Most teams evaluate marketing tools the same way.
Reporting. Integrations. UI. Price.
All valid. I do all of that too.
But I’ve added one more question to the list. And it’s becoming the one that matters most.
“Is it open to LLMs?”
If the answer is no, I’m already skeptical.
Here’s why.
The marketing teams winning right now aren’t bigger. They’re faster. They produce more, with less, because they’ve wired AI into how they actually work, not as a novelty, but as infrastructure.
And that only works if your stack lets it in.
A tool with no API, no AI integrations, no MCP support, no way to pipe data in or out, that tool is a wall. You’re stuck doing everything manually. Every workflow that could be automated stays manual. Every brief, every asset, every report, all you.
I’ve seen teams spend months trying to “make it work” with a locked-down stack. They end up building workarounds that break. Or they just give up and keep doing things the slow way.
The tools that matter in 2026 are the ones that play well with the rest of the world.
Open APIs. AI-ready. Built to connect, not to lock in.
When I evaluate a new tool now, I’m not just thinking about what it does today. I’m thinking about whether I can hand pieces of it to an AI agent tomorrow. Whether Claude Code can pull from it. Whether I can automate the boring 80% so my team focuses on the 20% that actually needs human judgment.
That’s the real test.
Stack decisions feel technical. They’re not. They’re strategic. A closed stack is a ceiling. An open one is leverage.
And this isn’t just about vendor tools. Your internal stack counts too. If the tools your team built or stitched together can’t talk to an AI agent, same problem.
If a vendor can’t answer the LLM question clearly, I take that as a signal.
And honestly, I’d rather spend more time on a tool that opens the door than save money on one that keeps it shut.
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