Salesforce’s digital marketing suite (formerly ExactTarget/Pardot for B2B). It offers sophisticated email automation, journey orchestration across email/SMS/push, and deep personalization (especially when connected to Salesforce CRM data). Often used by mid-market businesses who already use Salesforce for sales/service and want to unify customer messaging. While powerful, it usually requires certified specialists – included here as an option for those scaling toward enterprise-grade marketing.
An email marketing and marketing automation platform known for being user-friendly and cost-effective (and it’s the creator of the blog we cited!). Moosend offers rich automation workflows, a drag-and-drop email editor, and e-commerce integrations. It positions itself as an affordable alternative to bigger names, suitable for SMBs that want advanced automation on a budget. (Moosend was acquired by Sitecore, an enterprise CMS company, but still serves the SMB segment.)
A graphic design SaaS that marketers adore for creating visual content. Canva makes it simple to produce professional-looking images, social media graphics, posters, presentations, etc., via drag-and-drop and tons of templates. It essentially empowers non-designers to create marketing collateral quickly. With collaboration features, teams can use Canva to maintain consistent branding. The free plan covers many needs, and Pro unlocks brand kits and more assets.
The dominant online advertising platform for pay-per-click search and display ads. Google Ads lets businesses bid on keywords to show up in Google search results as sponsored links, or create display ads on websites and YouTube. It offers granular targeting by keyword, location, demographics, etc. For many SMBs, a well-managed Google Ads campaign is a primary driver of web traffic and leads – though it requires ongoing attention to budget and keyword optimization (which tools like SEMrush can assist with).
A powerful marketing automation platform mainly used by mid-sized and enterprise, but also scaling startups. Marketo allows sophisticated email automation, lead nurturing, scoring, and multi-touch campaign management. It integrates well with CRM systems (especially Salesforce). While it has a steeper learning curve (and cost) than beginner tools, companies with complex B2B sales cycles or large lead databases often invest in Marketo for its robust capabilities in driving and tracking leads through long funnels.
An email marketing service popular with small businesses and nonprofits for its ease of use and strong support. Constant Contact provides templates for emails, the ability to manage contacts and segments, plus event marketing and even social campaign featuresmoosend.com. They differentiate with live customer help and webinars to get users up to speed. Many local businesses use Constant Contact to send newsletters and announcements regularly without needing marketing expertise.
An affordable yet very powerful marketing automation and CRM platform for SMBs. ActiveCampaign combines email marketing with automation workflows that can trigger messages or sales follow-ups based on user behavior. It also has built-in CRM deal tracking, making it a go-to for small businesses that want to automate marketing and also manage sales leads in one tool. Known for excellent deliverability and a large library of automation recipe templates.
A fast-growing email and SMS marketing platform specifically built for e-commerce businesses. Klaviyo integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, etc., to use purchase data for highly targeted campaigns (like cart abandonment emails, product recommendations). It excels in segmenting customers by behavior and sending personalized messages that drive more online sales. Many direct-to-consumer brands pick Klaviyo as they scale beyond basic email tools.
A robust social media management and analytics platform aimed at businesses growing their social presence. Sprout offers scheduling, detailed analytics, social inbox for all messages, and even CRM-like profiles of followers. It’s a step up in sophistication (and price) from basic tools, often used by agencies and larger teams that need workflow and approval processes for social content.
An all-in-one SEO and digital marketing toolkit. SEMrush is used for keyword research, tracking search rankings, competitor analysis, and optimizing Google Ads campaigns. Marketers at SMBs use it to improve their search engine visibility by identifying best keywords, auditing their site’s SEO health, and spying on competitor’s strategies. It also supports content marketing insights and social media scheduling – a comprehensive weapon for online growth.
A top SEO software primarily known for its powerful backlink analysis and keyword research. Ahrefs maintains one of the largest backlink indexes, so marketers use it to see who links to their site (or competitors), find link-building opportunities, and track SEO performance. It’s also used for content research (Content Explorer) to find high-performing topics. Often mentioned as a “must have” SEO tool alongside or instead of SEMrush.
An established SEO platform offering keyword tracking, site audits, and backlink analysis (though smaller index than Ahrefs). Moz is known for its user-friendly interface and the Moz “Domain Authority” metric which marketers use as a shorthand for site strength. Moz Pro’s all-in-one suite is a favorite for many small marketing teams focusing on organic search improvements, and Moz’s community/resources (like their guides and Whiteboard Fridays) are a bonus for learning SEO.
An industry-leading all-in-one marketing platform(with CRM). HubSpot offers tools for email marketing, blogging, SEO, social media, landing pages, and marketing automation – all integrated with a free CRM. It’s known for ease of use and a rich academy of training resources. Small businesses love HubSpot for inbound marketing: attracting visitors, converting leads, and tracking the entire funnel in one place. Scalable pricing from free/basic up to enterprise tiers.
A hugely popular email marketing service that has evolved into a marketing platform. Mailchimp enables businesses to create and send email newsletters, automated drip campaigns, and now even social posts and digital ads. It’s renowned for an intuitive drag-and-drop email builder and templates. great for small businesses to start email marketing – with a free plan and audience segmentation tools to send targeted, effective campaigns.
The go-to web analytics tool (recently GA4) used to track website visitor traffic, behavior, and marketing campaign performance. Google Analytics is free and provides rich insights (traffic sources, popular pages, conversion tracking) that marketers use to measure the effectiveness of their SEO, ads, and content. It’s essential for data-driven marketing, letting even small businesses understand their audience and ROI on campaigns.
A leading social media management platform. Hootsuite allows marketers to schedule and publish posts across multiple social networks (Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) from one dashboard. It also provides social listening and analytics to monitor brand mentions and engagement. Very useful for SMBs to maintain active social presence without needing a large team – known for its support of many networks and team collaboration features.
A simple, SMB-friendly social media scheduling tool. Buffer lets users plan and queue up posts for the major social channels, providing a clean interface and basic analytics on clicks/engagement. It’s beloved by small businesses and solo marketers for its free plan and simplicity – focusing just on the core need of scheduling content consistently to social channels.
