Marketing automation platforms, AI-powered software, social media and copywriting tools…
If you find the marketing tool market overwhelming, let me assure you that you’re not alone.
In a recent Marketing Fix newsletter issue, I wrote about the Era of Subscriptions and how I realised that my annual marketing tools budget is ca $6,000. Ugh!
I figured it might be helpful to share my marketing tool stack with other practitioners, too.
Perhaps, this expert-tested and carefully curated collection will help you find your next virtual helper – and save you many hours.
Below, you can find my go-to tools and software in 5 categories:
- Marketing tools for ideation, copywriting, and visuals
- Social media and email marketing tools
- Web design, optimisation, and SEO software
- Tools for creating courses, workshops, and videos
- Productivity and time tracking apps
But first, I’ve included some thoughts on the subscriptions industry, as well as recommendations on how to select the best marketing tools for your project.
If you’re looking for the list of tools, scroll right down.
Welcome to the Era of Subscriptions, A.K.A. order a puppy for 5 hours
Early 2020s. The main subscription-based articles in our lives are SaaS tools and gym memberships.
Year 2025. Most of us are signed up for 20+ subscriptions.
“No way, the number can’t be that high,” you say?
Now consider your recurring payments to mobile apps, newsletters, video streaming, music, news, magazines, podcasts, groceries, coffee, Amazon Prime, health & beauty products, gym & classes.
The greatest evil must be Apple’s iCloud Storage, designed to grow YoY.
Name one thing that can’t be found in subscription format.
Animals? Wrong!
How did we end up in a world where even toothpaste is subscriptionised?
Over the past 5 years, the subscription economy has been fuelled by many things, among them Covid-induced laziness of the Western urban population and laws allowing marketplaces to elude social taxes of precarious workers.
No small role was also played by the tech investors dreaming of hockey-stick growth charts of ARR.
The best way to procure the ARR as a brand with a physical consumer product? Introduce monthly subscriptions.
Welcome to the Era of Subscriptions.
Annual subscription fee: $7,600+
Having recently adopted many new productivity and marketing tools (free + paid), I was curious to see how much the invoices in my inbox and bank account add up to.
I found a sleek (and free) Subscriptions Tracker template on Notion Marketplace and entered all my expenses under 7 categories.
Work & Marketing software:
- Ideation, copywriting, and visuals
- Social media and email marketing
- Web design, optimisation, and SEO
- Courses, workshops, and videos
- Productivity and time tracking
Lifestyle & intellectual interests:
- Productivity & task management
- Lifestyle, health, and arts
Monthly spend: €618
My initial reaction was a big “Ughhh!”
I knew there were a few expensive marketing tools there, but I wasn’t expecting the total sum to be this much.
Alright, it’s not that bad, I thought, when looking at the per-month aggregate.
But then I switched the chart input to calculate the yearly budget…
Annual spend: €7,429
The resulting sum is, frankly, horrifying
How on earth!?
And I don’t even subscribe to food delivery or streaming services…!
You’ll find the full list of my subscription expenses below.
But first, a bit of life philosophy.
How much is too much to pay for marketing tools?
After overcoming the initial mini-shock, I went deeper and considered what value each tool adds to my work and life:
- Enabling work projects
- Increasing productivity
- Improving daily life
And so on…
If you’re planning to do the same exercise, here are 3 POWs that might be helpful.
1) Pragmatic: cost / value
Am I making more money thanks to a tool than I spend on it?
2) Productive: cost / time
Saving money feels great, but isn’t your saved time even more valuable?
3) Emotional: cost / happiness
Is the subscription making a significant improvement to your quality of life?
Cheap = expensive
These days, ever more distractions compete for our 16 hours of daily waking time.
There also seems to be more worthwhile projects these days, compared to 10 years ago.
In personal life, this means more friends to catch up with, events to socialise at, articles and books to read, recipes to try, cities to (re)visit, exhibitions to see, barre classes to attend, cafes to linger at, and moments to capture and share.
On the work side, I’m a freelance marketing consultant who also maintains a blog, newsletter, and creates marketing courses.
I wince at the thought of all the hours I’ve spent on LinkedIn to build new connections, write and design posts, and keep in touch with colleagues and clients.
Don’t even mention Instagram…
Saving money feels great until you realise your time is even more valuable.
When selecting the tools for my work, I’d rather spend a bit more to get the industry’s best.
Going with a cheaper option might save you €/$/£100 here and there.
But product limitations (fewer features, low-quality design) + the extra time spent are simply not worth it.
As to productivity and lifestyle subscriptions, some save you time while others, in fact, waste it.
Ask yourself whether that Netflix subscription is actually making you happier – or smarter…
Ok, let’s return the focus on marketing software now.
Investing in tools = investing in growth
Over the past 6 months, I’ve spent ca €2,500 on:
- Marketing and productivity software
- Substack newsletters
- Marketing & design templates
The sum seems rather exuberant in retrospect.
And yet, there’s no other way I could have delivered all my projects without this investment.
Perhaps, I could have chosen a cheaper blog theme than Blocksy Pro (€289/lifetime). Or a cheaper course platform than Kajabi (€209/month). Or used Mac’s free screenshot tool instead of Cleanshot ($29/lifetime).
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, I would have saved ca €500.
Certainly, I would have paid in tens (if not 100+) of extra hours, lower-quality branding, and the resulting lost opportunities.
Do I regret spending a little fortune on software & tools in 6 months?
No, the investment has well paid off.
I’m even considering getting two extra tools: 🐒
- Superhuman to declutter (and de-stress) my inbox experience, flooded with too many newsletters
- Notion Pro for better LinkedIn giveaways & course resource management
In order to make money, you need to spend money
I was reminded of this point of view last weekend, while weeding my garden.
I was listening to a recent Delivering Value podcast episode with Maja Voje.
She said that it took her years to realise: “In order to make money, you need to spend money.”
The logic rings more true than ever.
Over the past 6 months, I have…
- Worked on two long-term marketing consulting projects
- Wrote a 360-degree marketing audit for three companies
- Rebranded my newsletter to a new strategic focus and design
- Switched my blog theme and redesigned most of it
- Created and launched my first-ever marketing course
- Grew my LinkedIn account to 13k+ followers with 2-3 posts/week
The list is not a complaint. Nor is it a boast.
We all have to work, and many of us enjoy the process.
I love learning new skills; I thrive when (self-)challenged.
The list is the key reason why I looked up and tested tens of new marketing tools and began paying for several of them.
I also made several one-off purchases of other marketing experts’ resources (like Maja’s GTM Checklist) to improve my skill set faster. (These are not included in the Notion doc.)
Below, you can see the full list of the paid and free tools that I use in my marketing projects and personal life – my Mary Poppins bag of marketing tools.
My Mary Poppins bag of marketing tools
First, an important clarification…
The Mary Poppins “purse” is a model of the ’60s carpet bag.
Among other paraphernalia, it contained a hat stand, a mirror, a houseplant, and a floor lamp.
Thx God the marketing tools are virtual. The only thing they weigh down is one’s bank account balance.
All the marketing and productivity tools mentioned are ones that I currently use or have used for some client projects.
I hands-down recommend them all.
Without further ado, here they are.
1. Marketing tools for ideation, copywriting, and visuals
Figma PRO: Design for website, ad creatives, social media posts, newsletter, etc.
Canva: Design tool for marketers who haven’t yet learned to use Figma
Adobe Firefly: AI-generated images, e.g the featured images in this blog
Adobe Express: Editing images, e.g. removing background and changing size
Grammarly: Checking spelling mistakes in my Google Docs, newsletter, social posts
CleanShot: Taking high-quality screenshots and adding special edits + recording GIFs
ChatGPT: Researching ideas and topics, getting copywriting angles (never the full text)
Miro: Workshops and brainstorming for consulting projects
2. Social media and email marketing tools
KIT: My go-to newsletter marketing tool for Marketing Fix
Sparkloop: Newsletter referrals for Marketing Fix
Taplio: The very best LinkedIn tool for analytics and content generation
Texts: Mac desktop app that consolidates all your messages, e.g. from LinkedIn and Instagram
Octopus CRM: My go-to tool for growing LinkedIn follower base with automated invitations and welcome messages
Instantly: The best sender domain warmup tool to ensure your emails land in the Inbox
3. Web design, optimisation, and SEO software
Blocksy PRO: Super flexible & high-quality WordPress theme used for this blog
Wisepops: Hands down the most flexible and good-looking pop-up tool
Lasso: Website add-on for beautiful product offer layouts
Wappalyzer: Browser extension that shows all the tools and pixels on any website
Moz: Top SEO tool, I use their free browser extension for optimisation & research
SemRush: Top SEO & PPC tool, I use the free version extension for research
SimilarWeb: Web and SEO analysis tool, I use it for site traffic analysis
4. Tools for creating courses, workshops, videos
Kajabi: All-in-one course management platform, best in the industry
Tally: Typeform-style tool for collecting user feedback and doing website surveys
Senja: The very best tool for collecting and showcasing testimonials
Typeform: Top website form tool with lots of features and layouts
5. Productivity and time tracking apps
Calendly: Meeting scheduling
Teamweek: Now Toggl Plan, I’ve used it for task management for 5+ years
Toggl: Time tracking for freelance projects and every other work-related task
Notion PRO: Project management and documentation + content management
Slack: Better turn your phone notifications off
Evernote: Desktop app that I use for note-taking and drafting texts
Et voilà, this was my list of marketing tools and software that I use daily.
The awful – or good – thing is that looking at this list, there’s nothing I’d willingly give up.
And yet, I’m going to play Easter Egg hunt this weekend and hide some of those from my bank account for good.
This time, too much is too much.
Wondering what to do next?
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