What is HubSpot?

HubSpot is a cloud-based CRM like SalesForce, or customer relationship management software. This is the core product. But they also have bolt-on Hubs that add additional functionality. These include sales, marketing, customer services, and content management system hubs. This gives your business a central place to share information and analytics across your contact records.

Suppose you are currently using Excel or a custom contact management system. In that case, HubSpot could significantly improve your efficiency and data quality to ensure everyone in marketing and sales are on the same page.


What is HubSpot Used For?

what is hubspot what is it used for

HubSpot is used for collecting, organizing, and updating customer data inside a customer relationship management system. This system is then leveraged for marketing automation, sales, customer service, and business operations.

HubSpot helps small businesses unify their sales and marketing efforts by providing CRM and marketing automation software. HubSpot is best used when following the inbound methodology instead of outbound marketing tactics.

What are the benefits of inbound marketing with HubSpot?

Inbound marketing differs from outbound marketing because it attracts and generates leads based on valuable information to help prospects consider and buy your product or service. You are making it easy to buy from you by providing answers to their questions regarding their problems and needs.

Get HubSpot Free

What kind of software is HubSpot?

HubSpot is software that contains a lot of functionality that is often cobbled together with other tools such as Mailchimp, LeadPages, Google Analytics, PPC advertising, and SalesForce. It allows a company to have a shared dashboard to nurture existing customers and generate leads for its sales team.

HubSpot features and benefits

Below are some of benefits of using HubSpot CRM for small businesses.

  1. Marketing, Sales, and Customer Service Team Alignment – Shared database of customers
  2. Marketing & sales automation
  3. Reporting and contact history
  4. Marketing education for new employees
  5. One login, security, fast servers, and easy for marketing teams without development resources
  6. Custom online sales quotes
  7. Business units to help segment data and visual assets


Don’t have time to read this article? .

What are the negatives of HubSpot?

  • If you have a large customer database and need to use marketing automation, the costs can be high for smaller companies. HubSpot’s target customer has 10-50 employees but also seems to navigate towards enterprise-level companies with 2,000+ employees. Since cost is relative, HubSpot could be viewed as expensive or worth the value, depending on your size. I advise plotting your technical requirements and seeing if you can use HubSpot for some things and other tools for other needed items.
  • If you have strict legal requirements like blocking certain countries, the HubSpot CMS will not work because they do not give you this level of control of the server.
  • Requires specialized knowledge and skills to onboard a company with the required forms, workflows, lists, and templates required for a successful program.

 

The HubSpot platform supports the entire customer journey

The central point of any business is its contact database or CRM. HubSpot offers a free CRM or you can easily integrate with other CRM’s like Salesforce or Zoho office. The CRM and Hubs (Marketing, Sales, Service) can be used independently or grouped together to fit your particular business needs.
hubspot inbound marketing

Get HubSpot Free


Don’t have time to read this article? .

What is HubSpot CRM?

HubSpot CRM is everything you need to organize, track, and build better relationships with leads and customers. But what is the HubSpot CRM used for? Does your company have an excel spreadsheet or manually updated “list of customers”? Do you share spreadsheets back and forth internally in your company and manually update them? Do multiple employees email customers and prospects without knowing who “owns” a relationship? A CRM is a powerful tool to help bring insight into these areas.

HubSpot CRM helps marketing know how to grow awareness and lead generation best. It helps sales understand what stage in the process each contact is at and who owns the relationship. It helps customer service know when and how to help customers with their needs. It helps executive leadership know how all parts of the organization work towards one common goal. Which is ultimately improving the customer experience throughout each arm of your business.

Get Free CRM Platform

HubSpot CRM Features

  • Contact Insights
  • Deals
  • Tasks – follow-up reminders
  • Quotes and deals
  • Sales process tracking

HubSpot CRM Benefits

  • Free software allows you to quickly benefit from collecting valuable data on who your customers are and how to serve them best.
  • Meeting scheduler and live chat make connecting with your sales prospects easier.
  • Report and improve tactics that are actually working

 


Don’t have time to read this article? .

What is HubSpot CMS Hub?

HubSpot CMS is a content management system you need to easily create and personalize website pages for every visitor — optimized for conversion across every device. Rely on developers as much or as little as you’d like.

Get Free Website Builder

 

HubSpot CMS Hub Features

  • Drag and drop page editor
  • Image and file manager
  • Fully integrated CRM
  • Contact attribution analytics – know where leads come from
  • Multiple language support
  • Build website pages, landing pages, and blog posts
  • Managed website hosting and security

HubSpot CMS Hub Benefits

  • Marketing and Sales can have one login and tool for their website
  • Easy to use website builder without having to manage website hosting and plugins
  • Can make content translation and smart content to leverage your CRM data

 

 


Don’t have time to read this article? .

What is HubSpot Marketing Hub?

HubSpot marketing automation software to help you grow traffic, convert more visitors, and run complete inbound marketing campaigns at scale.

Get Free Inbound Marketing Software

 

HubSpot Marketing Hub Features

  • Lead Generation
  • Marketing Automation
  • Analytics

HubSpot Marketing Hub Benefits

  • Attract more attention with SEO, social media, and paid advertising
  • Nurture leads with email workflows
  • Report and improve tactics that are working

 

The video below does a great job of showing how to use HubSpot for marketing.


Don’t have time to read this article? .

 

What is HubSpot Sales Hub?

Time-saving sales software that helps you get deeper insights into prospects automate the tasks you hate, and close more deals faster.
Get Free Sales Software

 

HubSpot Sales Hub Features

  • Email Tracking
  • Meeting Scheduling
  • Email Automation

HubSpot Sales Hub Benefits

  • Email templates save time sending frequently used messages
  • Share documents, contacts, and deals across an entire sales team
  • Report and improve tactics that are actually working

 

The video below does a great job of showing how to use HubSpot for sales.


Don’t have time to read this article? .

 

What is HubSpot Customer Service Hub?

Customer service software helps you connect with customers, exceed expectations, and turn them into promoters that grow your business.

Get Free Customer Service Software

 

HubSpot Service Hub Features

  • Tickets
  • Customer Feedback
  • Knowledge Base


Don’t have time to read this article? .

What is HubSpot Operations Hub?

Operations software that lets you easily sync, clean, and curate customer data, and automate business processes. Your entire team will stay aligned with a clean, connected source of truth for customer data, and your business will be empowered to adapt to the ever-changing needs of your customers.

Get Started Free

 

HubSpot CMS Hub Features

  • Data Sync
  • Historical Sync
  • Custom Field Mappings
  • Programmable Automation
  • Data Quality Automation
  • Expanded Operational Capacity


Don’t have time to read this article? .

What is HubSpot and How Does It Work?

Overview video


Don’t have time to read this article? .

Frequently asked questions


What does HubSpot actually do?

HubSpot is a cloud CRM like SalesForce. But it also has bolt on software called Hubs that help to add new functionality for marketing, sales, and operations. Some of these features include website CMS, custom quote templates, marketing automation, and service ticket system and knowledgebase.

Is HubSpot the same as Salesforce?

The main difference is Salesforce is enterprise level. More expensive and needs a lot of technical support for implementation. HubSpot positions itself for Mid market and SMB. So it is less expensive and easier to setup and use. HubSpot vs. Salesforce

Is HubSpot just a CRM?

If you just use the free version, yes it is mainly a CRM. But if you purchase a paid plan it becomes an essential business tool that can span across different areas of your company.

What are some benefits of inbound marketing hubspot?

Less hunting and more serving and answering questions. Inbound marketing is all about making your website an educational resource for your ideal buyer. You provide so much educational content that the buyer builds trust and is educated before they contact you. If you do this at scale, you will have a steady source of leads coming to you instead of you having to do cold outreach. Inbound marketing is solely dependent on creating content to attract buyers who have questions about the problems you solve.

What are some companies that use HubSpot?

Some notable companies that use HubSpot include: Airstream, Zapier, Crunch Fitness, Casio, Trello, and more. HubSpot customer case studies


Get HubSpot Free


Written by: Jake Lett
I share digital marketing tips and HubSpot tutorials to help marketers and business owners grow their business.

Related posts
Have a question?
Email me your quesiton