When it comes to marketing technology, many small business (SMB) marketers are emphasizing flexibility as they try pick the right basket of tools to help them thrive in a rapidly evolving business environment.

Increasingly, this focus on flexibility means that many SMB marketers are building their own “stack” of technology tools and services selected from a range of different vendors. By doing so SMB marketers can select the best tool for each marketing activity while also identifying the most cost-effective options.

According to new survey findings from Campaign Monitor and Market Cube, flexibility was the top criteria for marketers when selecting a marketing technology stack, mentioned by 63% of respondents. Other respondents liked that they could choose the best technology for each marketing function (mentioned by 45%), while an equal number also mentioned that they could tailor their solution to varying budgets (another 45%).

This emphasis on flexibility also means that many more SMBs are implementing a best-of-breed marketing technology stack rather than relying any one single marketing vendor. More than 80% of the SMB marketers in Campaign Monitor’s study said they used these best-of-breed marketing technology stacks in their own organizations.

Even among those SMB marketers who still rely on a single vendor marketing cloud, many list a variety of reasons why they don’t provide enough value. In Campaign Monitor’s study, more than half of SMB marketers said single vendor marketing cloud services often required too much work from consultants or developers. Another 42% indicated the services didn’t offer enough flexibility to pick and choose the tools they needed.