Ten years ago, there were roughly 300 CRM providers in the US. Today that number approaches 2,000. Logic tells us this increase correlates with a drastic rise in demand as more companies lean into the CRM as the backbone of their marketing efforts. But the challenge remains –finding the best CRM for your business, based on size, market and spend.
Companies who go with a low investment CRM risk outgrowing its capabilities. On the other hand, companies who shoot too high pay a premium price for a solution they never fully utilize.
From our perspective, the ideal CRM is one that doesn’t intimidate in the beginning and doesn’t disappoint as you scale. This balance of breadth and depth is why we like HubSpot.
HubSpot offers a one-stop shop for a business’s customer relationship, sales and marketing needs. Users have access to a wide selection of tools to assist with various operations from customer engagement and communication to analytics and reporting. Here are some of our favorite features:
Personalized Communication – According to research by McKinsey, 71% of customers expect some form of personalization when interacting with a company. One of the most significant features of HubSpot is the ability to customize messaging based on a customer’s unique journey. By tracking customer interactions, HubSpot makes it easier to understand a customer’s needs and make informed decisions about what they want.
Marketing Hub – Within HubSpot’s Marketing Hub, companies have access to everything a marketer needs to meet customers where they are. From here, you can run email mail marketing campaigns, manage your social media channels, set up landing pages and even ad campaigns, all while seamlessly integrating with your CRM data. As an agency, we like that HubSpot allows for third-party access. Clients can safely connect us to their account to provide us with a detailed look at their marketing efforts. This enables us to better inform our strategy and optimize our efforts, which, in turn, strengthens our client relationships.
Analytics & Reporting – After the emails are sent, and the social content posted, it’s time to measure performance. HubSpot’s robust analytics and reporting features provide an in-depth look at your data with easy-to-use dashboards, so you can get clear view of what’s working and what’s not. Hone in the metrics that matter most to your business objectives to create informed strategies for moving forward.
Aside from the rich functionality behind HubSpot’s platform, these savvy marketers also tap into their own market intelligence. In its State of Inbound Marketing Trends, HubSpot shares valuable insights from B2B and B2C users that point the way towards rising influencer marketing engagement, short-form video, content audits, and more. They reinforce that social media remains the #1 marketing channel, and that Facebook (believe it or not) still provides the best ROI for social media ads.
So, whether you have an existing CRM or are in search of your first, talk to us about HubSpot. We will evaluate your current CRM use and let you know if we think it should be integrated into existing tech like Salesforce or set up as your primary CRM going forward. And if it’s not a fit, we will let you know that too.
