The below list is primarily for those with modest marketing budgets.
Buffer App: Social Media Software
Buffer is ideal for users looking to schedule tweets over a period of time (rather than do them all in one burst). That aside they have a great blog, are constantly innovating and the platform also provides analytics about reach and engagement.
Learn More: Buffer
Calendly: Appointment Scheduling
This simple application works beautifully and leverages an API into calendars such as Google Calendar ensuring that the days of going over and back to coordinate diaries is consigned to the past. Perfect for scheduling those product demo’s.
Learn More: Calendly
Drift: Conversation Driven Marketing & Sales Platform
Drift gives chatbots a good name. Offering an entry level free solution Drift enables you to engage directly with visitors on your site in real time. They have a number of interesting applications including a meeting scheduler which integrates with Google calendar giving Calendly a run for it’s money.
Learn More: Drift
Drip: Quick & Easy Email Marketing Automation Software
Drip offers an email marketing automation solution that enables you to run drip marketing campaigns offering additional values to those who have engaged with your content.
Learn More: Drip
Dropbox: File Storage and Sharing
As with most applications listed on this page the days of housing files on a hard drive are gone. Using Dropbox or Google Drive represents two solid solutions for storing and sharing any content you create.
Learn More: Dropbox
Google Analytics: Analytics
Google Analytics is the dominant free analytics tool on the market and is simply a must install on any website. It allows you to understand user behaviour on the website so that you can build up a picture of who your visitors are and how they behave. Don’t forget to set goals for the site.
Learn More: Google Analytics
Grammarly : Grammar Checking Tool
This is a pretty neat application that allows users to run a grammar check on content. It is particularly useful for bloggers who want an extra layer of protection above and beyond Google spell checking. Best not to install the app - we found it can slow down your computer. Simply cut and paste content into Grammarly direct and let it work it’s magic.
Learn More: Grammarly
G Suite: Gmail for Business
The G Suite from Google offers a suite of offerings including business Gmail, calendaring and collaboration / storage via Google documents. A must have for your SaaS business.
Learn More: Gmail
Hubspot: Inbound Marketing Software
Software to help businesses publish and amplify content. Their blog content is also exceptional and offers practical actionable advice for SaaS startups. The main drawback is their price points are a little frothy for most SaaS startups.
Learn More: Hubspot
Insightly: CRM
All B2B saas Startups should utilize a CRM system to track contacts, leads, and prospects. Entry- level solutions to consider include Insightly, Pipedrive, and One Page CRM . Data input can be a challenge given resource constraints, so you need to consider automation or implementing a strict regime to ensure the CRM is kept up-to-date. Building an initial pipeline is important, and once a critical mass is in place these prospects can be marketed to via mail newsletters.
Learn More: Insightly
Intercom: Customer Messaging Platform
An easy way to communicate with customers and to schedule messaging to help ensure customers are gaining value from the application they have signed up for.
Learn More: Intercom
InvisionApp: Prototyping Tool
If you are looking to build a new website or application InvisionApp is a powerful prototyping tool where a developer/ designer can share high fidelity mockups which the marketing team can easily comment on.
Learn More: InvisionApp
Kissmetrics: Behavioural Analytics
Gain insights into the behaviour of users helping you to make data-driven decisions for your SaaS business.
Learn More: Kissmetrics
LinkedIn Premium: Lead Generation
It is important to leverage Linkedin to it’s full capacity to ensure that you are building up a list of prospects to target. Linkedin offers 3 paid advertising solutions, and it is worth testing these to see which is the most effective one to generate leads. Linkedin Premium is a ‘no brainer’ for SaaS companies with VC investment but pricing can be a little excessive for boot-strapped startups.
Learn More: Linkedin Premium
Mailchimp: Beautiful Newsletters
Capturing leads is a key goal of most B2B SaaS websites in return for providing access to valuable content (via gated content or newsletter sign ups). Once you are regularly creating engaging content that is attracting leads it is is worth creating a monthly newsletter. The main appeal of newsletters is that they help you stay ‘front of mind’ as you essentially have express permission to contact the prospect on a regular basis. MailChimp is the default option for most SaaS startups.
Learn More: Mailchimp
Pocket: Save Articles
Pocket is an application that enables you to save articles to read afterward. It’s a great way to save blogs which can be read offline. Integrations with the likes of RSS Feeds and Firefox make this an invaluable tool for marketers looking to keep on top of their game.
Learn More: Pocket
Shutterstock: Stunning Images
While we’d all love to commission a photographer to take photos around the office, using Shutterstock for the early days makes more sense. The selection is extensive, although the look and feel has a strong US bias so depending on your target audience you may need to select carefully. If you only need a couple of images or are on a tight budget try Unsplash first.
Learn More: Shutterstock
Statcounter: Web Tracker
Statcounter is also worth installing initially when traffic is low (particularly for B2B sites) as it has some additional features of note including detailed IP details of visitors (so in many cases you can work out the company name of the site visitor).
Learn More: Statcounter
Teamwork: Business Management Applications
Activities need to be prioritised, measured, actioned and delegated, and a project management tool is vital. Teamwork offers a suite of business management applications ranging from project management to help desk software to chat.
Learn More: Teamwork
Trello: Project Management
Again another very useful entry level task management tool to ensure that the wider team are clear on priorities and are managing them in a systematic manner.
Learn More: Trello
Tweetdeck: Social Media Monitoring
Tweetdeck is a powerful tool for monitoring twitter, as you can set up a number of different columns tracking everything from keywords (by hashtag), competitor tweets and direct messages. Once the columns are set up, users can then log in as frequently as they need.
Learn More: Tweetdeck
Typeform: Beautiful Forms
Typeform is a beautiful app to use - it can have multiple uses ranging from forms to elicit feedback, to pre-screen prospects, through to surveys. The UI/ UX are strong and given they are innovating in a space most thought Surveymonkey had wrapped up it goes to show a strong product can be successful in a competitive environment with a 100 lbs gorilla in the corner!
Learn More: Typeform
Unbounce: Landing Page Optimisation
Landing pages are hugely important for B2B SaaS business as you look to offer value in the guise of gated content. Using a tool like Unbounce or Optimizely (an experimentation platform) can help ensure your landing pages are designed to convert.
Learn More: Unbounce
Want to gain an insight into the tech stack of your competitors? Visit Built With to run a check.
Have we forgotten any? Please let us know.