When building a marketing tech stack, which is essentially the list of tools you use for your marketing efforts, there are many things to consider.
Your goals will significantly impact what your tech stack looks like, so having those goals sorted out first is essential. Once you’re solid there, you have two main paths to choose from:
- Find the best tool for each of your needs.
- Find a single tool that does everything.
At first glance, it seems that option 2 is the way to go, but that’s often not the case. A single tool that does everything sounds great in theory, but those types of tools generally do each thing a little bit worse than the best-in-class for each individual need. There’s certainly an advantage to having everything in one place, but is it worth the trade-off? I know many people who do it both ways, so there’s no right answer here.
What should be included?
There are dozens of areas you can consider for your tech stack, but I think they can mostly be sorted into eight categories:
Web structure: To get your website off the ground, you’ll need a domain name registrar (like GoDaddy), a DNS management platform (which could be the same as your registrar), and a web hosting company (like Flywheel).
Web content management system (CMS): While you could build your website by hand, having a CMS is very likely your best move. We’re big fans of WordPress, but there are many great options out there.
Customer relationship manager (CRM): This is a tool to keep track of your leads and your clients in a way that is much more flexible and powerful than a simple spreadsheet. A tool such as Pipedrive can be a solid place to start.
Email marketing platform: This would be something like MailChimp or Constant Contact, that allow you to email large groups of people at one time.
Social media management: If you’re just getting started, you can manage your social media directly on each platform (Facebook, Instagram, etc). As you grow, though, having a tool like Sprout Social or Hootsuite to pull everything into one place can make your life much easier.
Graphic design tools: Depending on your needs, a simple tool like Canva may be sufficient, but for more serious work you’re likely better off using tools from the Adobe Creative Suite.
Survey and Feedback tools: You’ll likely want to ask questions of your audience to help better understand their needs, so having a nice survey tool in your stack can be valuable.
Analytics and measurement tools: With everything above going on, measuring your results is crucial. You can use Google Analytics to get some data, and then take it further with other tools like Microsoft Clarity or CrazyEgg for heatmap tracking.
Where to start?
Finding a starting point can be tricky, but we believe it should generally start with your website. Get that in shape first, and then work on other tools around it. The pricing on these tools can vary wildly, so you can start with a free option in almost every category and then upgrade to a more professional tool as the need arises in the future.
Our tech stack at GreenMellen has evolved over the years and will continue to do so. Find tools that work best for what you need, but never be afraid to change things up if there is a tool that can serve your needs in a better way.
And as always, if you have a project you need assistance on, we’re here to help.
