In the business world, things have changed so much in the last decade. You can no longer own a business without investing in social media and internet marketing. It is the engine that drives business in this 21st century. And to own and operate any business, you must invest a great deal of energy into marketing. Without customers, you have no business.
For the small business owner and entrepreneur, there are two main marketing platforms that can provide an organized and stable platform and serve as a marketing tool for you and your business – Hubspot and Marketo. Let’s take a closer look at each platform and see if we can help you make an informed decision based on your needs.
About Hubspot
Founded by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah in 2006, Hubspot offers tools that help startups reach new customers and grow their business through social media marketing, search engine optimization, web analytics and content management.
HUBSPOT PROS:
Free trial
Exceptional in this regard, Hubspot offers a free, 7-day trial to help reduce your upfront risk.
Educational support
With the Hubspot blog, the company guides and educates you on how to make the most of online marketing and grow your business. This feature is especially good for beginners who have little or no experience.
Ease of use
The Hubspot platform is very convenient because you have all the tools you need in one place. The user interface is also intuitive and easy to use – no coding skills necessary.
Website building software
Websites integrated with Hubspot afford you the opportunity to track your visitors as they journey through your site to help make the most of the data collected.
Google has emphasized the importance of the length of time that people spend on your website and the amount of pages those users view. These metrics can indicate that the content on the site was informative, relevant and helpful to the user.
Training
At the Hubspot academy, you and your team members can acquire the skills necessary to use the platform better and faster.
Community support
Hubspot prides itself as a community-based platform because it provides a vibrant, global online forum for users, marketers and sales pros to connect.
Hubspot Cons:
Cost
All the tools you need are conveniently found on the Hubspot platform but you can get the same tools elsewhere cheaper or even free.
Hubspot also operates on a sliding scale – as your requirements and contacts increase, so do the charges.
No monthly contract offer
Many startups need to be prudent with their money. Many businesses fail due to a lack of capital.
Success as a startup often times comes with the harsh reality that every penny spent needs to be effective. To be effective, you have to manage your expenses. Hubspot makes that a bit difficult by not offering a monthly plan meaning if Hubspot doesn’t pan out, you end up losing your investment.
No free tech support
Although it is easy to use, if you require technical support or guidance during the process, you need to pay for it.
Now, let’s take a look at another option, Marketo.
About Marketo
The Marketo platform is a marketing automation system that concentrates on account-based marketing, which includes mobile, email, social, web management, digital ads, and analytics. With Marketo, solutions are customized to suit different industries – technology, healthcare, financial services, media, manufacturing, and higher education.
It offers small businesses the opportunity to improve sales and connect with potential customers through a Content Management System. It is not surprising that John Rampton listed it as one of the”7 Marketing Automation Tools That Could Change Your Small Business”
MARKETO PROS:
The Marketo Marketing Nation
This is the strongest and most supportive online community on the Marketo platform and is there to help you on your journey to success.
Robust salesforce integration
The Marketo Salesforce integration is very robust. Every few minutes, it syncs leads, contacts, users, accounts and provides updates. If you use Salesforce, Marketo makes it easy for you to use both seamlessly.
Easy tracking
It’s important that you are able to know and track every action that contributes to your income. You have to know what you spend and you have to know what is working and what is not. The Marketo platform offers several features that provide great analytics for your marketing.
Price tier choices
On the Marketo platform, you can choose the price tier that best suits your business. This can be a great way to ramp up your marketing as your business grows.
MARKETO CONS:
Not for beginners
To use the Marketo platform to its maximum potential, it takes some time and experience. It is better suited for advanced marketers who can make use of the analytics.
Inconvenient
On Marketo, you don’t get the whole package in one place. You have to get outside tools to make the most of it.
Slow functionality
There are occasional outages on the Marketo platform that makes it challenging to use periodically.
Hubspot or Marketo? The Bottom Line.
Both platforms are good and offer excellent tools for the creation of sales leads, which is what you need to grow your business. Are they both good for you at this stage of your business? No, probably not.
Although Marketo is cheaper, you have to be tech savvy and you have a large team in order to get the best out of this Marketing Automation tool.
Hubspot is more expensive, but way easier to use. In addition, it has all you need for the Marketing process in one place. Thus, it saves you the stress of looking elsewhere to find the tools you need.
Ultimately, you must decide what is the best SaaS for your marketing automation. Both tools can be great if you know how to use them or learn how to get the most from them.
Whichever option works the best for you, we recommend pairing your marketing automation software with a solid PR or marketing campaign from Massive Alliance. A professionally designed campaign can support your business and expand your marketing reach.
