To be a modern-day marketer you need to be a cat with nine lives.
A jack of all trades not a conjurer of cheap tricks.
Someone that is able to deliver answer-driven messages to the right audience but also adapt quickly to the new trends and changes and have enough coding knowledge to tackle small problems on his own.
There is a huge number of tools marketers can use to streamline their jobs and make them easier.
Choosing the right tools, however, due to the sheer volume of available options, can be overwhelming at times. And often enough it can be the tipping point between finishing your tasks smoothly and successfully or lagging behind the competition.
We all have our preferences, right?
I believe that one of the best ways to learn is from the examples of others. With that in mind, I’m sharing my B2B tool stash for modern-day marketers that consists of 29 amazing tools that I just can’t work without.
Buckle up, here we go.
Productivity and Communication Tools
Productivity tools are aimed at helping you focus on your tasks and completing your to-do lists.
Good productivity tools can make your work more efficient and help your business become more profitable.
The three most common types of productivity tools include word processing tools, spreadsheets, and databases.
Word processing tools are programs that allow users to create documents using text and graphics. The most popular example would be Microsoft Word from the ancient days or G.Docs from a more recent past.
On the other hand, spreadsheets allow better organisation when it comes to handling numerical information. Microsoft Excel or GSheets would be placed in this category.
Lastly, databases are one of the most comprehensive productivity tools out there. They can save a collection of different information, all in one place.
Another essential component of any successful business is communication. Strong external communication can help strengthen the relationship with the clients while internal communication between teams ensures that the business will run smoothly.
1Password
With so many tools in marketers’ portfolios a number of user/passwords are guaranteed. Sure you can go old school and write them down or text-pad it or even G.Drive it. But there is a better solution.
1Password It is a password management tool for your computer and smartphone. It stores all of your website passwords so you’ll never have to remember or enter them again. You’ll only have to remember one master password.
You can even use it to store your passport number, credit cards, important medical information, and more.
How I use it: Having all the user/pass combos in one place streamlines the work and helps me tackle cookie issues. On top of that I can share them easily with team members and trace the share.
Price: There are various plans available; Personal use: $2.99 monthly; Business teams: $3.99 monthly; Free 30-day trial is available for all plans.
Google Drive
For many of us, Google Drive is the number one storage solution for photos, documents, videos, and more. G.Drive is actually much more than that. With Docs and Sheets, it is a powerful content platform that allows you to manage your content and easily invite others to collaborate on any of your files.
How I use it: Pretty much anything and everything I write is made and shared with the team via G.Drive.
Price: The first 15 GB are free; 100GB cost $1.99 per month.
Airtable
Airtable is Google Sheets on steroids!
Airtable spreadsheets are way more visually appealing than the ones offered by G.Sheet or Microsoft Excel.
Since it acts as a database, Airtable allows businesses to do customer-relationship management (CRM), project planning, tracking inventory, and much more. Airtable offers iOS and Android app so users can access tables from their phones too.
How I use it: When we have a pet project that is on the sidelines of our core marketing strategy we use Airtables to share, work, comment and give feedback on the ideas.
Price: Free version (unlimited bases and 1,200 records per base); Airtable Plus: $10 per user per month, Airtable Pro: $20 per user per month; Enterprise version available as well.
Slack
Days of Skype and Hangouts are long gone. We live in the era of Slack, a cloud-based collaboration hub that allows teams to communicate and work seamlessly.
The tool itself is a pivot of a company that was building online games.
I’d argue that fact alone helped them immensely while building the tool. Different channels that can be threaded where team members can work together, and a direct-message section where people can communicate in private, with the ability to voice and video chat pretty much covers everything.
How we use it: At Bejamas, besides internal talks, Slack is also one of our main communication channels with clients.
Price: Free version (10k searchable messages, 10 apps and integrations, 2-factor authentication and more); Standard version for small teams and businesses ($6.67 per user per month when billed yearly); Slack Plus ($12.50 per user per month when billed yearly); + Enterprise version.
Clockify & Everhour
It is one thing to communicate with clients and another when you need to track work hours. Depending on clients’ wishes we use Clockyfy or Everhour.
Clockify is the only free time tracking tool on the market that also allows an unlimited number of users. With it, you can keep track of employee billable hours, project progress, see the reports, schedules, and more. The tool is also available as an iOS and Android app as well as the desktop app for Windows and Mac.
Price: Free version (unlimited number of users, projects, and reports); Clockify Plus: $9.99 per month (flat); Clockify Premium: $29.99 per month (flat); Enterprise version available as well.
Everhour is another great time tracking app. It works great with famous project management tools such as Asana, Trello, and Basecamp. The tool also offers tasks and project management possibilities allowing you to monitor the progress of each project and generate different kinds of reports.
Price: Free version (up to 5 users, all features except integrations); Solo plan: $8 per month, paying year up-front; Team plan: $7 per month, paying year up-front.
How we use them: Both tools are fantastic but the choice ultimately depends on the clients’ and the teams’ needs.
Trello, Asana, and Jira
Trello, Asana, and Jira are among the most popular project management tools out there.
All three tools were designed to improve team collaboration and work management and in many instances, the choice depends on personal preference. JIRA is used a lot by software developers. Trello is known for its simplicity and Kanban structure, while Asana is particularly helpful for mid-sized marketing projects.
How we use them: Right now for most of our clients’ projects we use JIRA thanks to the awesomely easy integration with Everhour.
Trello Price: Free version available; cheapest plan $9.99 per month per user.
Asana Price: Free version available; cheapest plan $6.99 per month per user.
JIRA Price: Free version available; cheapest plan $7 per month per user.
SEO Tools
There are plenty of SEO tools out there and all of them have pros and cons, right?
Some measure positions in the search engines better than others. Some showcase the number of backlinks that the website has. Others are more suitable for keyword research.
Any serious business should invest in a good SEO tool (or a couple of tools) if they care about better search engine visibility.
Why a couple? Well, data sets tools offer are just way too different to rely on just one. Which is not surprising since they depend on different data sources.
Keep in mind that these tools offer an estimate of volume, CTR, etc. and it will always be an estimate.
SEMRush
There are a couple of big SEO platforms on the market right now doing an awesome job but me, I’m a SEMRush fan from day one. It is one of the top-notch SEO and keyword research tools that can analyse your site and the sites of your competitors. With it, you can easily identify the trends that are happening in your industry.
How I use it: When I need to conduct thorough keyword research or on-site optimisation and look for areas of improvement I use SEMRush.
Price: SEMRush Pro ($99.95 – 10,000 results per report, 3,000 reports per day); SEMRush Guru ($199.95 – 30,000 results per report, 5,000 reports per day); SEMRush Business and Enterprise plans available too.
Serpstat
Serpstat is another fantastic SEO tool that provides keywords research, backlinks analysis, website audit, and more. All based on artificial intelligence.
How I use it: When I need a quick check of the keyword of interest I use this one. When I need a deeper approach I cross-reference results from all the tools I use.
Price: Serpstat Lite $69 per month (10,000 results per report, 4,000 queries per day); Serpstat Standard $149 per month (30,000 results per report, 5,000 queries per day); Advanced and Enterprise versions available too.
Nightwatch Search Simulator (Chrome Extension)
Nightwatch tool simulates search engine queries from any location on Google so you can easily check and track your website or your competitor’s rankings.
How I use it: Amazing tool. When I need to check keyword results on different local Google search properties I use this one. Sure I’m doing well for the JAMstack SEO term in Google US but what about Google GR? The only downside is not being able to open FAQ and featured snippets.
Price: Chrome extension is free but be sure to check their native tool as well.
Google Analytics
There is no doubt Google Analytics is the most used traffic analytics tool. It tracks and reports website traffic, and offers various reports. It’s the most widely used web statistics service online.
How I use it: Although not without its drawback this is by far the best tool when you want and need to understand everything about your website traffic.
Price: Free; Google Analytics 360 (the former Google Analytics Premium) costs $150,000 per year.
Google Search Console
What Google Analytics is for your website traffic Google Search Console is for your search results appearance.
It is a free service that lets you gain plenty of information about search queries that lead to your website. It’s also useful for finding website errors, submitting a sitemap to Google, adding robots.txt file, managing crawl budget, etc.
How I use it: When I need to know which keywords work for the content I’m making I use GSC. I also use it to find keyword gems for which I should make new content ie keywords I rank for but am not inline with search intent with the page I have.
Price: Free.
Web.Dev (Lighthouse) and WebPageTest
Web.Dev ad WebPage Test are great tools that can help SEO specialists improve the quality of web page performance. It shows audits for 4 main areas: performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO.
How I use them: When I’m doing an initial SEO audit I run the page through both. They are here to help me find potential technical SEO problems.
Price: Free.
Content Tools
Just like with SEO, there are plenty of content tools to choose from.
Content tools are great for centralising your content marketing operation and this includes everything from planning and managing content to publishing.
Surfer SEO (main and Chrome extension)
Besides classic keyword research tool, Surfer SEO offers two awesome features for content writers and managers: the ability to analyse pages against what currently ranks in the SERPs.
And an analysis of all the things that are missing from the page and that are required for better ranking, including meta tags, images, keywords, and certain structural elements.
How I use it: I like to run posts though this tool and see, compare how they stand against current search results.
Price: $1 (7-day trial); $59 Basic Plan; $99 Pro Plan; $199 Business Plan.
Grammarly (Chrome extension)
Grammar checking, spell checking, and plagiarism detection tool.
First released in 2009, Grammarly quickly became the leader in natural language processing. It’s one of the most important tools for bloggers, content marketers, academics, and authors. I
t has a great Chrome plugin so you’ll never have to worry about making mistakes anymore.
How I use it: I eat letters! There I said it. That’s why I need Grammarly. To proofread my writing. Sometimes even to change the narrative thanks to their suggestions.
Price: Free version available; Premium $11.66; Business $12.50.
Snipping Tool
Snipping Tool allows you to take snapshots from any part of your screen. Simple as that.
How I use it: I don’t use cloud tools for snapshots. I’ve found this tool to be the fastest option.
Price: Free.
Cloud App
With CloudApp you can capture your screen or webcam. You can also capture, record, and share screenshots or videos instantly.
A great thing about the tool is that it allows you to get a link that you can then share with your team or users.
How I use it: Mostly to make short video captions.
Price: Free version (1 minute recording limit); Pro version: $9 per month; Team version: $8 per month.
Figma
Most people will rely on Adobe for any design-related task. However, if that’s not possible, the second-best option is Figma which is a design tool for digital projects.
The tool allows great team collaboration on different projects.
How I use it: When I need to guide a designer or make small adjustments to an already made image this is the tool I use.
Price: Free version available; next starting price $12 per month per user.
BuiltWith
BuiltWith is a tool that lets web developers, marketers, and designers find out technologies behind a certain website. There’s also a Google Chrome plugin.
How I use it: Being into the web dev B2B industry this is an awesome tool to find out about the underlying tech of websites.
Price: Free or $295 for basic acc.
Social Tools
Social tools are great for enhancing your social media efforts.
There are a variety of social tools on the market and most of them are used for content curation, discovery, scheduling and publishing content, and analytics on a variety of social media channels.
These are my tools that helped me improve business results across the board.
BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is a content analyser tool. Helps you understand which posts/articles/pages are the most shared ones per keyword, website or industry.Especially helpful tool when you need great topic ideas for your next article.
How I use it: Exactly as I explained the tool above.
Price: Free trial available then $79 per month; Plus version: $139 per month; Large version: $239 per month; Enterprise version available too.
Awario
Awario is a social media monitoring tool that helps businesses track conversations and mentions about their brand, product, or a service.
Brands can utilise this tool by joining the conversation with their users and improving their product or service.
How I use it: I have set up a couple of keywords to track the mentions but also a couple of unlinked mentions for the company and desired keywords so I can try and get backlinks.
Price: Starter version $29 per month; Pro version $89 per month; Enterprise $299 per month.
Buffer
Buffer is a great tool for social media marketers. It lets them manage multiple accounts in social networks and lets them schedule posts to different platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Linkedin.
How I use it: Even though lately I’m practicing more manual posting as it seems it brings better results (in combination with re-posts at least) this is still my go-to tool when I need to schedule posts/tweets on different soc.profiles.
Price: Free plan (3 social accounts, 10 scheduled posts, 1 user); Pro plan $15 per month; Premium $65 per month; Business $99 per month.
DuxSoup (Chrome extension)
The next tool is one of the best kept secrets of LinkedIn growth hacking.
Dux-Soup is a great tool for generating LinkedIn leads. It automatically visits prospect profiles, endorses skills, and it can even send personalised messages on your behalf.
How I use it: The best way to get in touch with potential leads is to be a part of their network. This basically means you need to use LinkedIn search or sales navigation option properly and then automate reach out to them with DuxSoup.
Price: Starter Pack is free; Professional Pack $11.25 per user per month; Turbo Pack $41.25 per user per month
eMail Marketing Tools
Email marketing tools help marketers create, send, and report on their email campaigns.
A really good email marketing tool should enable the creation of highly engaging newsletters.
Besides that, email marketing tools also offer email automation and the ability to track the performance of email marketing campaigns.
ZeroIn Email Checker
Let’s start with email extractors first. I just got into BETA for ZeroIn email checker a tool that helps you find email from anyone over LinkedIn. Actually you use LinkedIn to locate a person and the tool does the rest.
How I use it: As explained above+it has a bulk option for more than one email, if you need it. It’s a new tool but still I’m eager to see what else would be included as tools functionality when it finally gets released.
Price: BETA on invite only (for now).
Email Extractor (Chrome extension)
While I wait for the above Email Extractor is my go to email Chrome extension. As the name suggests, this tool lets you extract email addresses from different websites.
Thanks to its Google Chrome plugin you can collect email addresses in seconds.
How I use it: You’ll have to learn how to refine your Google search queries by using search operators. Search operators + this tool = awesome results.
Price: Free.
Sendinblue
Sendinblue is a comprehensive marketing communication suite with email marketing, SMS marketing, marketing automation, CRM management, retargeting ads, landing pages, and more!
It also offers more advanced tools like heat maps along with solid statistics.
How I use it: Right now as a platform for a newsletter. It has all the usual features like double-opti in, GDRP compliance option etc. The best thing about it is that it is not bound by the number of contacts but by the number of sent emails.
Price: Free version (300 emails per day, unlimited contacts); Lite version $25; Premium version $66.
Mailchimp
MailChimp is among the most famous email marketing services online.
It lets marketers create and manage email campaigns, mailing lists, and newsletters and you can even make landing pages with it.
How I use it: MailChimp has 2k users limitation on their free plan so I use it for a smaller newsletters. It is a great option for when you start with email marketing.
Price: Free version (up to 2,000 contacts and 10,000 emails per month); Standard Plan $14.99 per month; Premium Plan $299 per month.
There you have it, my stash of tools I use regularly that help me stay productive at all times.
