Why does war ensue? Boredom, resources, and power. But your audience? They’re focused on value and safeguarding their funds, not noise. And your competitors definitely don’t care to share. It’s a tale as old as time, and these days, with AI, bland inbox crowding is a nightmare.

Yawn and delete—am I getting carpal tunnel from archiving all this spam, or is it the cortisol from wondering how someone got my email yet again? Dry spray-and-pray tactics don’t work anymore. If you can’t articulate how you serve others well in your first contact attempt in a compelling way, you’re doomed. Be yourself, from subject line to body, or hire a copywriter who can articulate what you do in a way that resonates with your ideal client and a designer who can transcend words into emotion evoking art. Note that both are subjective; finding and relating to your audience is key.

You’re likely also not leveraging the right tech to help you reach your prospects’ inboxes. Whether it’s data enrichment, domain protection, real-time analytics, or proper sequencing, your competitors are outpacing you because their toolkit is not only better—it’s being used. It baffles me how often incredible toolkits are left to the wayside by companies desperate for lead generation. Unless you’ve truly mastered faith in God or have an Abraham-Hicks deal with the universe, you will not succeed without edge.

Truth be told, consultants like me get tired of feeling like a broken record when it comes to the importance of competitive marketing as it relates to lead gen, but it’s imperative to reel back the tape and remind B2B & B2C marketers they must not only be different, they must be present. Stop gatekeeping; by the time you share your DIY, it will have evolved, and you’ll get clients from people who trust that you can do for them what they don’t want to do for themselves.

In that same spirit, here is a list of tools you need to know and should strongly consider adding to your toolkit if you haven’t already:

- Botco.ai - Website chatbot proven to increase conversion
- BeeHiiv – For building and managing newsletters
- Woodpecker – Streamlined cold outreach with multi-channel sequencing
- Instantly – Scales outreach while avoiding spam folders & a cheaper alternative to Woodpecker
- Marketo – Renowned for its capabilities in lead management, email marketing, and campaign automation.
- Mutiny – Website personalization to increase conversion
- Buffer – Simple to use with customizable posting schedules and team collaboration features.
- Opportunity-X – All-in-one CRM for inbound and outbound
- Apollo.io – For prospecting, contact enrichment, and data intelligence
- Jasper – AI-powered content creation for speed and consistency
- ChatGPT-4 – Advanced conversational AI for personalized outreach
- Salesforce Engage – Real-time engagement tools for Salesforce users
- Clay – Data-enrichment with integrations
- Gong.io – Call intelligence for sales insights, fantastic for follow up
- SEMrush – Comprehensive SEO toolkit for visibility
- Seamless.ai – Data enrichment for accurate prospecting
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator – Essential for social selling and lead-gen
- ListKit – Accurate lead data with customization options
- Birdeye – Customer experience and review management
- Clearbit – Real-time lead enrichment and personalization
- 6sense – Predictive analytics for targeting buyer intent
- Oggvo – Online reputation management
- Simplified – All-in-one content creation for marketing teams
- Unbounce - Landing page builder to create conversion-optimized pages quickly.
- Drip - E-commerce CRM for hyper-targeted email and SMS marketing.
- Kajabi - Marketing & website analytics

If this list feels overwhelming, let us audit your tech stack and tailor a custom strategy to achieve your goals.

Author: Maya Madden