The Ultimate Marketing Tools List – All the Tools You Really Need

Building a strong marketing tools list is essential for any growing business. Think of your marketing stack as the backbone of your sales strategy – it must include every specialized tool needed to attract leads, nurture relationships, and close deals. Without a complete marketing tools list you’ll end up juggling spreadsheets, missing follow-ups, and losing sales. In today’s digital market, an all-in-one approach isn’t enough – you need the right combination of funnel builders, email and CRM systems, and even proposal software to cover every stage of the customer journey. In this guide, you’ll learn why each piece is critical, and how to pick the tools that power a scalable marketing system.

To break it down, we’ll cover: – Funnel Builder (ClickFunnels): How a dedicated funnel tool drives conversions.
– All-in-One Platform (Systeme.io): How to replace multiple apps with one integrated solution.
– CRM & Automation (EngageBay + Ontraport): Why you need both simple and advanced automation in your marketing tools list.
– Proposal Software (Better Proposals): How professional proposal tools close deals faster.
– Integrated Workflow: How all five tools connect to form one complete marketing stack.

By the end of this article you’ll have a clear vision of the ultimate marketing tools list – the exact set of software you need to run campaigns, automate follow-up, and seal every deal. Let’s dive in and build your marketing stack.

Funnel Builder (ClickFunnels) – A Must-Have for Your Marketing Tools List

A funnel builder like ClickFunnels deserves first place in your marketing tools list because it handles the most important step: capturing and converting leads. Funnel builders let you create custom landing pages, opt-in forms, sales pages, and order forms without writing code. Think of it as your digital sales funnel blueprint. For example, a ClickFunnels funnel might start with a free ebook opt-in page, lead into a webinar registration page, and end on a high-converting checkout page – all seamlessly connected. ClickFunnels’ drag-and-drop editor and proven templates make it easy to set this up in minutes.
👉 Try ClickFunnels here- 14‑day free trial available.

Using a funnel builder, you’re in control of the entire front end of your marketing. Instead of relying on generic web pages or a programmer, you can quickly test headlines, run ad campaigns, and optimize conversions. For instance, I once built a simple two-step funnel in ClickFunnels that doubled an email list in one week – and it took only an hour to create. That’s the power a dedicated funnel tool adds to your marketing stack.

Your marketing tools list isn’t complete without this step-by-step conversion machine. ClickFunnels also integrates with your email and CRM tools, so once a prospect enters the funnel, they automatically get tagged and nurtured. In short, a funnel builder like ClickFunnels is how you drive traffic into a system that turns strangers into customers. Every effective marketing tools list starts here, because without a funnel, you have no engine to fuel growth.

By the way, If you want a broader view of the landscape, I’ve also put together a complete 2026 guide to digital tools covering AI, CRM, productivity platforms, automation tools and more.

All-in-One Platform (Systeme.io) – The Central Pillar of Your Marketing Tools List

An all-in-one platform like Systeme.io takes on multiple roles in your marketing stack, letting you simplify your marketing tools list. Systeme.io includes funnel-building, email marketing, membership sites, and even affiliate program management all under one roof. If you want to replace a jumble of separate apps, Systeme.io is a smart choice. It covers everything a solo marketer or small team needs: funnel pages, email sequences, blog posts, and course hosting.

Compare this to ClickFunnels: both let you build sales funnels, but Systeme.io comes with built-in email automation and online course tools. That means your marketing tools list can shrink. You don’t need a separate email service, membership plugin, or affiliate tracking software – Systeme.io covers it.
👉 Try Systeme.io for free here.

For example, if you’re selling an online course, you can build the signup funnel and host the course content in one place, then set up automatic follow-up emails to new students. Instead of wiring together multiple systems, you keep it simple and cost-effective.

When I tested Systeme.io, I found its interface straightforward and its all-in-one value incredible. It’s not as robust for advanced funnels as ClickFunnels, but for most businesses it’s more than enough. Because it handles so many functions, Systeme.io can cut your monthly tool fees in half. Think of it as the Swiss Army knife of your marketing tools list – one platform that replaces five. In your stack, Systeme.io plays the role of the glue: it builds funnels like ClickFunnels, it manages emails like a basic CRM, and it even runs affiliate campaigns, keeping your list lean and budget-friendly.

CRM & Automation (EngageBay + Ontraport) – Streamlining Your Marketing Tools List with Follow-Up

Once prospects enter your funnels, you need a system to manage and nurture them – that’s where CRM and automation tools come in. In your marketing tools list, include at least one simple automation CRM and one advanced CRM to cover different needs. For example, EngageBay serves as an entry-level CRM and email marketing tool. It’s affordable (even free up to a point) and perfect for small teams. EngageBay lets you track contacts, run email sequences, and segment leads by interests or behavior. If you’re just starting, EngageBay is like having a personal assistant who sends the right emails at the right time. You can set up a welcome series for new leads, send cart abandonment reminders, and tag people based on their clicks – all on autopilot.
👉 Create your free EngageBay account here.

On the other hand, Ontraport represents the other end of the spectrum: a heavyweight CRM with advanced automation. When your marketing tools list needs to support a growing business or complex workflows, Ontraport is the go-to. It can handle multi-step campaigns that branch based on dozens of triggers. For example, in Ontraport I can set a tag when someone watches 50% of a webinar, then trigger a personalized offer email just to those leads. It also includes built-in e-commerce and membership features. Ontraport is more expensive, but it pays off when you need that level of sophistication.
👉 Get an Ontraport free demo here.

Here’s how to choose between them for your marketing tools list: If your business is small or budget-conscious, start with EngageBay. It will cover basic needs: email campaigns, simple contact segmentation, and deal pipelines. When your lead volume and revenue increase, or if you require complex behavior-based automations, that’s when you graduate to Ontraport. In practice, you could even use both: use EngageBay for general newsletter blasts and easy follow-ups, and reserve Ontraport for VIP customers, high-ticket funnels, or detailed tracking. Just remember – without a CRM, those leads from your funnel can’t be nurtured properly. A marketing tools list without a good CRM/automation setup is like having a car without an engine; it won’t get you far.

Simple vs. Advanced Automation in Your Marketing Tools List

• EngageBay (Simple CRM/Automation): Easy to learn, low cost, ideal for small teams. It handles contact management, email campaigns, and basic sales pipelines. Use it to automate welcome sequences, birthday emails, and simple drip campaigns. Its drag-and-drop automation builder is straightforward. Think of EngageBay as your starter CRM – it gets leads organized without a steep learning curve.
  
• Ontraport (Advanced CRM/Automation): Full-featured CRM with powerful automation. It can track every contact’s journey, allowing conditional workflows (“if a contact does X, then do Y”), subscription billing, membership sites, and more. It includes funnel mapping, A/B testing of emails, and detailed reporting. Ontraport shines when you need granular control: tagging customers based on nearly any action and automating next steps. It’s best for when EngageBay’s simplicity becomes a limitation.
  

Choosing between them depends on your stage. Early on, a marketer can build an automated email sequence in EngageBay in minutes – perfect for a lean marketing tools list. But when you’re handling thousands of contacts and want to run sophisticated campaigns (abandoned cart triggers, automatic trial to paid conversions, complex drip flows), Ontraport steps in as the backbone of your marketing systems.

Proposal Software (Better Proposals) – Converting Leads with Your Marketing Tools List

Every lead your funnel captures and every email series you send eventually needs to become a sale. That’s where a tool like Better Proposals belongs in your marketing tools list. Proposal software is often overlooked, but it directly impacts your close rate. Instead of sending flat PDFs, Better Proposals lets you create polished, interactive proposals in minutes. Imagine your prospect clicking a link, viewing a beautifully branded proposal in their browser, signing it with one click, and paying online – all without printing or emailing attachments.

Why does this matter? First impressions count. Sending a well-designed proposal shows your professionalism and attention to detail. It also saves you time: Better Proposals comes with templates, so you’re not reinventing the wheel each time. Every line item, case study, or pricing table can be pre-formatted. I’ve seen freelance consultants cut their proposal creation time from hours to minutes, while doubling their response rate, simply by using a dedicated proposal tool.

Second, tracking. Proposal software notifies you when a client opens or comments on the proposal. You can see exactly when they viewed it and how long they spent on each page. This insight lets you follow up at the right moment: if you see they read the pricing page, you might call them that afternoon to answer questions. Without this, you’d be in the dark, waiting for a response. Better Proposals (and tools like it) automate reminders too – if someone hasn’t signed in a week, an email reminder can go out automatically.

Here’s a realistic example: You’ve run the ads, captured leads with ClickFunnels, and nurtured them via EngageBay. One lead books a strategy call. After the call, you use Better Proposals to send a service proposal. You pull in the lead’s details automatically (integration through Zapier or your CRM), choose a template, adjust the pricing, and hit send. The client opens it the next day, and you get notified. You see they’ve spent 3 minutes on the deliverables section. You reach out and close the deal. All those steps were made possible by adding proposal software to your marketing tools list.

In short, a modern marketing tools list isn’t complete with just funnels and emails – it also needs a smooth closing tool. Better Proposals slots in at the final stage of the funnel, turning interested prospects into paying customers with professional efficiency.

How All Five Tools Connect Together in Your Ultimate Marketing Tools List

Now let’s tie everything together into one workflow. When you combine Funnel Builder, All-in-One, CRM/Automation, and Proposal tools correctly, they form a seamless marketing stack. The workflow looks like this:

1. Lead Capture (Funnel Builder): You run an ad or content marketing campaign, directing traffic to a ClickFunnels landing page or Systeme.io page. A prospect opts in or buys through the funnel.
   
2. Data Handoff (Integration): The funnel automatically sends the contact information to your CRM (EngageBay or Ontraport). This can happen via a native integration or a tool like Zapier. Now the lead lives in your CRM.
   
3. Follow-Up Sequence (CRM/Automation): EngageBay sends an automated welcome email series based on their opt-in type. If a lead clicks a link, EngageBay tags them “Interested.” For more advanced tracking, Ontraport might add them to a specific campaign if they took a certain action.
   
4. Lead Scoring & Segmentation: As leads interact, the CRM scores or tags them (for example, “webinar attendee,” “ebook downloader,” etc.). This keeps your marketing tools list organized – you know who is hot and who needs nurturing.
   
5. Sales Outreach: When a lead becomes qualified (e.g., fills a sales form or reaches a lead score threshold), your sales team steps in. You can even use Ontraport to trigger a task for a salesperson or send a notification.
   
6. Send Proposal (Proposal Software): After your sales call or final pitch, you use Better Proposals. The CRM integration automatically fills client details into the proposal. You send it immediately – no waiting. Better Proposals tracks engagement and allows the client to sign and pay online.
   
7. Post-Sale Automation: Once the proposal is signed, the CRM/automation tool (Ontraport/EngageBay) kicks in to deliver onboarding emails, account setup steps, or upsell sequences.
   

[Insert diagram of full marketing funnel workflow here]

This end-to-end process is your ultimate marketing stack in action. Here’s how it looks step by step in practice:

• Funnel (ClickFunnels/Systeme.io): Imagine a Facebook ad that leads to a ClickFunnels page offering a free webinar. A student registers, filling out name and email. ClickFunnels instantly adds them to EngageBay as a new contact.
  
• All-in-One Checks Off Basic Tasks: If you used Systeme.io instead, the same person might register and Systeme.io immediately starts sending webinar reminders and follow-up emails without needing an external CRM.
  
• CRM (EngageBay): EngageBay takes over. It adds the new webinar lead to a “Webinar-Optins” list and sends an automated series: confirmation email, one reminder a day before, and one hour before the webinar.
  
• CRM (Ontraport): Simultaneously, EngageBay logs that this person signed up for a webinar. In Ontraport, you have a separate campaign: After the webinar, Ontraport checks who attended (via an integration). Those who attended are tagged and dropped into a product launch drip. Those who didn’t attend get a replay link and a note to reschedule.
  
• Segmentation: EngageBay or Ontraport segments leads by tags (e.g., “Webinar Attendee,” “Never Opened Email,” “Clicked Link”). This segmentation ensures future messages are relevant. Every tool in your marketing tools list is feeding data to maintain that segmentation.
  
• Sales Call: If a lead books a strategy call, Ontraport moves them to a “Consult Call” pipeline stage. Once the call is done, Ontraport can automatically send a post-call survey or summary email.
  
• Proposal (Better Proposals): The salesperson then creates a proposal in Better Proposals. Using an integration, the proposal form is pre-filled with the lead’s info from Ontraport. The proposal is branded with your company logo and colors. One click and it’s in the client’s inbox.
  
• Close and Onboard: When the client signs the proposal, Better Proposals triggers Ontraport to move the deal to “Won” and start onboarding emails (for example, “Welcome to our service! Here’s what happens next…”).
  

This coordinated dance of tools is what an optimized marketing tools list delivers. Each tool hands off to the next: funnels capture the lead, CRM organizes and nurtures, and proposal software seals the deal. Picture it as an assembly line: at each station – funnel, CRM, sales, proposal – the prospect moves smoothly to become a customer. [Insert visual mockup of CRM pipeline here] highlights how leads flow through stages.

By designing clear steps like this, you remove gaps that often kill sales. Without this integration: – Leads might slip through the cracks if your email or CRM wasn’t updated from the funnel. – Following up could be inconsistent. – Proposals might get delayed or go to wrong people.

But with these five tools in place and linked, you create a powerful, automated workflow. Your marketing tools list isn’t a random collection – it’s a finely-tuned system. You’ll know exactly who did what, and the next action is always automated or assigned. This coherence is why a complete marketing stack is far more than the sum of its parts. It’s what drives real business growth.

Conclusion – Building Your Ultimate Marketing Tools List Today

Putting it all together, this marketing tools list gives you everything you need to scale with confidence. You have a funnel builder (ClickFunnels) that drives leads into the system. You have an all-in-one engine (Systeme.io) that cuts down on complexity for tight budgets. You have both simple and advanced CRM/automation (EngageBay and Ontraport) to nurture those leads at every stage. And finally, you have proposal software (Better Proposals) to maximize your close rate with professional, trackable bids.

Each tool covers a critical piece of the funnel: from initial lead capture to final sale. And when they’re connected, they form one seamless marketing stack that runs 24/7. No more manual handoffs or fragmented data. Instead, you’ll know exactly where every lead stands, and your team can focus on strategy rather than busywork.

Every element of this list is battle-tested for real businesses. Whether you’re a one-person shop or a growing agency, integrating these tools gives you an edge. You’ll save time, reduce errors, and create a customer journey that feels natural and professional. In short, your marketing tools list becomes a machine for generating and closing business.

So don’t wait. The roadmap is clear. Start building your marketing stack today. Integrate these tools, set up your funnels and automations, and watch as your conversion rates climb. Your future customers are out there – and with the right tools, you’ll be ready to turn them into paying clients faster than ever.

---

want to read more about ClickFunnels? here
want to read more about Systeme.io? here
want to read more about EngageBay? here
want to read more about Ontraport? here
want to read more about Better Proposals? here