The 10 AI Software Tools Every Marketer Needs in Their Portfolio of Skills
As an AI freelance marketing strategist, I’ve spent countless hours vetting AI software—testing the hype, pushing tools to their limits, and cutting through the noise. From writing blog posts that resonate to automating multichannel campaigns, AI marketing tools have transformed how I work—and how I help clients achieve success. Here are the five tools I believe every marketer should have in their toolkit.
1. Jasper AI (AI writing and generative content)
My thoughts: I’ve been using Jasper AI for over two years now. It’s my go-to for long‑form blog posts, email sequences, and social captions. Jasper offers dozens of marketing-tailored templates—everything from AIDA frameworks to press releases—which consistently boost writing speed and idea generation. One recent project: a 1,500-word client blog drafted in under 20 minutes, which I then refined for voice and SEO.
Why it’s essential: Jasper is purpose-built for generative content that feels close to final-draft quality. Jasper nails contextually relevant, brand-aligned copy faster than any chatbot I’ve tested. Unlike generic AI chat tools, it understands tone and structure for marketing use. Reviews call it “as close to magic as I’ve seen”. For any marketer serious about AI content creation, Jasper deserves a seat at the table.
2. Surfer SEO (Content optimization + AI SEO tools)
My thoughts: Once your draft is ready, Surfer SEO ensures it ranks. I’ve integrated it into every article workflow for over a year now. Surfer analyzes top-performing pages, recommends keyword frequency, and suggests structure—so you're not guessing, you're optimizing. Think of it as the same as the production team of a play. No, you don’t see the production team once it’s showtime, but without their prop designs and skills, the show would be unsuccessful.
In a recent 2,000-word pillar post, Surfer helped improve readability and keyword targeting; the result? A 42% uptick in organic traffic in just six weeks. It earned a spot on a marketer’s must-use AI tool list. If you're serious about content that drives leads, you're flying blind without it.
I use Surfer as a second pair of SEO eyes. In one recent pillar page build out, Surfer's recommendations helped us structure subheads, boost on-page keywords, and enhance readability. The post hit page one in under a month. Surfer is a dynamic and impactful tool, but can only be fully maximized if you have an already solidified SEO foundation and strategy built.
Why it's essential: If you’re writing for organic traffic, you can’t afford to guess. AI SEO tools like Surfer bring data-backed clarity to content decisions, helping your articles perform—not just exist.
3. Omneky (Automated ad creative for performance marketing)
My thoughts: In performance marketing, Omneky has been a game-changer. Omneky merges creative and data by generating performance-based ad variations and optimizing them across channels like Meta and Google. It's not just theoretical: I ran a LinkedIn ad set powered by Omneky for a DTC client, and CPM dropped by 28% in a week.
Why it's essential: In performance marketing, creative scale and variation matter. Omneky has built-in omnichannel campaign orchestration and smart creative preview tools, bringing deep automation for marketers who need thousands of iterations but want brand consistency baked in. For marketers juggling scale and creative quality, this tool brings a level of automation and insight traditionally reserved for agencies.
4. ActiveCampaign (Email automation + personalization)
My thoughts: ActiveCampaign blends CRM, email marketing, and behavior-based automation into one platform. Its recent AI upgrades—predictive sending, content scoring, and auto-segmentation—make it smarter than ever. I implemented ActiveCampaign for a B2B SaaS client that looked to elevate their brand’s awareness and impact in the market. What did I realize? It isn’t just email: it’s complete CRM-powered automation. With generative AI adding subject-line suggestions, smart segmentation, and customer journeys, I saw a 35% email open-rate lift.
Why it’s essential: Email is far from dead—but bad email is. ActiveCampaign helps you build personalized marketing campaigns that scale and adapt based on real-time behavior. It’s the heartbeat of intelligent lifecycle marketing. It’s ideal for any marketer wanting to blend AI and personalization with solid automation infrastructure.
5. Funnel (Marketing analytics and data automation)
My thoughts: Managing data from 10+ ad channels and web analytics feels like spinning plates. Enter Funnel—it automates data collection, transformation, and even MMM (marketing-mix modeling) scenarios. I’ve used it for client reports, and it wiped out two days of manual grunt work. Funnel integrates over 500 data sources and now includes advanced attribution features. Think of a MarTech stack, but even simpler.
Why it’s essential: Clean data = smarter decisions. For marketers managing multichannel campaigns, marketing analytics tools like Funnel reduce grunt work and enable strategic clarity.
6. SEMrush (All-in-one SEO & social media AI toolkit)
My thoughts: Ok, I may be a little bias here, SEMrush is one of my favorite marketing, SEO, and AI tools out there in the market. I’ve leaned on SEMrush for my entire career so far—its evolution into an AI-powered suite feels like watching a favorite tool level up in real-time. Its Content Toolkit and Copilot use proprietary data to help me draft SEO-friendly outlines and even full paragraphs—without wondering if I missed a key keyword or structure. I recently used it to craft a long-form guide. SEMrush surfaced not just primary and LSI keywords, but also SERP intent insights. It saved me a solid hour of linchpin work—and already, traffic is inching up.
Why it's essential: It's more than SEO—it integrates social media scheduling and analytics, too. For marketers juggling SEO and social media, SEMrush is a single dashboard that unifies research, content, publishing, and analysis—making it a must-have.
7. 6sense (Account‑based marketing & revenue AI)
My thoughts: In my B2B toolkit, 6sense has become indispensable. It’s a Revenue Intelligence AI platform that scours billions of intent signals—searches, content consumption, website behavior—to flag accounts actively in-market. For me, 6sense is my revenue generation heaven.
In my career, my team and I used 6sense to prioritize high-value accounts. The dynamic dashboards and orchestrator helped us launch targeted campaigns—and steer SDR outreach. With a personalized approach thanks to AI, we saw engagement rise by nearly 30% in one quarter.
Why it’s essential: For anyone doing account-based marketing, 6sense moves the needle from speculation to proactivity. It ties intent data, CRM, and campaign activation into one unified pipeline engine. Its AI features, such as customizing experiences based on specific targets, enable a better customer experience that maximizes the chances of acquiring revenue-driving leads.
8. Droxy (AI‑driven webinar and content engagement)
My thoughts: I've been recently exploring Droxy, a newer player that uses AI to make webinars, workshops, and gated webinars shine. It analyzes attendee behavior—heatmaps, engagement dips, chat sentiment—to generate repurposed content like summary clips or email follow-ups. If you go to their blog, they have unique resources to provide a different perspective to their target audience—comparisons. They give honest, truthful, and impactful comparisons amongst other brands, providing more brand honesty and authority, elevating their chances of making a positive impact on their prospects.
Why it's essential: Generative content = not just written copy, but also turning video into shareable assets. If you're hosting webinars, workshops, or video content, Droxy injects automation and ROI into your funnel.
9. Gamma (AI-powered presentations and visual storytelling)
My thoughts: Gamma is an AI presentation and document builder that transforms text prompts into polished, interactive decks. Unlike traditional slide tools, it focuses on clarity and story structure—perfect for marketers who need to present strategies, reports, or product ideas with visual impact. I used Gamma to draft a strategy presentation for a client pitch. What normally takes me two evenings in Google Slides was done in under an hour. The AI helped outline the flow, designed the visuals, and even suggested transitions that felt pitch-deck-worthy. Saved me time, headaches, and most of all, the client was extremely happy with the final product.
Why it’s essential: Marketers spend an enormous amount of time explaining value—whether to clients, execs, or peers. Gamma turns rough thoughts into compelling narratives, complete with design polish. If you’re involved in marketing storytelling, pitching, or reporting, Gamma deserves a spot in your creative toolkit.
10. GitHub Copilot (AI coding assistant for marketing automation)
My thoughts: GitHub Copilot, powered by OpenAI, is an AI pair programmer designed to write and suggest code in real time. While traditionally seen as a developer tool, I’ve found it increasingly valuable in marketing—especially when building automations, APIs, and analytics connectors.
Look, I am in no way a software engineer (or as smart as my great friends and colleagues in the field!). So for me, it’s work smarter, not harder. GitHub Copilot is just that. I used GitHub Copilot to speed up custom scripts for syncing CRM data with ad platforms. Normally, I’d be tinkering for hours—or waiting on a dev. With GitHub Copilot, I got functional code suggestions instantly, and could troubleshoot inside VS Code without flipping through Stack Overflow.
Why it’s essential (especially for tinkerers): If you’re a marketing strategist who dabbles in technical work, Copilot becomes your silent co-creator. It doesn’t replace engineering, but it helps you prototype faster and understand code logic enough to get things moving without handholding. It bridges the gap between marketers and builders in the age of automation.
Long Story Short, Here’s What You Need to Know
Jasper + Surfer = SEO-rich content, fast. Jasper gives you the words; Surfer ensures they get found.
Omneky = dynamic ads at scale without sacrificing creative experimentation.
ActiveCampaign = smart, AI-powered nurture built on real behavior and segmentation.
Funnel = automated reporting that scales, so you can't lose track when growth picks up.
SEMrush consolidates SEO & social workflows in one AI-enhanced hub.
6sense surfaces active buyers using data—no more wasted outreach.
Droxy turns video events into automated content engines.
GitHub Copilot accelerates marketing automation projects with real-time code suggestions.
Gamma transforms rough ideas into polished, AI-powered presentations for impactful storytelling.
Now is the Time to Unleash the Power of AI
AI isn’t a fad—it’s a fundamental shift in how marketing gets done. From generating blog drafts to analyzing thousands of ad permutations, these tools amplify creativity, precision, and results. My advice: pick one area you want to level up (content, ads, email, data), lean into the relevant tool, and iterate. In a landscape where 71% of CMOs plan to invest over $10 million in AI next year, learning to harness these platforms isn't optional—it’s essential.
You don’t need to become a data scientist or a prompt engineering guru. You do need curiosity, courage, and a willingness to experiment. Embrace AI, and let it expand what you thought possible in marketing.
FAQ
1. Do I need to be technical to use AI marketing tools?
Not at all. Most of the tools I’ve recommended—like Jasper, Surfer, and Gamma—are built for marketers, not engineers. They use intuitive interfaces and templated workflows. Even GitHub Copilot, which is more technical, supports experimentation if you’re curious. My advice? Don’t wait to become a “tech person.” Just start testing with low-stakes projects.
2. What’s the best AI tool for content creation?
I’ve had the most success with Jasper AI for long-form writing and Surfer SEO for optimization. If I had to choose one for speed and one for performance, that would be the combo. But Gamma also shines when you need to turn those ideas into visual storytelling—think pitch decks, recaps, or strategy slides.
3. Can these tools replace a full-time marketer or strategist?
No—and I wouldn’t recommend that mindset. What they do is eliminate the busywork and get you 70–90% of the way there. The strategic layer—the empathy, the context, the brand voice—that still requires human judgment. AI helps you move faster and smarter, but it doesn’t make creative leadership obsolete.
4. How do I choose the right AI tool for my business?
Start by identifying your biggest marketing bottleneck: Is it content production? Ad testing? Data reporting? Once that’s clear, map one tool to that problem. For example:
Content bottleneck → Jasper + Surfer
Manual reporting → Funnel
Low email engagement → ActiveCampaign
Inefficient ad creative → Omneky
Always pilot before you scale. I typically test on one campaign or client account for 2–4 weeks before rolling it out further.
5. Are these tools budget-friendly for freelancers or small teams?
Yes—with caveats. Most offer entry-level plans or free trials. Jasper and ActiveCampaign, for example, have scalable pricing tiers. Some tools like GitHub Copilot and Gamma offer strong ROI even for solo practitioners. Just avoid stacking tools until you’re sure they’re solving real problems.
6. How often do you revisit or swap tools in your stack?
Quarterly, at a minimum. I track tool performance across my client projects and personal workflows. If something stops delivering or a better alternative pops up (like when I switched from Seona to Surfer + Copilot), I adapt. AI is moving fast—it pays to stay nimble.
