Marketing is developing at an extremely rapid pace with the rise of new technology and the tools you choose to implement and measure your marketing efforts are becoming increasingly plentiful and powerful.

So how do you choose the right tool for your business with so many options available? We’ve done the hard work for you and come up with 12 of the best B2B marketing tools for 2020, check them out below:

1. SEMRush (SEO)

This software powers your B2B search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts. SEO is the process of optimising your website keywords and content to rank high on Google (in organic search) which is a key priority for driving online traffic. SEMRush tracks the keywords you currently rank for, suggests related keywords & displays your competitor’s rankings. You can use it to do your keyword research, track your competitions keyword strategy, run an SEO audit of your blog, look for backlinking opportunities and more.

Additionally in 2020 SemRush has rolled out brand new features including a site health and site audit function. This enables you to see a ranking percentage of how your technical SEO and backlinks stack up against your top organic competitors, with tips on how to improve this.

2. HubSpot Free (CRM)

A customer relationship management platform (CRM) refers to technologies that companies use to manage and analyse customer interactions and data throughout the customer’s lifecycle. HubSpot is a very proficient CRM platform. With built-in blog hosting capabilities, the ability to create start to finish content offers & store countless contacts this is a very powerful tool for your B2B marketing.

HubSpot has been around since 2004 founded by two MIT graduates and has evolved into an industry-leading software platform for inbound marketing. Its impressive analytics, powerful free version and integration capabilities make this one tool essential for your marketing.

Key HubSpot Free CRM features include:

  • Contact management
  • Company records
  • Deals
  • Tasks & activities
  • Company insights
  • Gmail and Outlook integration
  • Website forms
  • Ads management (Google, Facebook & LinkedIn)
  • Email tracking & notifications
  • Email templates
  • Reporting dashboards

HubSpot Free CRM helps companies of all sizes track and nurture leads and analyse business metrics. HubSpot CRM is suitable for any B2B or B2C business in a variety of segments, including accounting, marketing, sales, construction, retail, real estate and more. It also has the option to expand the software capabilities with marketing & sales add-ons.

3. Mailchimp (email marketing)

Email marketing is still very much relevant in 2020 for successful B2B marketing campaigns. Email can assist in staying connected with your customers, building your brand, learning more about customers and generating leads. Mailchimp offers a customisable email automation service, with analytics and collaborative working capabilities.

This year Mailchimp has rolled out a range of exciting new features including new campaign benchmarking data, pre-built demographic segments, a subject line helper and a cookie notifications bar feature for your website.

4. Feedly (content curation)

This news aggregator tool allows RSS feeds to be pulled from numerous publications with the option to search feeds by topics. Feedly allows you to follow multiple social media accounts, blogs and news sources in one manageable interface. This is extremely useful for keeping on top of industry trends and sourcing relevant content to post on social media to help your B2B marketing efforts. The platform also offers an extensive list of integrations including Google Docs & WordPress. Feedly’s free basic plan allows up to 100 sources and 3 feeds on mobile and desktop, that’s plenty to get you started.

5. Databox (market intelligence)

Market intelligence is the gathering and analysing of information relevant to a company’s external environment and assists in strategic planning. Databox is a powerful market intelligence platform which gathers all your metrics in one place and helps you easily view your business’ crucial key performance indicators (KPI’s) across a variety of devices. It offers an impressive amount of one-click integrations with the likes of Google Analytics, Facebook, Twitter, HubSpot & many more. A free version is available allowing for 3 users & data connections.

6. Sprout Social (social media marketing)

Social media is critical for your business and platforms such as LinkedIn & Facebook are quickly becoming synonymous with the internet. However, it can be difficult managing and optimising posts across several business accounts. This is where social media management tools come in handy. For your business to gain an advantage, you need a strategy for each platform and planned posts in order to increase your online profile. Sprout Social consolidates your social media platforms in an easy to use interface and offers:

  • Content planning & publishing
  • Campaign & conversation management
  • Measurement & optimisation tools
  • Customised reporting tools

7. Ubersuggest (SEO)

Writing effective blogs is essential for boosting the online organic presence of your B2B company. Ranking for blogs can work wonders for your lead generation and ultimately conversions. This is where Ubersuggest comes in, a free keyword suggestion tool in an easy to use interface created by the famous digital marketing guru Neil Patel. It displays the probability of ranking for a chosen keyword, cost per click (CPC), keyword search volume and much more. As far as free software goes, this one is really handy to add to your marketing technology stack with a paid version also available with extra tracking features.

8. Zoom (video marketing)

Zoom is a cloud-based video conferencing service you can use to virtually meet with others – either by video or audio-only or both. Video call usage has seen an unprecedented rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, with daily Zoom users spiking to 200 million in March 2020 up from 10 million last December, and is now essential in your marketing stack.

Whether you’re giving a live product demonstration, running through your daily internal WIP or organising a video meeting with a potential prospect this software can help you out. Zoom has integrations available with many applications including Gmail, Chrome and Outlook. Also, Zoom offers a generous free plan that contains more than enough features to give your video marketing efforts a kick start.

9. Surfer (SEO)

On-page SEO is the practice of optimising individual web pages in order to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search engines. It can be tough knowing how to devise the perfect content to land on page one of Google. However, in recent years there has been a rise of SEO tools to assist in this endeavour and give your content a rankings boost.

Surfer is an SEO tool that analyses why top pages are ranking well for your keyword. Based on that information, you’ll be able to figure out what you need to do to create content that will help you outrank your competitors.

It helps in two main areas; creating/outsourcing new optimised content and optimising existing pages. The Surfer Content Editor analyses your content structure, keyword usage/density, phrasing, page load time, backlinks and more, comparing them to high-ranking results for the same keywords. It’s a very useful B2B SEO tool If you want to increase the effectiveness of your existing pages and the success rate of new content.

10. Google Analytics (website analytics)

Google Analytics is a free web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. For B2B marketers it is the most comprehensive tool available to understand website performance, from engagement and traffic to conversions.

The top benefits of using this platform include:

  • The ability to find out how your visitors locate your website
  • Identifying which pages and links your visitors click the most
  • Visitor segmentation

Google Analytics is a great tool for any B2B business. It can give you a lot of useful information on how to improve your website, offers and surpass your competition.

11. Slack (communication)

Another essential in the COVID / remote work marketing era is an efficient online internal communications tool.

Slack allows teams to connect remotely in one convenient digital spot. A single place for messaging, tools and file sharing allowing your internal team to streamline collaboration and increase productivity. From integration with third-party apps, simplified social sharing, private channels, public communities and customer care, Slack has many useful applications for B2B and also has a free plan option to get started.

12. Loom (video marketing)

Loom is a communication tool that helps people get their messages across through instantly shareable videos. You can capture your screen, record your front-facing camera, and narrate your video all at once — no switching apps or upload required.

Whether it’s training new teammates, sales outreach or replying to a customer enquiry, Loom enhances the way people communicate. The interface is simple to use. You click the Chrome extension icon, then the setting pop-up. With one more click, you’re ready to record.

Final Thoughts

Engaging with prospects can be tough for B2B companies, however, there are plenty of tools available to make this process easier. While this is not a complete list of marketing tools, it’s a great start. Why not start here and select the most relevant technology for your specific marketing need right now. It might seem like an effort (and learning curve) to implement new technology within your workplace, but your business growth will thank you in the long term.