Item: HubSpot Marketing Hub
Rating: 9
Author: Tom Lombardo

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We host our website and our blog on HubSpot. The website platform includes functions for creating Call To Actions and for tracking their performance, which we use extensively. We live by the reports that the application generates, especially the "buyer's path" that lets us know where people start and where they end up. The SEO and keyword reports guide our content creation as well. Analysis of those, coupled with some Google reports, we establish our content strategy.

Pros and Cons

HubSpot gives you insight into how users interact with your website so you can know where your content and presentation is strongest and weakest. This changes, which the tools make clear.
The SEO reporting tools are especially powerful and really help you figure out which keywords are performing.
The tools focus on creating quality inbound leads, which is exactly what our department is expected to produce, so we appreciate the "philosophical" alignment of the application.

The version we have does not allow us to incorporate structured data.
They have upgraded to a new version and we've had several challenges in making the migration work.
Data within HubSpot is not always consistent from report to report, which is really not that big of a deal because overall the reports give you the direction you need and measure responses to your efforts.

Return on Investment

In a year we've doubled the number of inbound organic leads we generate per month.
In that same year the quality of leads skyrocketed, as measured by our close ratio.
Updating and maintaining our website and blog couldn't be easier.

Alternatives Considered

Before HubSpot we approached the same work the same way, but we had only Google Analytics and AdWords for planning and we had only server logs and a few other clever tricks to figure out what was actually happening on our site. It was like looking at a statue covered by a sheet. HubSpot pulled the sheet off so we could see what was actually there.

Likelihood to Renew

Not only is the application great, but the monthly strategy calls are also really helpful, as are the HubSpot reference library, templates, and blog articles. New clients moving directly into their responsive, structured-data-friendly version will face a very enjoyable learning curve to harness it all for your purposes. HubSpot knows what we're doing and how we're doing it, and they're just as interested in our success as we are.

Likelihood to Recommend

If you understand content marketing, HubSpot is one of the best tools available. To me it's really not about asking questions of HubSpot; it's about asking questions of yourself. Is your website supposed to create leads? Do you know your markets? Do you know who within each of your markets will make the buying decision? If you have at least a fundamental grasp of those things, then HubSpot will enable you to test your understanding and refine your presentation to make it generate leads more effectively. But it doesn't do the work for you -- ultimately you have to produce the content that will rank and attract people. HubSpot is the paintbrush; your writing is the painting.

We Doubled our Leads and Increased Our Close Ratio with HubSpot

Software Version

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with HubSpot