Hey there-
Today we’re going to talk about marketing tech for B2B SaaS, specifically:
What a good marketing stack looks like
The vast landscape of marketing tools
The lean marketing stack
Let’s dive in.
What does a good marketing stack look like?
Picture this -
Someone sees one of your scheduled posts on LinkedIn which links back to your website. They click through to your website, look around, and a pop-up for a cookie consent banner shows up. Like most people, they click ‘Accept All Cookies‘ to dismiss the annoying banner.
This triggers a tag manager to load scripts for tracking tools. You now have access to a whole host of info, including their location, their scroll behaviour, how they arrived on your website, etc. You can see their actions in real-time as they look around your website.
Before long, they create a free account to test out your product. This:
creates a new record in your CRM system containing all the information they used to sign up, and any additional info that your web analytics picked up
triggers enrichment of the data in your CRM - populating their social media profiles and company website
notifies you in Slack, Teams, or Discord that you’ve got a new signup
adds the person to your marketing email list and email nurture sequence
creates a user record in your CDP platform and product analytics platform
As they log on for the first time, a guided product tour and onboarding flow starts. Their usage info gets logged into your product analytics platform as they click around. They stop the tour halfway through and don’t log in for a couple of days.
This lack of activity triggers an email to go out to them asking if they need any help with your product, linking them to your calendar to book a demo. When they sign up for a demo, your calendar, CRM, and Slack/Teams/Discord sync up.
The next day, you have a demo with the person. The prospect discovers that your product is indeed a good fit and signs a deal on the spot. You mark the deal as won in your CRM, triggering your billing system to ask for first payment and notifying your team of the good news. This customer gets removed from your email nurture sequence and gets put on your company and product updates newsletter.
Once a month, you do a deep dive into your marketing, product, and finance data looking for trends and insights. You run a cohort analysis in your BI tools using your marketing and product usage data to see what factors influence signups which convert to paying customers. You notice that users who came in via specific channels and landing pages were more likely to become paying users. You decide to double down on your marketing efforts on these channels, eventually leading to more and more happy customers.
The end.
Now, every company is different but the above is what you can expect to see in those with a solid marketing stack. In that short example, at least 17 different types of marketing tools were used. Crazy right?
A good marketing stack does the following things well:
Gathers data about your prospects and customers including how they interact with your website, product, support team, emails, content, etc.
Transforms data into insights (or allows your team to do so)
Captures and nurtures leads throughout the buying journey
Personalises interactions at scale, helping with conversions, upgrades, support, communication, etc.
Automates routine tasks and alerts humans when decisions or input is needed
Keeps your data in sync across all tools
So what are the different types of tools that exist?
The vast landscape of marketing tools
There are a LOT of marketing tools out there.
If you've never worked in sales or marketing before, the sheer number of tools on the market can feel overwhelming. To add to that, a lot of tools do seemingly the same thing but in a slightly different way. It’s all a bit confusing, to be honest.
So here’s a crash course:
Website & Content Management
Content Management Systems (CMS) & Website Builders
Build and manage your marketing website
Examples: Webflow, Framer, WordPress, Contentful, Strapi, Next.js
Landing Page Builders
Create dedicated campaign landing pages
Examples: Unbounce, Leadpages, Instapage, Carrd
Website Performance/Monitoring
Monitor site speed and uptime
Examples: GTmetrix, PageSpeed Insights, Pingdom
Content Creation/Design
Create marketing assets and content
Examples: Canva, Figma, Adobe Creative Suite
Video Creation/Recording
Create video content and record meetings/demos
Examples: Loom, Riverside.fm
Documentation
Create and manage marketing docs, branding, guides, knowledge bases
Notion, GitBook, Confluence
Collateral Management
Organize and distribute marketing/sales materials
Examples: Seismic, Highspot, Showpad, Brandfolder
Web Tracking & Analytics
Web/Visitor Analytics
Track who visits your site and what they do
Examples: Google Analytics, Plausible.io, PostHog, Heap, Adobe Analytics, Amplitude, Fathom
Tag Management
Deploy tracking codes without touching your codebase
Examples: Google Tag Manager, Adobe Launch, Tealium
Cookie Opt-in Banners
Legal compliance for GDPR, CCPA, etc.
Examples: OneTrust, Cookiebot, Termly, self-coded
Heatmaps
Visualise exactly where users click, scroll, and interact on your pages
Example: HotJar, Microsoft Clarity, PostHog, CrazyEgg, FullStory, LogRocket
Data Visualisation
Create dashboards and reports from your marketing data
Examples: Looker Studio, Tableau, Power BI
Attribution/Multi-Touch Attribution
Track which touchpoints drive conversions
Examples: Adobe Analytics, HubSpot Attribution, Google Analytics 4
Customer & Lead Management
CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
Manage leads, customers, and sales pipeline
Examples: HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Odoo, Zoho
CDP (Customer Data Platform)
Unify customer data from all touchpoints
Examples: Mixpanel, Segment, Amplitude
Lead Intelligence/Prospecting
Find and research prospects, enrich contact data
Examples: Apollo, ZoomInfo, Cognism, Instantly, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Lusha
Data Enrichment/Verification
Clean and enhance your contact databases
Examples: Clay, Clearbit, ZeroBounce, Hunter.io
Sales Intelligence/Prospecting Automation
Automate prospecting and sales outreach
Examples: Outreach, SalesLoft, Instantly, Lemlist, Apollo, Reply.io
Email & Communication
Newsletters
Email marketing and newsletter platforms
Examples: Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Substack, Beehiiv, MailerLite
Email Sequencing
Automated email campaigns and drip sequences
Examples: ActiveCampaign, Customer.io, Drip, ConvertKit, Klaviyo
Live Chat/Customer Support
Real-time customer communication
Example: Intercom, Zendesk, Drift
Community Building
Build and manage user communities
Examples: Discord, Slack, Circle, Mighty Networks, Discourse, Skool
Marketing Channels
SEO Tools
Optimize for search engines and track rankings
Examples: Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz, Screaming Frog, Google Search Console
Social Media Management
Schedule and manage social media posts
Examples: Hootsuite, Buffer, Sprout Social
SMS Marketing
Text message marketing campaigns
Examples: Twilio, SimpleTexting, EZ Texting, Postscript
Push Notifications
Send mobile and browser push notifications
Examples: OneSignal, Firebase
Webinar Platforms
Host educational and sales webinars
Examples: Zoom, WebinarJam, GoToWebinar, Demio
Conversion & User Experience
A/B Testing
Test different versions of pages and campaigns
Optimizely, VWO, Unbounce
Surveys & Forms
Collect feedback and market research
Examples: Typeform, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, JotForm
Onboarding Tools
Guide new users through your product
Examples: Intercom, Appcues, Pendo
Automation & AI
Automation/Integration
Connect tools together and automate workflows
Examples: n8n, Zapier, Make
Marketing Automation Platforms
Advanced multi-channel automation
Examples: Marketo, ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, HubSpot
AI-Powered Marketing Tools
Leverage AI for content, design, and optimization
Examples: ChatGPT, Claude, Copy.ai, Jasper, Midjourney, DALL-E, Synthesia, Grammarly
Specialised Tools
Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
Target specific high-value accounts
Examples: Demandbase, 6sense, Terminus
Competitive Intelligence
Research competitors' tech stack and strategies
Examples: BuiltWith, SimilarWeb, SEMrush, Ahrefs, SpyFu
Affiliate/Referral Management
Manage partner and referral programs
Examples: ReferralCandy, Extole, Friendbuy
Calendar Bookings
Schedule demos, consultations, and meetings
Examples: Calendly, Chili Piper, HubSpot Meetings, TidyCal
Annnnnnd I’ve probably missed a bunch. The landscape is constantly evolving. But truthfully, you don’t need much.
Introducing the lean marketing stack
Given the vast landscape of tooling available, it’s easy to overthink your marketing stack. Fear not. There are only two tools you really need:
Web analytics to track traffic sources and conversions, and
Heatmapping to visualise user behaviour
With this lean marketing stack, you’ve got everything you need to acquire customers. You can see which channels are working, what content converts, where users drop off, what features people use, and which campaigns drive results.
Essentially, you can focus purely on understanding what works and optimising for better conversions. Anything extra is a bonus. Of course, add any other tools as needed to facilitate your customer journey (e.g. a calendar booking integration if you're inbound-sales-led), but start simple and expand as your needs grow.
If you're just starting out then check out Microsoft Clarity and PostHog. Either tool will serve you well for a long time.
Both of these solutions (at the time of writing):
Are free / freemium
Can handle UTM parameters
Can build funnel visualisations
Can handle conversion events
Have heatmapping
Can be deployed as a simple script in your <head> tag
Can be run cookieless (a plus depending on the cookie laws of the countries you are targeting)
And that wraps up today’s post. Hope you found it useful. As always, please leave a comment if there’s any topics that interest you.
PS: I’m currently writing a marketing playbook which helps early-stage B2B SaaS companies build repeatable customer acquisition systems. If you’d like to be notified when it goes into early access simply subscribe today: