What are the best marketing tools and platforms for your startup?

Ensure alignment with sales and product objectives. Is the goal to increase product awareness or adoption or revenue? Before determining the “how” of achieving the goals, be clear about them and get a collective agreement from the product, sales, and leadership teams. Collaboration is key and you want to ensure that your team gets the support from others and can support other teams.

Smart startup entrepreneurs start by knowing that their solution actually solves a problem. 42% of startups fail because they can't answer what problem they solve and if their solution is wanted by the market as a solution. Start all your tool searches here. Your first insights should be - does the market want this? Is it priced right? Find the platforms that answer these two questions first.

First things first, clearly define your requirements. Platform bloat is a thing - you can very quickly find yourself signing up to the most gimmicky tools. Wasting thousands of $ each year. Stick to these 10 main types of software (brand agnostic): 1. CMS to build your website 2. General AI tool for content 3. Social scheduling tool 4. Project management tool 5. Email marketing tool 6. Graphic design tool 7. Video editing tool 8. Team communication tool 9. Finance tracking tool 10. Cloud storage tool These 10 tools cover what I’d consider your most crucial business functions. Required to scale from 0-$10M. Anything else is overkill. Always keep an eye on your platform spending, because it can snowball quickly.

The choice of marketing tools and platforms for your startup depends on your specific goals and target audience. Here are some popular options to consider: 1. Social Media Platforms: 2. Email Marketing: 3. Content Marketing: 4. Paid Advertising: 5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): 6. Analytics: Google Analytics and Google Search Console provide valuable insights into your website's performance. 7. Customer Relationship Management (CRM): 8. Marketing Automation: 9. Content Creation: 10. Community Building: 11. Influencer Marketing: 12. Referral Programs: Based on your industry, target audience, and budget. It's essential to analyze your startup's unique needs and goals before selecting the right marketing tools and platforms.

Find the tools that help you execute fast. Go for the agile ones with flexible packages and integrate with other tools. And they all must have reports.

Can I just say SparkToro? I used the tool to build the media preference part of personas. I don’t know of any other tool that can take that journey backwards from your topic to what journals, what sites, what blogs and what influencers people interested in the topic reads. My personas were for B2B and where strongly defined by a topic interest. Take that step backnto media consumption was really simple using that tool. This meant we could now choose which magazines to consider advertising in or consider for PR. We knew what influencers we should consider working with.

If your audience is global, your marketing should be too. Use platforms that support multi-language, multi-currency capabilities, and local compliance norms.

Absolutely agree. Marketing is communication. Communication has a sender, a receiver and a message. So depending in all these factors you select the best and most effective medium, 'tool', to bring this message across to the people you target.

Understanding your target audience and what their typical buying behaviour looks like is the key to any marketing activity and strategy. Here are a few best practices and tips for gathering some primary user insights: - Pick up the phone and speak to your existing clients (if any) - Run online customer surveys. If you don't have any customers, you can leverage market research apps and platforms like Attest and YouGov to do some primary user research. You can also host a small in-person event or a focus group and invite your prospects to participate. Events offer a great opportunity for both customer research and lead generation. - Perform social listening - what's trending in your sector. What users search/talk about.

Understanding your audience is pivotal for both tool selection and overall brand strategy. From my experience, focusing on your core audience is crucial to avoid diluting your efforts. However, it’s also wise to allocate some resources to secondary audiences. You never know when your brand or services might resonate with a group you hadn’t initially considered. Therefore, while your core audience dictates your primary toolset, be adaptable enough to cater to secondary audiences as opportunities arise.

Always be smart and cautious with your spending. You don't need the most fancy/powerful piece of software for your marketing to be successful. Start with the basics and as Inbal mentioned below, scale as you grow. These are: - Content management system (CMS) for your website. In the early days, you can use and customise a ready-made website template on DYI apps like Wix and Squarespace. You don't need a complex and fancy website to prove product market fit and validate your idea. Some of them also offer integrated CRM capabilities. - A website analytics tool like Google Analytics - An email platform like Mailchimp - A CRM tool like Hubspot or Salesforce. Mailchimp also offers a basic CRM option.

Absolutely, budgeting is a critical factor in tool selection. In my practice, I typically research various platforms in a specific focus area, looking at the types of businesses they serve. Free trials are invaluable for initial evaluations. Once a platform stands out, I recommend reaching out to the seller for deeper insights. Start with an essential package that aligns with your immediate needs. Master its functionalities before considering an upgrade. It’s crucial to pace yourself to avoid becoming overwhelmed by too many features.

-ROI: Always measure the cost of any tool against the potential ROI. If a tool costs $500/month but can automate processes that would otherwise take a $4000/month employee, that's a win! -Freemium to Premium: Many platforms offer freemium models. Start small and scale as your needs grow. There's no need to pay for features you won't use. -Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Don’t just look at the subscription cost; include training, migration, and any additional modules you may need in future.

Start with your marketing strategy and plan. Once you know your personas and how they like to be communicated with, you have a starting off point to start researching solutions and costs. Marketing costs can run up quickly. I like to start with free and then work my way up. For example Hubspot offers a free version of their marketing platform as well as having a massive start up discount for higher level licences. So if for example your key channel will be content syndication, no need for sophisticated MA, rather save some budget there and focus on other areas. I worked with a company that bootstrapped their whole marketing tech stack integration solutions in the most unexpected way. It works, so get a little creative.

When evaluating all your options, you might also consider joining niche marketing-specific/industry-specific online communities like Slack groups and forums and ask around what others are using and get feedback about various platforms and tools.

Competitor analysis is an often overlooked but valuable strategy for tool selection. In my experience, when we were in the market for a marketing CRM, we started by shortlisting platforms frequently used by similar businesses. This approach is based on the assumption that these platforms likely include features tailored to the specific needs of our industry. By leveraging what works for competitors, you can make more informed decisions and potentially uncover tools that will give you a competitive edge.

Don't be afraid to reach out to others in your space for a virtual coffee. You might be surprised that others are experiencing your same struggles. It's also a great way to get insights into what tools are working well and get advice on where to focus.

I recommend using HubSpot or a similar platform for your marketing at a startup. It's a great way to get started while having something that will scale with your organization. I also appreciate that it has courses that will help you learn different areas you may not have covered by your team.

Learning new tools each stage or your growth adds complexity to your operation. It adds layers of new processes that are required due to being involved with new tools, and retraining on how to use the new tools. At the same time, some tools can be quite expensive at earlier stages of growth. Although some good ones, like HubSpot will have startup discounts. I would recommend choosing tools that can scale with you and provide you and your with the core services that you need for operations as you grow. Otherwise you will either be find yourself stuck with tools that are inappropriate for you needs or you will need to pay a lot extra to migrate the data, adapt the processes and retrain the stakeholders.

As your team grows, your platforms should be able to grow with you. Look for tools that offer easy scaling options without huge jumps in costs.

Selecting tools that align with your team’s capabilities is both critical and complex. From my experience, implementing a new tool isn’t just about the software; it’s about people. It requires training, upskilling, and ensuring the tool integrates seamlessly into existing workflows. A clearly defined transition timeline is essential to minimize business interruption. Whether your team is small or large, make sure the tools you choose are not just robust but also suit the skillset and structure of your team.

I can recommend HubSpot, HootSuite and the Adobe Marketing Cloud products. But the platform's own tools are also excellent. The important thing is that the solutions are intuitive and easy to understand - that makes them easier to use. What you shouldn't think is that the tools do all the work for you. Although they give you an excellent insight into your target group and buyer personas, I still recommend doing your own research. Many of the platforms offer their own learning lessons and workshops - use them!

Lean into your investors and their networks. Do they have any round tables or executive events coming up that your company should take part in? Do they have any resources to assist with tasks or projects that you can outsource? Do they have experts you can get advice from or share materials with for feedback? Exhaust your investors resources before spending any other money.

Data Privacy & Ownership: -Ensuring data privacy compliance is non-negotiable. Platforms that have built-in compliance features can save you from costly legal battles down the road. -Make sure you understand who owns the data collected by these tools. This can become critical if you decide to migrate to a different platform in the future. Reporting & Insights: -Join platforms that provide actionable insights that directly relate to your business goals. -Sometimes you may need to analyze data using third-party analytics software or algorithms. Platforms should allow easy data exporting for such scenarios.

It's very important to find the right balance of performance marketing and brand building. Pitting brand building and performance marketing against each other in a competition for budget damages the effectiveness of both. It is possible to link brand building and performance marketing to company goals like return on investment, shareholder value, revenue. The HBR article on the same topics illustrates this with 3 examples from different industries.

In today's digital age, the right tool can be a game-changer for your business. However, it's essential not to drown in the vast sea of options. 1) For instance, while choosing a customer software like Zoho, Zendesk, or Freshdesk, don't get paralyzed by indecision. 2) Remember, most of these platforms offer overlapping features. 3) The real difference lies in how you leverage them. Make a prompt decision and channel your energy into customizing the tool to fit your unique needs.