LinkedIn has become more than a social network for B2B companies. CMOs now use it for account research, executive thought leadership, paid advertising, prospecting, buying signal detection, outbound conversations and measurement.
Seven vendors are especially relevant: LinkedIn, Clay, Apollo, Taplio, AuthoredUp, Waalaxy and Expandi.
LinkedIn: Best foundation for B2B growth
LinkedIn itself remains the most important vendor because third party tools ultimately depend on the audience, data and advertising environment LinkedIn has built.
Sales Navigator provides advanced B2B prospecting across LinkedIn's professional network, while Campaign Manager provides the native advertising environment for targeting professional audiences.
For most B2B CMOs, these two products form the foundation: Sales Navigator identifies accounts and decision makers, while Campaign Manager creates paid reach among relevant audiences.
Explore LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Clay: Best for signal based GTM workflows
Clay has become one of the most important tools for modern B2B go to market teams because it combines prospecting, enrichment, signals and workflow automation.
Clay can work with LinkedIn related data alongside many other sources, then enrich contacts and synchronize them with CRM and sales systems.
For a CMO, this is particularly valuable when the strategy goes beyond finding a list and sending messages. Marketing can build audiences around signals such as job changes, company growth or technology usage and coordinate advertising or sales action around those signals.
Apollo: Best for prospect data and engagement
Apollo combines a large B2B contact database with prospecting, enrichment, intent data and outreach.
Its Chrome extension can be used while viewing LinkedIn profiles to research prospects, save contacts and access available business information. Teams can then organize those prospects into lists and sales sequences.
For a CMO, the value is the connection between account identification and execution. LinkedIn may reveal the person you want to reach, while Apollo can add contact intelligence and engagement workflows.
Taplio: Best for executive thought leadership
LinkedIn marketing is not only about advertising and outbound messages. For many B2B companies, the personal profiles of founders, executives and subject matter experts generate more attention than the corporate page.
Taplio is designed around this use case. It helps users research successful LinkedIn content, develop ideas, write posts, schedule content, analyze performance and manage engagement.
For a CMO, Taplio becomes useful when executive visibility is part of the marketing strategy.
AuthoredUp: Best for LinkedIn content analytics
AuthoredUp focuses on helping professionals create, organize and analyze LinkedIn content.
Its platform includes an editor, drafts, calendar, post management and detailed analytics. Teams can examine impressions, engagement, follower growth and individual post performance.
For CMOs concerned with executive thought leadership, employee advocacy or company page performance, this can be attractive because the focus is content quality and measurement rather than scaled outreach automation.
Waalaxy: Best for LinkedIn plus email sequences
Waalaxy is built around LinkedIn prospecting and outbound sequences.
The platform allows users to build prospect lists, create LinkedIn outreach sequences, automate follow ups and combine LinkedIn activity with email.
For a CMO, the attraction is that repetitive prospecting activity can be organized into campaigns. However, this category requires caution because LinkedIn restricts unauthorized automation. Companies should review current platform policies before deployment.
Expandi: Best for structured outreach campaigns
Expandi is another platform focused heavily on LinkedIn related outreach and lead generation.
Its capabilities include smart campaigns, multichannel sequences, message personalization, testing, reporting, team workspaces and CRM integrations.
For CMOs, its campaign logic is interesting because outreach can be treated more like a measurable marketing program. The same caution applies around LinkedIn's restrictions on unauthorized automation.
Which LinkedIn sales and marketing platform should a CMO choose?
For nearly every B2B company, LinkedIn's own Sales Navigator and Campaign Manager should be the starting point.
Clay is particularly powerful when companies want to build signal based account targeting and coordinate CRM, enrichment and advertising data. Apollo is a strong option when the priority is identifying prospects, obtaining contact intelligence and supporting sales engagement.
For organic visibility, Taplio is useful for executive thought leadership, while AuthoredUp provides a more analytics and content focused environment. Waalaxy and Expandi focus more heavily on scaled outreach and therefore require a careful policy and account risk review.
The larger point is that LinkedIn should not be treated as one isolated channel. A strong B2B system can connect executive content, paid campaigns, account research, buying signals, personalized outreach and CRM activity around the same target accounts.