What is HubSpot?

As a product, HubSpot can seem a little confusing. While HubSpot is both a company and product (in the same way you refer to Q-tips as Q-tips versus “cotton swabs").

HubSpot is made up of six different products, each of which is referred to as HubSpot “Hubs”:

• HubSpot Marketing Hub
• HubSpot Sales Hub
• HubSpot Service Hub
• HubSpot Content Hub
• HubSpot Operations Hub
• HubSpot Commerce Hub

All of these are helpful for streamlining your business's procedures into one integrated space. That's why using HubSpot and HubSpot CRM is vital to your company’s success. But what is the difference between HubSpot and HubSpot CRM?

What is HubSpot?

HubSpot, at its core, is a powerful Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

It's this CRM foundation that allows HubSpot to integrate and streamline a business's digital marketing and sales activities into a single, unified space. Much like the original description of HubSpot being an 'all-inclusive' software program, this CRM foundation serves a similar purpose. It's the bedrock upon which businesses can build and customize their use of HubSpot's various 'Hubs', each catering to unique aspects of their needs.

The CRM isn't just a part of HubSpot—it's the heart of it. All of HubSpot's tools and services, from marketing to sales to service, are built on this foundation. This ensures that no matter which 'Hubs' a business chooses to utilize, they'll work together in perfect harmony, driven by the centralized customer data and insights provided by the CRM. This integrated approach, rooted in the power of the CRM, is what makes HubSpot such a dynamic and versatile tool for managing and growing your business.

Generally speaking, many companies combine multiple HubSpot based on their business needs (which subsequently can impact pricing options).

Each HubSpot “hub” has a specific focus area: sales, marketing, customer service, or operations.

Who Uses HubSpot?

If you’re running a business and have a marketing or sales team, you should be using HubSpot. HubSpot can help you do anything and everything – that’s the appeal.

Examples of common HubSpot users include:

• Marketing analysts who want to optimize their automation campaigns.
• Customer service specialists who are looking to answer customer questions and complaints.
• Account executives who want to chase down hot and warm leads.

A Note On Contacts

Contacts are a key part of any CRM, including contacts in HubSpot. They are the main focus because they represent the people who interact with your business, such as potential customers or existing clients.

We highlight contacts because they're a simple way to understand how data is managed in CRMs. In HubSpot, contacts are the center of all customer interactions, helping you keep track of everyone who engages with your business in any way.

For more information and to dig into this, check out our blog post on what a contact is in HubSpot.

Marketing Hub

Marketing Hub is the perfect platform for growing traffic and leads and includes powerful features like marketing automation and email marketing.

You can examine how your Google, Facebook, and other paid ads perform. You and your team can also view, analyze, and filter your campaign data to see how well it's functioning.

You can follow your social media activity within the platform by linking all your accounts. This lets you analyze your data and track your customers' engagement. What's more, you can engage with customers directly from HubSpot, and there is a HubSpot mobile app.

Writing an email is easy and quick with HubSpot's templates. You and your team can track emails and organize them in one place.

Send an email now or schedule it for another time. You will keep your customer service at its best.

Every company needs a website, and HubSpot helps you keep yours organized. Marketing Hub assists you with building your landing pages, as they remain central to inbound marketing. Use a template or customize your own, and manage various campaigns all at once, all in the same place.

Moreover, using Marketing Hub enables you to improve your rankings. Optimize for search engines within your website(s) and blogs and efficiently explore the data to attract visitors to your site. It's as easy as pie.

Service Hub

Service Hub has many robust marketing tools to aid you and your team in mastering customer service (the focus of Service Hub). Users can track customer tickets and stay organized and efficient to enhance customer service.

The Live Chat service allows you and your customers to connect quickly. Additionally, conversational chatbots offer support, so your customers can get answers even when you're sleeping.

These features can help you keep customers happy, and happy customers are the most loyal customers!

Creating shared inboxes helps bring every employee on the same page. Scheduling emails gives you peace of mind knowing the task is complete. Furthermore, creating "Snippets" means that your frequently-used answers convert to ready-to-use text.

It saves time because no one has to reinvent the wheel.

The meeting planner sets up your meetings and sends contacts a link to your page, which contains a calendar that shows your availability. Additionally, you can track your best-performing emails and turn them into a template for your whole team to utilize.

Another powerful feature is Service Hub's Knowledge Base, which allows you to build an all-inclusive information resource centered around your products or services. Acting as a self-help hub for your customers, the Knowledge Base ensures they find answers to their questions without delay. It's a win-win situation - your customer service team sees fewer routine queries, and your customers enjoy swift, self-serve solutions.

Furthermore, the Knowledge Base is completely adjustable to your liking. This means you can mold its content and layout to align perfectly with your brand and customer requirements. This flexibility allows you to create a resource that not only meets your customers' needs but also represents your brand identity effectively."

Operations Hub

Operations Hub is what you need if you want your business operations automated. The platform provides everything you need to connect your customer data to your apps.

You may already use many business-related apps, but having them all on one platform makes life easier. Additionally, this tool makes syncing data (past and future) easy and works in real-time.

Once again, HubSpot saves you time.

The CRM tool allows you to personalize customer service. It syncs your data, automates it, and helps you with retention. It fixes problems for which you may never have thought to look.

The Operations Hub boosts your operating capacity while allowing you to customize your data. It garners data reports that can give you a look at each aspect of your operations. Examine reports individually or as a team.

Content Hub

HubSpot's Content Hub makes creating and managing your website feel effortless. Like all HubSpot products do, it seamlessly integrates with the other HubSpot's robust marketing tools to make running your business less stressful.

Furthermore, it is easy to use and enables your website to operate quickly and securely while simultaneously expanding your business.

HubSpot provides unique themes and editing capabilities for building your dream website. If you prefer to design your website from scratch, you can hand-code each element (or use HubSpot's drag-and-drop website building features). If not, use one of the many themes and templates available through Content Hub.

This product is unique when it comes to integrating data and analytics. It allows you access to more detailed and accurate information about your marketing and sales performance. Combine that with its speed and security, and you have a website that your customers will adore.

Sales Hub

Using the Sales Hub enterprise is the wisest way to guarantee your company grows. While completing the daily duties of running a business, you and your team can also

tailor the process of your sales and marketing service. You can suit your customers' needs with efficiency and focus.

The HubSpot Sales Hub also makes setting up calls or emails to potential customers painless. Automating emails without sacrificing personalization is achievable and manageable. Missing a lead or letting a valuable customer slip through the cracks is impossible.

Your team will have everything they need to concentrate on the data-driven tasks that will support your company's growth. They can stay relevant in your business industry while finding leads and closing deals.

What is a CRM and Why it is Important

CRM stands for customer relationship management. For digital marketers, CRM often is a significant pain point. However, having outstanding CRM software at your disposal is like having a superhuman genius working alongside you.

USA News and World Report writer Brandi Johnson explains it best. "At its core, a CRM is simply a database that helps a company keep track of all of the details about prospects and customers."

CRM systems offer easy-to-use interfaces and workflows. Since customers stand as one of the most vital business assets, including a CRM in your company strategy is an essential move.

You and your team can update and customize all of the information about your clients with a few clicks. Each piece of customer information lives under one platform. Therefore, keeping track of your clients' needs is easier than ever before.

"Having solid relationships with your clients is important if you want to build a stable and successful business," according to Finances Online. Building better customer relationships will never go out of style. Going back to basics with customer relations is the way to grow your business.

Customers remain loyal to the businesses with the best customer service. And, Business News Daily reports, "CRM is one of the world's fastest-growing industries, expected to grow at a rate of 14% between 2021 and 2027?"

Customer satisfaction means that the traffic you want to see on your site will flourish, and your business will prosper as well.

What Does HubSpot CRM Do and Why You Should Use It

HubSpot CRM integrates with many other systems, and its accessibility and ease of use remain the best. Melissa Randall from Lean Labs explains this.

To break it down: HubSpot is now known as HubSpot CRM. The company began with the name HubSpot, offering customer relationship management, and currently, it consists of the many platforms described above.

Today, HubSpot CRM is a leading customer relationship management company. HubSpot's free CRM tool pairs with all of HubSpot's platforms and is one of the easiest CRMs to use.

Every customer-facing team can use it, from marketing to sales and customer service. Upon signing up with HubSpot CRM, your account will come with a set of specific CRM objects, such as contacts, companies, and deals.

However, you can create custom objects to represent and organize your CRM data according to your company's needs.

Using HubSpot's free customer management tool gives your team a running start in growing your business. And upgrading to the professional and enterprise bundles (depending on your company's size and needs) makes company growth a reality.

The process of honing customer relationships can be pretty complex. Using HubSpot CRM will assist you in handling your client relationships more effectively and efficiently.

When you use HubSpot CRM, you remain relevant and successful.

What Type of Software is HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM is a cloud-based software program. Not only does using a cloud-based application save you money, but it also saves you time. It can make your customers' experience more personable.

customer's information in the sidebar of your screen, which allows you to connect relevantly to the buyer.

It doesn't create duplicate contacts once a contact's information is in the system either.

Moreover, you can filter your contacts in many ways and customize your view. You can use the "@" sign if you want to mention a coworker. Use this function to work collaboratively as well.

Why is HubSpot CRM so Important?

Filter companies by pages, and when making a deal with a company or client, give the page a name and save it. This way, you can see where your sales are going.

HubSpot CRM keeps you at the top of the game and, frankly, HubSpot works. It manages a plethora of your data so that you can focus on what is most important: the customer experience.

Every business values customer service, but now it's more important than ever. The most efficient way to manage your customers is with a customer relationship management system. Having a single integrated system for your business's procedures is essential to your organization's success.

Your business needs HubSpot CRM and its platforms to facilitate growth and support your team. Your willingness to produce change and give your team the best platforms available, helping them be as successful as possible, will determine how well your business thrives.

How Much Does HubSpot Cost

Good news: HubSpot CRM includes 23 free features so you can get your feet wet and decide if this is the tool for you. You can test out tools like ad management, deal pipeline, app marketplace integrations, ticketing, email marketing, and more.

These free features are limited though. You’ll only be able to access basic analytics.

If you’re ready to commit, HubSpot paid plans are priced according to what hub you decide to use. This plan offers monthly or upfront pricing models. Prices vary depending on how many Hubs/suites (like the CMS Hub, Sales Hub, etc.) you need, the type of Hub, and if you’re using the tool at either the Starter, Professional, or Enterprise scale.

• Starter: Includes 1 seat and 1,000 contacts.
• Professional: Number of seats included depends on your Hub. Includes 2,000 marketing contacts. You can add additional seats for $50/month.
• Enterprise: Number of seats included depends on your chosen Hub. Includes 10,000 marketing contacts. You can add additional seats for $75/month.

Here’s a breakdown of what the prices would look like for each Hub per month:

The Commerce Hub operates on a pay as you go mode, where you're only charged for any fees or transactions made via the Commerce Hub features. 

You can always add more users or contacts for additional costs. 

A Note On HubSpot Pricing

Many people are surprised to find out that you can actually negotiate on your HubSpot contact. At Vaulted, because we're an official HubSpot Partner, we have some sway on pricing and may be able to save you a significant amount on your HubSpot purchase.

Is HubSpot Worth It?

We’re a little biased, but in our opinion as long-term HubSpot users, yes, HubSpot is 100% worth it.

HubSpot has all of the tools you need to make a sale in one place. It makes it easy for your marketing and sales team to stay informed. You can do anything from attract leads by building content, engage leads with regular emails, or make the sale. And since you can do that all in one tool, it’s easy to track and attribute credit to the correct channels.

It also helps that HubSpot differs from its competitor because of its free offerings. You can test out its Hubs (to a limited capacity) to triple check that this is the best choice for your team.

HubSpot can be on the pricier side for SMB, but if you’re looking to invest in your team and marketing and sales funnel, you can’t go wrong.

Get Started with HubSpot

This is where Vaulted, a HubSpot Partner, comes into play.

Vaulted guides businesses through the intricacies of HubSpot's offerings, helping them choose the most appropriate products for their unique needs. By leveraging the power of HubSpot and its CRM, businesses can optimize their marketing strategies, improve lead scoring and segmentation, and ultimately drive more revenue.