10 Marketing Technologies That Should Be On Your Radar in 2021

January is the perfect time for new beginnings. 🍾

Like, for example, a new start for your marketing technology (martech) stack.

After all, your martech stack has great power to either transform, or stunt, program growth. And with 8,000+ solutions on the market, it might seem a bit daunting. 

That’s why we decided to help you navigate the marketplace with our favorite martechs from 2020. Keep reading for 10 of our top tools to consider, based on your needs and use cases. Some lend to smaller scale change, while others offer more comprehensive solutions. 

Disclaimer: There are so many tools we loved in 2020, but these are just a few of our favorites. Note that a few of these are agency partners or benefactors of Marketing AI Institute, our sister brand. 

10 Marketing Technologies We Can’t Live Without 

1. HubSpot: If you are looking for an all-in-one customer service, marketing and sales solution, look no further. As HubSpot’s first-ever agency partner in 2007, we might be biased, but the data says it all. HubSpot began life as a marketing app in 2006, and has grown into a marketing, sales and service platform company that has 86,000+ customers in more than 120 countries. Read more about what’s possible with HubSpot (and PR 20/20) here. 

Related read >> Why You Need the HubSpot Growth Stack for Marketing, Sales and Service

2. Asana: We decided in 2020 that it was time to get more granular with project management. This required a tool that would give teams more transparency into individual workloads, more clarity around goal setting, and increased accountability. So we started using Asana, and now there’s no turning back. We plan and track campaigns in Asana, and we’ve streamlined operations that were previously a bit muddled. Visit their website to read more about the product. 

3. Beautiful.AI: With this tool, creating presentations has never been more enjoyable. Beautiful.AI is an expert deck designer that uses AI to apply “the rules of great design in real-time.” The user experience is intuitive and simple. But, really, the sample templates speak for themselves. See for yourself. 

4. BuzzSumo: I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: BuzzSumo is a must-have for every content marketer, and it just keeps getting better with age. In addition to content discovery and research, BuzzSumo is my go-to tool to track what’s happening on social media and which influencers have the most pull. Plus, it now also offers competitive intelligence and crisis alerting. 

5. Databox: This is our go-to business analytics and reporting platform. Databox pulls data from all active tools, so we can have a holistic (and very visual) view of performance. We can compare data from HubSpot, Google Analytics, Stripe, social media, and more, all in one place. It’s become our main source of truth for campaign insights. An added bonus: the templates gallery offers dozens of pre-made reports to get you started. 

6. Descript: We decided to launch a podcast for the Marketing AI Institute in 2021, and this was entirely new territory for our team. Discovering Descript was a game changer. Descript is a collaborative audio and video editor that works like a doc. This includes transcription, a screen recorder, publishing, multitrack editing, and AI tools that truly feel like sorcery. If you’re podcasting or vlogging, we highly recommend you consider using this tool. 

7. Grammarly: Another tried and true recommendation, Grammarly is my everyday writing assistant. With a Chrome extension, you will get real-time recommendations for your copy on Gmail, Twitter, Google Docs, or wherever you might need it. Beyond spelling and grammar, it also makes suggestions for style and tone too. 

8. MarketMuse: MarketMuse is an AI Content Intelligence and Strategy Platform. So, what does that mean? Depending on your use case, MarketMuse can support content strategy, research, creation, optimization, metrics and advisory. We’ve gotten a ton of value from predicting content success with MarketMuse. The tool offers a personalized difficulty score that determines the topics that will likely perform best on your site. Content briefs have also proved helpful. Using machine learning, MarketMuse analyzes content already published about a topic and then determines what related topics are important. Click here to watch a product video and sign up for a free trial to test it out! 

9. Pattern89: Forget blind A/B testing. If you’re looking to level up your advertising, we suggest Pattern89 to predict which creatives will perform best. Pattern89 is predictive marketing AI for Facebook, Instagram and Google ads. The tool uses your existing data to suggest optimization for ad copy, imagery, CTA, as well as audience targeting. 

10. Wordstream: Another online advertising tool, we depend on Wordstream for ongoing campaign management and optimization—especially for Google Ads. Our favorite feature is the “20 Minute Work Week,” which offers weekly suggestions to optimize your search traffic, adjust your budget, refine audiences and more. Essentially, it does the analysis for you, so you can spend more time on strategy. 

Looking for Your Next All-in-One Solution?

The martech landscape continues to expand and evolve. It’s clear from our list that the future isn’t human + machine; the now is human + machine. The best tools leverage the perfect blend of both.

If you’re looking for your next comprehensive solution, we’d be happy to tell you more about HubSpot. Click here to see how you can develop a more sophisticated buying cycle with HubSpot, and fill out the form to speak to a senior member of our team.