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How to choose the right marketing tools for your startup
You could just subscribe to the most popular platforms and get on with your marketing campaigns. They are popular for a reason – they are tried and tested, right?
Well, yes, they get the job done but choosing the best marketing tools depends on several factors. Many of these platforms bundle features to appear “all-in-one” and if you’re not careful you might pay for the same functionality across different platforms. That’s why we’ll look at factors to consider when choosing the right startup marketing tools:
Business needs
The fact that you are looking for a tool right means you have a certain need that you need it to fill. However, defining a need has to be thorough. Otherwise, you’d get into the trap of focusing more on shiny features like “AI-powered analytics” or “automated omnichannel campaigns”. So map your goals to put more effort on outcomes rather than features alone.
For example, if your goal is to increase newsletter subscribers by 40%, you might need a landing page builder with A/B testing functionality and analytics. You can then quantify your needs:
- Do you need basic landing pages or advanced ones with dynamic content?
- Will your team need 1 user seat or 10?
Current tech stack
Mapping your goals will help you focus more on marketing tools you actually need, not flashy features. But within those tools you’ve narrowed down to, some features might overlap with your current tech stack.
Let’s say you have a subscription with HubSpot and it also offers a social media suite. However, you are about to buy a separate social media tool, Hootsuite to fill a need. So if your HubSpot plan includes a social media management feature and you end up buying Hootsuite, you’d be paying twice for the same feature.
One way to avoid it is to audit your current tech stack. List all marketing tools you use and pay for. Then compare and flag any feature that overlaps with the tool you are about to buy.
When you are comparing the tools you’ve narrowed down to, compare the cost too. Look beyond the price on their pricing page. In most cases, they offer discounts on your first purchase but after that, you’ll pay for the actual price which is higher.
Other costs to look out for are migration and setup fees, and scalability costs. Compare how the price of each tool will increase as you use the products and add more users. Also, beware of platforms that lock you in on an annual plan because you wouldn’t want to pay for a product you won’t find useful. Before subscribing to a plan, you can sign up for free trials or freemiums to compare the tools.