This is the stack I keep coming back to. The top marketing tools that I use with growing businesses as a fractional CMO.
Most B2B teams don’t have too many tools. Some half configured. Some not used at all. Nobody really owns them. Everyone vaguely hopes they’re “working in the background.”
I’ve been inside small businesses long enough to see the pattern. Someone duct tapes together a marketing stack. It looks impressive in a deck. It does very little for revenue.
So this is not that list.
These are the tools that quietly save time, boost reach, and make money easier to earn without creating a second full time job for your team.
No fluff.
No agency bloat.
No shiny object syndrome.
Just systems.
Top marketing tools that don’t make you hate outbound
Outbound gets a bad reputation in B2B. And honestly, I get why.
People wreck their deliverability. Sometimes their reputation.
They over automate.
They build insane workflows in Clay or n8n that nobody has time to maintain
Then they decide outbound doesn’t work.
It does. It just doesn’t work when it’s brittle and over engineered.
These top marketing tools keep outbound simple, warmer, and actually manageable.
HeyReach
This is how you stay active on LinkedIn without babysitting it.
Your account stays visible.
Your network keeps warming.
Prospects get consistent touchpoints.
And you don’t have to think about it every day. Which matters more than people admit.
Get a free trial here.
Apollo
Still the best all around data source for most small and mid sized B2B teams.
It’s not perfect. None of them are.
But it’s miles better than a lot of alternatives.
You filter your real ICP.
You build clean lists.
You keep outbound volume steady.
It removes the guesswork that slows teams down.
RB2B
This one changes how outbound feels.
You see which companies are already visiting your site.
Which means you’re no longer guessing who’s warm.
Outbound gets much easier when you know someone’s paying attention before they ever fill out a form. There’s nothing else quite like this right now. It’s genuinely excellent.
Also. Follow the founder. You’ll learn a lot just by watching how he builds.
Get a free trial here.
Gojiberry
Newer tool. I’ve been using it for a few months.
It gives you lightweight intent signals for LinkedIn. When accounts start showing activity, you see it. Then you reach out.
This is how cold outbound turns into good timing instead of awkward timing.
Start for free here.
Instantly AI
Instantly AI is a cold email platform that lets you send personalized outbound emails at scale, without wrecking your deliverability.
It has done-for-you inbox setup with domains you can purchase right in the platform. It has email warm up, website visitor identification, and AI personalization that lets you send the right message to the right person. On their hyper growth plan ($97 per month), you can send up to 100k emails and have 25k contacts.
If you want high volume cold email, there isn’t a better tool.
Start for free here.
GHL
This is the foundation.
Sales.
Nurture.
Client onboarding.
Reviews.
Automations.
All in one place. For $97 a month. Get a free trial here.
If you’re running outbound here, set up a subdomain and keep volume low. Use it to nurture, follow up, and track. Not to blast. When the website visitors come in using RB2B, trigger a workflow to send them a follow up. When you get a conversation in heyreach, have that automatically go to your CRM in GHL.
These five tools together give you a clean outbound engine without the complexity that stops teams before they even start.
Top marketing tools that turn content into a flywheel
This is where marketing gets easier.
Not louder. Easier.
Riverside
Clean audio. Clean video. Editing in one place.
At this price point, there isn’t a better option.
Start for free here.
HeyGen
Your digital twin.
Clone your voice and your face. Keep video content moving even when you don’t have time to be on camera.
My offshore marketing specialists use this constantly when founders are slammed and content still needs to ship.
Get started for free here.
Opus Clips
Opus Clips takes long-form video and turns it into short, usable clips automatically.
You upload a YouTube video, webinar, or podcast. Opus finds the strongest moments, cuts them into short clips, adds captions, and formats them for social.
How teams use it:
- Record one solid piece of content per week
- Let Opus create multiple short clips
- Post consistently on LinkedIn without editing everything manually
It doesn’t replace your message.
It just removes the friction that usually stops distribution.
Get started for free here.
InVideo
Fast edits. Short clips. Multi platform versions.
No Final Cut trauma. No overthinking.
You don’t even need a credit card to try this one.
AI Carousels
Carousels still punch way above their weight on LinkedIn.
Using AI templates means reach plus credibility without three hours of design time and an existential crisis in Figma.
Beehiiv
This is your owned audience headquarters.
Recurring traffic.
Recurring attention.
A system, not a gamble.
Every B2B company needs a home base that isn’t rented from an algorithm.
You can get a two week free trial here.
Publer
My favorite scheduler.
Simple. Clean. Reliable.
Yes, GHL has scheduling. I still prefer Publer, especially for personal LinkedIn profiles.
Try it for free forever here. You can connect and schedule up to 10 posts on three social accounts.
Top marketing tools that help you rank, look legit, and win trust.
This is the grown up part of marketing. The part most teams rush past.
Semrush
Keyword research. Site audits. Competitive insights.
It tells you what content to make so SEO stops feeling like witchcraft. The UX is excellent. Log in, type a keyword, get to work.
They recently added AI visibility tracking, which matters a lot heading into 2026.
If you don’t have an SEO agency and you’re trying to grow this in house, you need this.
Try it here for free.
HeadshotPro
This one’s underrated.
Clean, polished team photos in minutes. B2B buyers notice when a company looks professional. And yes, they notice when everyone’s profile photo looks like it was taken in a car.
InVideo and HeyGen again
Product explainers. Demos. Brand storytelling without bottlenecks.
GHL again
Landing pages. Offers. Campaigns that don’t die waiting on design cycles.
Local SEO listings. Reviews. The unsexy stuff that actually compounds.
How these top marketing tools actually makes you money
Tools don’t make money. Systems do.
Here’s a simple example using what I just shared.
You pull your ICP list in Apollo.
HeyReach warms and nurtures your LinkedIn network daily to your targeted ICP.
RB2B shows you which of those people hit your site.
GHL triggers follow ups, nurtures, or outreach based on that behavior.
That’s not a tool stack.
That’s a system.
And systems scale.
Final thoughts on the top marketing tools for 2026
If your brain feels like it just opened 14 browser tabs, pause.
Start with three tools.
Get them working.
Then add.
Every single tool on this list is something I actually use and recommend.
Because systems beat guesswork. Every time.
If you want help building a marketing system, start with my free 6-Week Growth Sprint.