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Hey Marketing Bestie,

Prediction: the quiet 1 did it.

It’s White Lotus finale night, and someone’s 100% getting pushed into a koi pond. 🪷

If I don’t reply, assume I’m mid-spiral, whispering “no no no” at my screen.

P.S. Ari just asked me who the quiet 1 is. I told her I'm not sure, but that's a safe thing to put because it's always the quiet 1. We'll see if I'm right and if this even counts.

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Favorite Tools from the Group Chat

Let’s be honest. THERE ARE WAY TOO MANY TOOLS OUT THERE.

You’ve seen the “Top 100 Martech Platforms” charts. You’ve probably trialed 17 CRMs, 9 email platforms, and at least 1 AI tool that promised to change your life (and it didn’t).

But, after years deep in the trenches... building workflows, running teams, fixing broken attribution, scaling content engines, and helping both startups and scaled teams operate smarter.

I’ve learned this:

The best tools don’t just sound good. They make your job easier, your team faster, and your marketing better.

This isn’t a paid roundup. Just my POV.

These are the tools my smartest marketing friends and I actually use, love, and recommend. Over iMessage. Where you know it's real.

This list isn’t exhaustive. It’s evolving. Just a few standouts that I believe are good.

Loaded with high-signal tools across B2B, DTC, and SMB.

Whether you’re a team of 1 or a RevOps machine…

These are some tools that will help you build smarter, move faster, and scale what works. In my opinion.

B2B Tools

Microsoft Clarity - Free and shockingly powerful. Heatmaps, scroll depth, session recordings - super helpful for UX and CRO. Ari uses this, too.

Chili Piper - Real-time routing and meeting booking. Turns lead forms into pipeline - instantly.

Segment - Clean data pipes. Collect once, send anywhere. If you care about personalization or ops, you need this.

Zapier - Still the GOAT of no-code automation. If you're doing anything manually more than once, Zap it. Have used it on a daily basis for YEARS.

Singulate - Mid-funnel magic. Powers personalized, high-value content at scale without feeling automated. Smart nurture sequences that educate, not sell. I’m an advisor because I believe in it that much.

SparkToro - Audience research on demand. Discover where your target audience hangs out online. The websites they visit, social accounts they follow, podcasts they listen to, and more. Perfect for uncovering new channels.

ChatGPT - Strategy buddy. Copy co-pilot. Research assistant. Helps you move from idea to execution 10x faster. 4o MINIMUM.

Claude - Long-form, thoughtful AI writing. Great for content marketers and ops leaders working with nuance and complex workflows.

HockeyStack - Attribution and analytics made for B2B SaaS. Tells a clean story from touchpoint to revenue.

LeanData - Lead-to-account matching, routing, and attribution. Essential when things start getting messy.

Clay - AI-powered data enrichment and prospecting. Pull custom lists, personalize at scale, and integrate it into anything. The engine behind a lot of efficient outbound motion.

UserGems - Pipeline generation based on job changes and contact tracking. Turns past champions into new opps. RevOps teams love it.

HubSpot - CRM, automation, forms, CMS. A great balance of usability and power for growing GTM teams. I'm OG HubSpot.

Webflow - Gives marketers control over design and development. Build landing pages and sites that actually convert, kinda quickly.

Optimizely - A/B testing infrastructure that makes it easy to learn and optimize across your entire funnel.

Knak - Email builder that’s fast, flexible, and brand-safe. No-code and no bottlenecks - just ship better emails, faster.

Canva - Great for fast, clean visuals - social graphics, 1-pagers, mockups. No design degree required.

Adobe Express - More control than Canva, still super user-friendly. Great for quick content upgrades.

Ecom Tools

Prescient AI - Predictive ad performance before you spend. Built for media buyers who want to win on ROI. Forecasting starts and ends here IMO, especially if you're marketing across multiple channels.

Motion - See why your best ads are winning, down to the frame. Creative analytics = better content and faster iteration. Connects creative and paid teams.

KnoCommerce - Post-purchase surveys with plug-and-play insights. Get voice-of-customer data without overthinking it. Informs a lot of your Marketing.

Elevar - Tracks what your pixel can’t. Attribution and event tracking that feeds better data to your stack. Improves Meta performance by 20%. GA4 and Shopify purchase #'s MATCH. Exactly!!!

Recharge - Subscription infrastructure that drives retention and LTV. Easy to integrate. The most used for a reason.

Postscript - Conversational SMS marketing that feels personal. High open rates, high revenue, low spam. Best popup.

Figma - Collab design tool that works great for brand, product, and performance teams - from wireframes to launch-ready assets.

Bloomreach - Site personalization and product discovery that actually impacts revenue. The best search available.

Passport - International shipping - simplified. Cuts the logistics drama. Helps you ship to and grow in your new markets.

Klaviyo - Emails that are easy to personalize and automate. Perfect with Postscript.

Shopify Plus - You know it. You love it.

Zapier - Automate backend flows, sync your stack, and keep ops tight.

Small Business Tools

HubSpot - CRM, email, forms, landing pages, and automation. Easy to use, easy to scale. It’s the Swiss Army knife for small GTM teams.

Canva - Design anything in minutes — from IG graphics to pitch decks to event flyers. Perfect when your designer is… you.

Adobe Express - A little more power than Canva, still super intuitive. Quick edits, animations, and upgrades that make content look amazing.

Typeform - Forms that people actually enjoy filling out. Great for lead capture, surveys, quizzes, and more.

Descript - Podcast editing, video clipping, and screen recording. All with a drag-and-drop UI. Perfect for content-first brands.

Riverside - High-quality remote podcast recording. Audio and video are crisp, and it makes editing a breeze. Ideal for creators or brand builders.

Wix - A great place to start if you need a clean, functional website fast. Easy drag-and-drop editor with tons of templates.

Opus Clip - Turn long-form videos into short-form clips automatically. Amazing for podcast repurposing or content distribution.

ChatGPT - Your 24/7 assistant for writing, brainstorming, strategy, and more. Helps solo teams move at team speed.

Claude - Longer, deeper, more thoughtful responses. Great for writing content, summarizing notes, or creating customer-facing materials.

MEME OF THE WEEK

ICYMI: MARKETINGLAND MEMBERSHIP

A little corner for Marketingland Members where I share my favorite content, upcoming convos, and key updates.

Tomorrow, the team is going to send warm introductions between Marketing Besties. Today, I get to curate who should meet who. It’s the best knowing I can play a small part in helping you all connect with each other.

Don’t forget to reply to the introduction tomorrow.

What’s Marketingland Membership? Learn more here.

See Marketing Besties Directory 🏰

🎙 TUNE IN

Podcast to listen to this week:

Go-to-Market Plays #1: What to do a Launch

What you will learn:

🎙: Why great launches don’t start on launch day
🎙: How Notion & Superhuman engineered anticipation
🎙: 3 pre-launch moves to generate unstoppable momentum

Listen Here

JUST FOR FUN

🔥: Event of the month: Register for Free

🤩: Brand of the week: Orlebar Brown

😛: Favorite meal I ate: CJ's

🎵: Favorite song this week: Watching you

💍: What I bought my wife: Crewneck from the hotel gift shop. She said it was very Princess Diana.