamless marketing strategy.

• Pardot: Pardot is a marketing automation tool that offers advanced email marketing capabilities. You can create and send targeted email campaigns, automate email sequences, and track email performance. Pardot is a pricier option, but it has advanced features like lead scoring and nurturing, as well as integration with Salesforce.

• Marketo: Marketo is a marketing automation tool that can launch advanced email marketing campaigns. You can create and send targeted emails, automate email sequences, and track email performance. Marketo also offers advanced lead scoring and nurturing features.

CRM

Managing customer relationships is crucial for any business that wants to succeed in today's competitive market. Customer relationship management (CRM) tools have become a staple in every marketer's toolkit, helping businesses track their customer interactions, sales, and marketing efforts. 

• Hubspot: Yes, Hubspot is here again. Its CRM tool provides a wide range of features to help manage customer relationships, including a unified view of customer interactions across different channels (i.e. email, social media, and website.) With Hubspot, you can create and track deals, manage customer support tickets, and create marketing campaigns. Hubspot can also help you with lead scoring, lead nurturing, and marketing automation to convert leads into customers.

• Salesforce: Salesforce provides a comprehensive range of features to help businesses manage their customer interactions and sales processes. It offers a unified view of your customer data, which can help you personalize your marketing efforts. It also provides sales forecasting, collaboration, and analytics features to help you streamline your sales processes.

• ‍Monday sales CRM: Monday sales CRM is the new kid on the block, providing a simple and user-friendly CRM tool that has all the essential features you need to manage your customer relationships. With Monday sales CRM, you can track your sales pipeline, manage your customer interactions, and create personalized email campaigns. It's the perfect tool for startups and small businesses that want to keep things simple and organized.

Design and Content

Creating visually appealing and compelling content is critical in today's digital age. However, not everyone has the graphic design experience to create professional graphics and content, and that's where design and content creation tools come in. 

• Canva: Canva is the Swiss Army Knife of design and content creation tools and it’s extremely easy to use. Canva has a range of templates, graphics, and fonts to help you create stunning designs and content. Canva also offers features such as photo editing, image compression, and team collaboration. Whether you're creating social media posts, presentations, or marketing materials, Canva has everything you need to create beautiful content.

• Adobe Express: Formally, Adobe Spark, Adobe Express is a cloud-based tool that provides a range of features to help you create stunning designs and content. Like Canva, it has a variety of templates, fonts, and graphics to help you create professional-grade designs. It also provides features such as video editing, animation, and collaboration tools. With Adobe Spark, you can create stunning designs and content that will make your business stand out.

• Visme: Visme is a new tool that provides simple and user-friendly design and content creation with all the essential features. With Visme, you can create infographics, presentations, reports, and other visual content with ease. 

Social Media Management

In today's digital age, social media has become an integral part of the marketing strategy. However, managing and scheduling social media posts across multiple platforms can be a daunting, so most marketers rely on social media management tools that manage all social media posts from a single platform. 

• Hootsuite: Hootsuite has a huge suite of features to help you manage your social media presence. The platform allows you to schedule posts, engage with your audience, and monitor your social media analytics all from a single platform. It also offers a range of integrations with other marketing tools, making it an all-in-one solution for managing your social media presence.

• Buffer: Buffer can be considered a newer version of Hootsuite, offering a user-friendly platform that's easy to use and understand. Buffer lets you schedule posts, track performance, and collaborate with your team all from one platform. It also offers a range of integrations with other marketing tools.

• Loomly: Loomly can help you create, schedule, and publish social media posts across multiple platforms. It also allows social media teams to collaborate on social media campaigns through a cloud-based platform. With Loomly, you can streamline your social media management and create engaging content that resonates with your audience.

Marketing Automation

Marketing automation tools allow you to automate email campaigns and tailor them to each individual subscriber, providing a more personalized customer experience. This leads to higher engagement, increased conversion rates, and ultimately, more revenue for your business.

• Hubspot Marketing Hub: It’s Hubspot once again. As an all-in-one marketing automation platform, Hubspot lets you automate your marketing strategy through personalized email campaigns, customer behavior monitoring, and results analysis.

• Active Campaign: Active Campaign specializes in email marketing. It has advanced segmentation and automation features so you can create highly targeted campaigns that speak directly to your audience. Plus, its user-friendly interface makes it easy to use for marketers of all levels.

• Klaviyo: Klaviyo is a marketing automation platform that's designed specifically for eCommerce businesses. With Klaviyo, you can create automated email campaigns based on customer behavior, such as abandoned cart reminders or product recommendations. Plus, its integrations with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce make it a breeze to use.

Lead (Capture) and Generation

Lead Generation tools are nifty platforms to help you capture and score leads, giving you valuable insights into your audience and helping you drive more conversions. These lead conversion and capture tools have primary capabilities such as online chat, landing pages, forms, and more.

• Clearbit: Clearbit is a simple web plugin that allows B2B companies to identify and engage ideal customers at scale. Clearbit identifies intent signals from all the visitors on your website and augments the information with company intelligence data to identify a specific list of accounts that are engaging with your website. 

• Intercom: Intercom is a customer messaging platform that also has powerful lead generation tools. With Intercom, you can capture leads through targeted messaging and chatbots, and then score those leads based on their engagement and behavior. Plus, its integrations with popular CRMs like Salesforce and Hubspot make it easy to manage your leads all in one place.

• Leadpages: Leadpages is a landing page builder that's designed to help convert more leads. With its drag-and-drop interface and customizable templates, you can create stunning landing pages in minutes. Plus, its A/B testing and analytics features allow you to optimize your pages for maximum conversions.

• Paperform: Paperform is a form builder that takes lead capture to the next level. With its customizable forms and interactive features, you can create engaging surveys, quizzes, and contact forms that capture valuable information about your leads. It also has an integration feature with popular marketing tools like Mailchimp and Zapier, that make it easy to automate your lead generation efforts.

With All Things Considered…

Marketing in the B2B world can seem daunting, especially when you're just starting out. However, equipping yourself with the right tools and strategies could help in your success as a startup. Using innovative marketing automation tools, lead generation platforms, and killer content creation strategies are just some examples that can connect your brand with your audience. 

If you need help deciding if these marketing tools are right for your startup please reach out to us.