The MKT1 B2B marketing tools survey + my future predictions
Based on a Typeform survey of 200+ B2B marketers on the tools they’re obsessed with, eager to try, consider most critical, and use in every sub-function.
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The results are in, and my predictions on where marketing tools are headed are ready for you to scrutinize. Over the past ~6 weeks, I partnered with Typeform to run a survey on the marketing tech stacks of B2B startups, and I’m ready to share the data.
Obviously, the marketing stack is changing fast, with new entrants popping up daily. Case in point: I didn’t have a “vibe coding” category when I kicked off this survey—and I wouldn’t dare omit that category today. Luckily, you all mentioned these vibe coding tools anyway.
Based on this data and what I’m seeing out there in the wild, here are my high-level predictions for the future of the marketing tech stack:
Here’s a little more explanation about what I mention in the diagram, and you’ll find more details and more predictions in each section of this newsletter:
Enrichment, workflow builders, and AI layers will be in every tool you use. This is quickly becoming table stakes, not a differentiator.
Your source-of-truth data won’t live front and center in a CRM, it’ll quietly/invisibly power everything behind the scenes.
As channels evolve, so do the tools. We’re seeing consolidation and a changing of the guard for all major channels, from inbound and outbound to lifecycle, events, and ecosystem marketing.
This is the time to be a builder and a creative. New tools mean fewer limitations than ever: carpe diem marketers (I say this jokingly, but also I’m serious).
Legacy tools will have to work harder to keep up even more so than they once did. As interfaces and functionality evolve rapidly, what once felt modern can quickly feel super clunky, especially in categories like CRMs and website builders, where expectations are shifting fast.
Marketing productivity now means adapting and evolving to all of the above, not using the best project management tool. Build the stack that gets you there.
Recommended products & agencies
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Typeform: When we decided to do martech stack research, making a Typeform was a no-brainer. Not surprisingly, the Typeform product was mentioned many times by survey responders. With default beautiful forms, AI survey summaries, intuitive logic, video surveys, respondent enrichment and routing, and 300+ integrations, Typeform is essential for any marketer.
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In this newsletter:
We share survey data from our Typeform + MKT1 State of Martech 2025 survey, plus my observations and predictions for martech.
Part 1: Top-of-mind marketing tools: Tools you’re currently obsessed with, excited to try, and find most critical in your stack.
Part 2: Marketing tools by use case / function: Plus my unfiltered observations & predictions
Marketing “engine” tools: Products for growth, demand gen, and marketing ops.
Marketing “fuel” tools: Products for making content and creative assets
Other marketing tools: Products for ecosystem marketing, events, website, and productivity
New resource: GTM tools database - free preview
Part 1: Top-of-mind marketing tools
I kicked off the survey with three open-ended questions to get your off-the-cuff thoughts on the tools you’re using, or want to use the most right now. I asked: What tools are you most obsessed with right now? What tools are you excited to try? And what tools are the most critical in your stack? I also asked the first 2 questions on LinkedIn (here and here) and added those answers in too.
Here are the results:
🔬Observations based on the freeform questions
There’s not much overlap between “critical” and “obsessed,” and that’s telling. Tools like HubSpot, ChatGPT, Clay, and Canva show up big in both categories, but many tools that marketers love (like Notion, Gamma, Claude, Warmly, and Riverside) don’t necessarily make the “critical” list yet. The pattern shows we’re still in the early adoption phase of AI marketing tools—we’re excited about the new possibilities but still running our businesses on the old infrastructure (for better or worse).
Clay leads the way in curiosity. Clay absolutely dominates the “most excited to try” chart, signaling a clear shift in how marketers want to operate: more automation, more enrichment, more possibilities (cheesy, yes, but I am a Clay investor for full disclosure). Its consistent presence across all three charts makes it the early darling of the AI-augmented GTM stack.
Workflow and AI-driven creation tools…we’re a little obsessed: Tools like OpusClip, Claude, Gamma, Tofu, Mutiny, and Lovable are clearly capturing the imagination of marketers. They’re unlocking new ways of working and creating. I’m pretty obsessed with these tools too. I did in fact try three different new tools to try to make fancy graphs for this newsletter over the weekend…
There’s a new middle layer emerging between your CRM (account and contact data) and your content. That layer is AI- and automation-driven, often powered by tools like n8n (open-source workflow automation with tons of integrations), Make (visual automation platform for complex workflows), and Zapier. We’ll see more agent builders pop up here too. These tools are fast becoming the connective tissue of modern marketing stacks and are so much more powerful and approachable than where Zapier and similar tools started out.
We’re all getting more “creative,” more “technical,” and more “analytical”: The new martech stack is making us all generalists with the ability to do a little bit of everything. This is the type of marketer I’ve always strived to be, and I’m excited we all can take leaps in this direction.
Before we get to part 2…more resources to keep tabs on the latest martech
Before we dive deeper into the data, I just want to recognize that keeping up with all of these marketing tech developments (and knowing what’s actually worth trying) is hard. Even for me, and it’s my job. At MKT1, we’re building a bunch of ways to help:
Newsletters: From our recent newsletter on how to adopt new AI tools by running a team marketing AI hackathon, to this newsletter, we’ll keep writing about this stuff.
Walkthroughs: We’re also building on the live product showcases we ran last year, with a new video series launching this fall. Stay tuned—and reach out if you’d like to participate.
Resources: Today we are launching a free preview of our new database of 300+ GTM tools, where we’re keeping a running list of tools for marketers by category. It has lots of context like ICP, use cases, and company firmographics—plus which tools are vetted by the MKT1 team, which got mentioned in this Typeform survey, and which have discounts for paid MKT1 subscribers.
Part 2: Popular marketing tools by use case
“Engine” tools
Products for growth, demand gen, and marketing ops.
🔬CRM & marketing automation: Observations
Hubspot & Salesforce are the dominant winners. No surprises here!
They’re also the top CRM & marketing automation pair. After reviewing survey data on CRM and marketing automation tool pairings, the standout winner was the HubSpot & Salesforce combo. Interestingly, about 25% of teams are still using a more “traditional” pairing—Salesforce combined with either Marketo or Pardot.
Hubspot & Salesforce: 18.8%
Marketo & Salesforce: 14.77%
Pardot & Salesforce: 10.22%
Customer.io & Hubspot: 7.95%
Pipedrive & Hubspot: 5.7%
Customer.io & Salesforce: 4.5%
Hubspot & Attio: 4.5%
🔮 CRM & marketing automation: Predictions
The CRM + marketing automation tools of the future will look totally different—actually, you might not “look” at them at all
I’m anxiously awaiting a supertool that combines a CRM with marketing automation. HubSpot is trying, but its CRM and marketing automation tools still feel a bit disjointed. This combo tool feels even more needed as GTM teams overlap and consolidate.
That said, I believe the future of “source-of-truth” platforms for contact and account data will be a database-first model, with AI-powered interfaces and workflows layered on top for segmentation, campaign execution, and tracking. Think Snowflake + HubSpot + Clay behind the scenes, with ChatGPT + Zapier on the front end.
In the meantime, marketers will experiment with modern, AI-first tool stacks. Attio stands out as a promising option for early-stage startups. And tools like Clay, which automatically enrich, aggregate, and organize data, could start replacing traditional CRMs—and maybe even morph into the kind of tool I envision above.
🔬Demand gen tools: Observations
The days of volume-based outbound and lead scoring are numbered. All companies need to shift their stacks to include tools to map their entire total addressable market, track account activity, and deliver the right message to the right person at the right time.
As more companies shift to account-driven GTM, signal-based campaigns, and AI workflows, our tech stacks are evolving rapidly. New tools are launching almost daily. This shift is reflected in the rising popularity of Clay, UserGems, Warmly, and Koala—and the large long tail of tools grouped under “other” in our graph.
Tools that support personalized content creation for these campaigns are also becoming more sophisticated, with Mutiny and Tofu leading the pack.
There’s a major long-tail of tools that didn’t hit 3+ mentions in our survey but are loved by GTM teams like Pocus, UserLed, and Factors.ai.
🔮 Demand gen tools: Predictions
Consolidation of tools will lead to supertools for managing all “modern” GTM campaigns
Point solutions for signal tracking, enrichment, and outbound will struggle to gain long-term traction unless they expand their offerings. Full-featured platforms, whether existing leaders or fast-moving startups, are more likely to win. Why? Marketers want fewer, easier to use tools that can help with the prospect to customer to champion lifecycle.
Right now, tools are still segmented by buyer (sales, RevOps, marketing), but the consolidation of both tools and team roles is inevitable as workflows unify across GTM functions.
“Legacy” or “built-before-modern-AI” tools in this category—Outreach, Salesloft, Apollo, 6sense, Clearbit (by HubSpot), and ZoomInfo will all need to layer in more features so they can handle account enrichment, signal tracking, and outbound.
🔬Inbound tools: Observations
Search tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush are still widely used, even as they evolve and adapt to the shift toward GEO, LLMO, and AEO (pick your acronym). Traditional keyword-based SEO still matters, but how we rank and get discovered is changing.
Newer tools like Default (for inbound lead capture and scheduling) and AirOps (for building SEO and content workflows) are starting to gain traction but aren’t widely adopted yet. This reflects a shift, and I think we’ll see more legacy tools add some kind of drag-and-drop or chat-based workflow builder, so marketers can take action on data quickly.
Tools mentioned under “other” in this category often actually belong to signal-based and outbound workflows (Clay, Clearbit (by Hubspot), Salesloft, Instantly)—further evidence that inbound and outbound are blending, and the tech is starting to reflect that.
🔮 Inbound tools: predictions
Inbound is no longer about traffic to your site—it’s about showing up where your ICP already is
Traditional search traffic is declining as more people get zero-click answers via AI tools. This means your website is no longer the center of the inbound universe, so you’ll need to show up wherever your ICP is already spending time.
Due to this, expect a rise in tools that help with LLM optimization, content distribution on external platforms, and audience building via owned channels (e.g. Substack, LinkedIn, YouTube, and creator tools).
When someone does land on your site, you’ll need to make the most of it. Tools like Default, Chili Piper, RevenueHero, n8n, and Make will help you build high-conversion workflows that instantly route, schedule, and follow up, so no signal goes to waste.
“Fuel” tools
Products for making content and creative assets
🔬 Writing tools: Observations
Marketers still prefer to write where they’ve always written: Google Docs (myself included) and Notion. But now they’re layering in general-purpose AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. Whether tools like NotebookLM, which combine content creation and AI context, take off remains to be seen…though my money is on yes (see my predictions below).
I was surprised by how few marketers reported using Jasper or Copy.ai, especially given how heavily they’ve marketed to this audience.
🔮 Writing tools: Predictions
Super-writing tools will emerge to help you not only write more efficiently, but also to help you figure out what to write in the first place.
We’ll see more tools to help you figure out what to write because writing everything and anything just isn’t the way to stand out with your ICP. Whether related to trends in your market (Feedly), your “perceptions” or brand story, sales conversations (Naro), what you and your ecosystem have expertise on, or SEO & LLMO (Ahrefs, Surfer, AirOps).
AI co-writing will become the norm. Rather than bouncing between tools, marketers will write side-by-side with AI in a single interface…TBD which horse I’m betting on here.
🔬Creative tools: Observations
Not shockingly, Canva and Figma are the top tools marketers use to create assets—but they serve different needs. Canva dominates for its simplicity and built-in templates, while Figma remains the go-to for design-savvy marketers and designers.
There are now countless AI tools for creating all types of creative assets—like OpusClip, Descript, Riverside, Heygen, Gamma, and CapCut. But no single tool delivers perfectly on control, speed, and accuracy, so most marketers end up trying a bunch.
🔮 Creative tools: Predictions
The modern marketer needs to design, create, edit, and prompt, with help from the new AI creative stack
Creating anything—from landing pages to ad creative, explainer videos, or sales decks—can now start with just a few prompts, and this will only get better.
But power users still need flexibility and advanced features to fine-tune and edit, which is why platforms like Figma, Descript, and Riverside will remain essential.
I expect Figma to tick up in mentions if we run this survey in the future. They are evolving into a creative OS for marketers, designers, and developers alike—with tools like FigJam (whiteboarding/quick designing, like Miro), Figma Make (“vibe coding,” like Lovable), Figma Sites (websites, like Webflow & Framer), and Figma Buzz (template-based design, like Canva).
You need to develop design & creative skills as a marketer; this will become even more table stakes. And especially for content marketers in 2025: you need to know how to use all these tools, not just how to write.
Other marketing tools
Products for ecosystem marketing, events, website, and productivity that didn’t fit squarely into my fuel & engine categories
Note: This category of ecosystem & events tools might seem a bit like apples and oranges. And while, yes, I was trying to make the survey shorter, I also do think these have some commonalities: both strategies rely on experts and advocates to credibly reach your audience in a way that inbound, outbound, and even your website cannot.
🔬 Ecosystem & event tools: Observations
Events are resource-intensive and hard to scale (nothing new there), so we lean on tools like Luma (registration & distribution), Goldcast, and up-and-coming platforms Sequel.io and Airmeet (these didn’t quite make the graph) to help us execute more efficiently.
Communities and webinars are being run in tools that aren’t purpose-built for these use cases because of the ease of meeting people where they already are (Slack and Zoom).
You probably already know I’m bullish on ecosystem marketing (growing through third parties like partners, customers, channels, influencers, and communities) to break through the noise. Tools like Crossbeam (data sharing and overlap), PartnerStack (partner activation), SparkToro (audience intelligence), and UserEvidence (customer proof) are valuable here.
🔮 Ecosystem & event tools: Predictions
There are no true “winners” or even dominant players in any of these categories yet
Even though there are strong network effects in all of these categories (ecosystem/partner, communities, influencer management, virtual events, and maybe even IRL events), there aren’t default tools here. These should be winner-take-most categories. What an opportunity!
Events are a response to AI overload, not just a legacy tactic. With more and more generic AI-generated marketing, marketers can use events to build authentic, high-trust connections. Both IRL and virtual events may become even more important. Tools that help us manage coordination, logistics, and ROI will be increasingly welcomed.
Marketers now have purpose-built platforms for outbound, inbound, content, website (as evidenced by this newsletter!), but ecosystem marketing still relies on a messy mix of Slack channels, emails, spreadsheets, etc. To scale this channel, we need tools with the same level of sophistication, automation, and usability as the rest of the modern marketing stack.
🔬Website management: Observations
WordPress and Webflow are the clear leaders, but for different reasons. WordPress still holds strong due to its entrenchment (it’s hard to switch your CMS), while Webflow continues to grow thanks to how much easier it is to build and update.
Framer is emerging as a popular choice and Webflow alternative, especially among startups and marketers who want to move fast. And you know, I’m a fan as I’ve been promoting them all season long on Dear Marketers Podcast.
The tail is long and marketers don’t always get to choose their platform. From legacy platforms like Squarespace and Drupal to headless CMSs like Contentful, Sanity, and Storyblok, the diversity of tools reflects the varied needs (and tensions) between different website stakeholders and what they prioritize most. A developer may choose a different platform today than a marketer or designer.
🔮 Website management: Predictions
Web dev tools are evolving from low-code builders to prompt-driven interfaces.
Tools like Framer, Lovable, and Figma Sites are fighting to dominate in a new era where marketers can generate fully designed pages or components from just a few lines of text. And I wouldn’t count Webflow out of this race, but I do think a combined design + dev environment like Framer or an AI-native platform might take the win.
Marketers will gain more autonomy and say in the stack. As tools become easier to use and more AI-powered, marketers won’t need to rely as heavily on developers or designers to build and update sites. This shift means they’ll increasingly get to choose the web management tools themselves, favoring speed, flexibility, and direct control…finally!
🔬Productivity tools: Observations
This category is kind of a grab bag of different kinds of tools. Here’s why: Productivity tools used to mean structured project management (think Asana, Airtable, Jira, Monday, ClickUp). And those still made the list, but for modern marketing teams, productivity now includes automation platforms, workflow builders, meeting recorders, form creators, and even AI agent builders. The shift is from managing tasks to orchestrating work.
There’s a long tail of experimental ops tools—like the aforementioned workflow and automation tools like n8n and Make, plus Retool, Replit, and Relay.app (which didn’t make the chart but were mentioned 1-2 times)—showing that teams are still piecing together their ideal marketing OS. Form tools like Typeform, Tally, and Google Forms remain essential as entry points into broader automation workflows.
🔮 Productivity tools: Predictions
Productivity no longer means being really good at using project management tools
Automation will replace project management as the core productivity model. Instead of assigning tasks in tools like my trusted old friend Asana, marketers will rely on workflows that run automatically—enriching, analyzing, routing, and connecting “work data” like calls, tasks, Slacks, leads, and notes. You won’t be productive if you’re not automating.
Prompt-based workflows are just getting started. Tools like n8n, Make, Retool, and Zapier are beginning to feel less like developer tools and more like AI assistants. These tools are also laying the groundwork for building AI agents: self-running, goal-oriented automations that go beyond workflows to make decisions and take action on your behalf.
There’s just too much stuff—marketers need unification. With so many tools across CRM, content, websites, email, events, and more, it’s getting harder to manage everything. The most valuable tools will be the ones that pull it all together into a single workflow layer, eliminating manual ops and becoming the AI-powered backbone of the GTM team.
Final thoughts & our new GTM tools database
Analyzing this survey really got my brain going. I felt like a VC again (I’m one year removed from investing out of my fund MKT1 Capital). It was genuinely fun to dig into the data, spot patterns, and make a bunch of predictions.
As an investor, lover of efficiency, and hands-on marketer (who can hold my own in Figma, Webflow, Framer, Asana, and HubSpot…if I do say so myself), plus a creator backed by dozens of GTM tech sponsors that I personally vet, and advisor who talks to marketers at all stages and types of B2B startups daily, I’m in a unique position to help you figure out the latest and greatest tools. And I’m all in (and fully committed) to helping marketers make sense of the ever-evolving stack.
And it inspired us to build our own MKT1 database of 300+ GTM tools—available to anyone as a free preview (for now). We’ll keep this up to date over time and add in more of our own reviews & resources. Plus, we have some more exciting data projects coming up later this summer.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Whether you agreed, disagreed, or discovered something new, I’d love to hear your take in the comments.
More from MKT1
🙏 Thanks again to our sponsors: Typeform for creating delightful, on-brand surveys; 42 Agency: Demand Gen and Ops Agency; and Caspian Studios: Podcast, video, and webinar-as-a-service. All 3 companies have MKT1 discounts!
💰 Discounts list: Active discounts =on products we recommend for paid subscribers only. Full disclosure, we also are part of the affiliate programs for: Retool | Clay | Lovable | Gamma | Replit
📰 Next newsletter: MKT1’s B2B marketing field guide (we think—it’s summer I’m keeping things casual on my roadmap)
🎙️ Next podcast: Dear Marketers Episode 10 is out next week, about events (the first time I’ve created pod or newsletter content on events!)
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Disclaimer/fine print:
This data is not statistically significant, it’s meant to be directional and help you discover tools and spot some anecdotal trends.
Some of the tools linked in these newsletter are MKT1 partners (this includes companies who were deeply vetted due to sponsoring MKT1 content or are in the MKT1 Capital or Kramer’s advising portfolio). We’ve tried to remain unbiased as possible throughout this newsletter, and base everything on your input.
This newsletter also includes affiliate links to some products, which allow MKT1 to earn a small commission on new signups, we’ve mentioned these above. Discounts on some of these tools are available here for paid MKT1 subscribers.
Every tool mentioned was voted on by at least 1 survey respondent, the graphs all include only tools mentioned 2+ times (if not a higher threshold).
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