15 Softwares Every Marketing Professional Should Try

In today’s digital marketing world, automation is the royal road to scalable campaigns and sustainable results.

The right software is intuitive. It not only expands your capabilities and acts as an extension of your skills, but it also makes it easier to stay focused on the strategic picture.

The end result is greater efficiency plus better alignment with your most crucial goals.

Let’s take a look at fifteen examples of the best marketing software in 2018:

1. HubSpot

HubSpot is known as the industry leader in inbound marketing. No surprise its marketing automation software is consistently the best in class, providing streamlined ways to put best practices to work for you.

It can function as a complete integrated content management system, email marketing solution, calendar, lead management suite, and much more.

2. Moz Pro

Even if you already love your existing search engine optimization (SEO) and keyword research tools, Moz Pro will add some indispensable data to the mix.

Everything Moz does is polished, professional, and backed by one of the longest-running SEO communities on the web. It has its own rank tracking, Keyword Explorer, site-wide and page-based SEO auditing, and much more.

3. Sailthru

If you want to understand your users and respond to them more effectively in real time, Sailthru is the key.

It provides smart data that equips you to create personalized user experiences, boost user engagement, and – ultimately – achieve more conversions. All of its features are fully optimized for mobile, too, making it ideal in today’s mobile-first search world.

4. Optimove

Optimove bills itself as a “retention automation platform” and helps marketers with one of the biggest problems facing them at any agency or company: Proving marketing ROI with concrete and clear data.

By making it easier to deploy personalized incentives and offers, it supercharges your ability to convert leads, cut back on churn, and raise average purchase value.

5. Vivial

Vivial centralizes local and social marketing, giving you an easy way to amplify the voice of customers that focus on a traditional brick and mortar location.

It also lets you expand the reach of local business content by accessing a specialized network of publishers. Kicking around since 2012, it has consistently expanded and refined its offerings.

6. MailChimp

MailChimp is the solution that any marketing team should go for if they are getting ready to dive into email marketing in earnest.

It is one of the simplest and most popular solutions around and is an excellent way to focus on the fundamentals without a lot of distracting bells and whistles. Despite its simplicity and low price point, it can scale up to larger lists very effectively.

7. Infusionsoft

Infusionsoft combines a number of marketing and sales features, enabling you to bridge the gap between departments in the era of “smarketing.”

Marketing automation, e-commerce, and CRM can all be found in this one stop shop. Although it was initially targeted at small businesses, it is robust enough these days to meet the needs of virtually any size category or industry.

8. ThriveHive

ThriveHive is famous for its “guided marketing platform,” a concept that makes it easier for top leaders and business owners to craft their marketing vision without finding themselves lost in the bushes of marketing jargon.

Combining a wide range of tools – including complete marketing plan creation – with customized help and advice, it is the path to take for marketers who aren’t marketers.

9. Demandbase

Demandbase helps you zero in on the precise attributes of your traffic so you can refine buyer personas and provide better content.

Its ABM Analytics platform is one of the most potent tools for transmuting user data into actionable insights when you are focused on major accounts rather than on a broad-based strategy. Targeting, engagement, and conversion are all handled with aplomb.

10. WordStream

WordStream is one of the leading names in AdWords management.

It has consistently risen to the challenge of expanding its capabilities along with those of AdWords and provides the kind of convenience, flexibility, and scalability we can only dream of from the original Google interface. It’s totally cross-platform and includes scheduling, creative development, and much more.

11. Bannersnack

Bannersnack is one of the classics in online banner development.

With countless templates, photos, and other design elements, it makes it a snap to orchestrate all of the CTA-focused graphics that make such a big difference in marketing results. Presets allow you to quickly whip up banners for all the top display advertising platforms or use them to spruce up your landing pages.

12. Journey by CAKE

Tracking cross-platform advertising performance is no easy task – and without accurate traffic attribution, it’s hard to establish the ROI of your efforts.

Enter Journey, which uses a truly sophisticated system of multi-touch attribution to show you the precise impact of all your influencers, introducers, and closers. That gives you the power to dramatically enhance all your campaigns.

13. Beacon

If you want to produce compelling bottom of the funnel and thought leadership content, Beacon is the software for you.

It accelerates the process of designing and developing a beautiful e-book, one of the most enticing lead magnets you can have. As an efficient replacement for complex mainstays such as Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, it can save you both time and money.

14. Seventh Sense

Seventh Sense starts by asking, “Is there a best time to send email?” and as many digital marketers would tell you, the answer is yes.

Once you’ve pinned down the elusive best time, though, what are your options for making sure email actually gets sent then? Seventh Sense makes it a cinch to schedule your marketing emails with incredible precision and integrates with other tools like HubSpot.

15. Google Analytics

Last, but certainly not least, Google Analytics deserves a mention.

Although the interface is notoriously clunky, it provides a robust and flexible analytics package backed by ongoing feature updates. Not only does it boast the quality you expect from the Big G, but it is also 100% free. All these factors together make it the best place to start, despite the fearsome learning curve.

So, there you have it: The top marketing software in 2018!

Crafting your own perfect marketing technology stack is an ongoing process. You’ll balance constraints like price with rich features, ease of use, and that inexpressible synergy that can arise between multiple solutions (even when they aren’t actually designed to be compatible).

With these picks, you’ll have top of the line solutions that simply can’t go wrong.

Have a favorite marketing software or software combo you can’t wait to share with the world? If we missed something, tell us all about it in the comments below!