Episode Overview
Running a service-based business means you wear a lot of hats. Founder; strategist; salesperson; IT support person whispering “Why the hell is this happening?” to yourself over your laptop. While you’re busy sending proposals and doing the work you actually love, your marketing tech stack the digital services and automations you use for marketing) quietly becomes unruly. Subscriptions pile up. Tools overlap like badly planned group projects and your credit card statement is getting longer. Are you doomed to wrangle this tech terror forever? No way!
In this episode of Marketing Snacks, Alison Knott sits down with the brilliant Ruth Aliu to talk about how Canadian service-based and B2B businesses can stop fighting their marketing tech.
Spoiler alert, darlings: this is not about buying more tools. (Step away from the “Add to Cart” button.) It’s about understanding and actually using the ones you already pay for.
Featured Speakers
- Ruth Aliu is the founder of Techity Consulting, an IT consultancy that helps service providers turn their tech into something that supports growth instead of slowly draining their soul. Ruth is basically the person you want when your systems feel… fiddly.
- Alison Knott, founder of Alison K Consulting, helps B2B and service-based businesses doing complex or nuanced work get visible without shouting into the void. She’s also a proud martech nerd who knows exactly when to call in backup.
What We Talk About in This Episode
Why slow periods in your business is a great time to revisit your marketing tech stack
Typically in service-based industries, there’s a slow season at some point in the year. At the time of recording of this interview, it was summer, which Ruth points out this is a perfect time to zoom out and work on your business, not just in it.
“It presents an opportunity to start working on your business, getting a sense of what all these tools that I’m using are. As yourself: are they still serving my current goals?” — Ruth
Your business has probably evolved over the last 3 months. Your offers have been tweaked, you have a deeper understanding of client needs, and your business may be operating in slightly different ways than it did a few seasons ago. But your tech stack? It might still be living in 2019, emotionally and technologically. If your goals have changed, your systems need to keep up.
Therefore, Ruth offers four steps to help get your arms around your tech setup.
Step One: know what tech you’re actually using
Ruth starts with a simple question: Can you actually name all the tools you use for marketing?
“Anything that is not a pen or paper that you log into is what we consider tech tools.” — Ruth
Spend 10 minutes listing all the tech you use to help with marketing. That includes:
- Creation tools for visuals, videos, and copywriting.
- Marketing channel tools such as email marketing platform and social media automation.
- Data-driven and project management tools such as analytics and CRMs.
- Specialized services that make your day a little faster and less repetitive.
When Alison did this exercise herself, she found tools she’d completely forgotten about and others she thought were “marketing tools” that were actually supporting sales or onboarding.
The takeaway: We tend to think about our tools only in the moment we use them. Zooming out and taking stock of them with intention can reveal some surprising things.
Step Two: know what these tools’ jobs are supposed to be for your business
Once you’ve got your list, Ruth suggests rating how well each tool supports your current goals.
“Is it meeting your marketing goals… or are you finding that it has evolved over time?” — Ruth
Alison shares a real-life example: Creating video for LinkedIn was a big part of her visibility strategy. Editing them was a pain for her, so she tried out lots of different tools… that she later lost track of. Oops! So she cut the unused software and hired a video editor instead.
Beware the shiny tool trap
(Yes, We’re Looking at You, AppSumo) Let’s talk about impulse buys.
“AppSumo is a trap.” — Ruth
Lifetime deals feel irresistible. They promise to save time, automate everything, and solve problems you didn’t even know you had. But if you can’t clearly explain where a tool fits into your marketing or sales process, it’s probably just digital clutter. Alison sums it up perfectly…
“It’s basically Temu for tech nerds.” — Alison
The takeaway: A tool you planned to use is not the same as a tool you actually use. Sometimes “optimization” is about getting rid of something, not tweaking what you have. Before buying anything new, ask: What problem does this solve right now? If the answer is “future me will figure it out,” close the tab.
Step Three: determine if there is any overlap, and if that’s what you want
One of the most nuanced parts of the conversation is Ruth’s take on overlapping tools. Redundancy can be strategic, especially when outages happen. And yes, they will happen.
“As long as technology exists, there will be outages.” — Ruth
But overlap can also be a sign it’s time to merge. Examples:
- Google Workspace + Calendly
- Many email or automation tools
- Design tools that all kinda do the same thing
Ruth suggests grouping tools by function and deciding whether the overlap is intentional or accidental.
The takeaway: Redundancy is either smart risk management or wasted money. Know which one you’re paying for.
Step Four: calculate the real cost of your tech stack
This is the part where most founders quietly panic.
“We can’t budget and forecast software subscriptions anymore.” — Ruth
And its true costs are rising. But the real cost of a tool isn’t just the monthly fee. It’s also:
- The cost of migrating from one tool to another (including any downtime during the switch).
- Time spent learning new features or a new system altogether.
- What it will cost you if an important integration suddenly broke (Zapier, for example).
- Lost productivity in trying to save costs or time DIY.
Alison shared her experience of moving from ActiveCampaign to Cyberimpact, a Canadian email platform that better aligns with her values and support expectations (affiliate link). Cyberimpact was able to do the migration for her at no cost since she entered into an affiliate agreement with them. But before affiliation was even a glimmer in her eye, Alison had set aside budget to hire someone to do the migration so she didn’t have to.
Sometimes switching makes sense. Sometimes staying put with a clear plan is the smarter move.
The takeaway: Rage-cancelling subscriptions often cost more than thoughtful transitions.
One thing you can do this week
Ruth leaves us an open-ended question:
“What is one tool you’re considering consolidating?” — Ruth
Just one. List your subscriptions. Note renewal dates. Pick a single tool to review properly.
Momentum beats perfection. Always.
Need help untangling your marketing tech?
If your marketing tech stack feels heavier than helpful, you don’t have to wrestle it alone. At Alison K Consulting, we help Canadian B2B and service-based businesses align marketing strategy with systems that actually support growth. And this is without draining your energy or your bank account. From marketing consulting to visibility strategy and ecosystem-building, we focus on clarity over chaos. Book a discovery call.
Because honestly, ‘Darlin, you deserve a business that runs with you… not one that makes you Google “why is my software doing this” at 11:47 p.m.
