Marketing and sales technology have exploded over the last decade, and investments are only increasing. According to one study, 55% of the companies surveyed planned to spend over $10,000 on marketing tech in 2018.
The reasons for this increase are clear. 80% of companies that use marketing automation see an increase in leads while 77% see an increase in conversions. Marketing and sales technologies, facilitating automation, can help companies save valuable time and engage their customers more effectively.
But choosing your technology is a process in and of itself. If you make the wrong investment, it could cost you down the road. And implementing all your solutions so they work together seamlessly can be a challenge.
Essentially, you must choose between a single-vendor suite or multiple integrated solutions. 48% of marketing experts prefer a multiple solutions, but 21% opt for a single-vendor suite.
That said, 42% of marketing experts say the technology they use is “piecemeal,” according to Forbes. They have technology in place, but the components don’t communicate with each other.
Three of the most popular marketing and sales technologies on the market today are HubSpot, Salesforce, and Outreach.io. While some companies choose only one of these solutions to implement, many others integrate them to build a marketing technology stack.
Here’s what you need to know about all three.
HubSpot
HubSpot is a CRM solution that provides tools for the entire customer journey. Many companies use it as a single-vendor suite, taking advantage of all of it’s various apps to facilitate a seamless customer experience from end to end.
The platform has three components, all of which draw information and data from the CRM at the center of the platform:
- Marketing Hub
- Sales Hub
- Service Hub
The Marketing Hub contains all the tools you need to do inbound marketing, such as:
- Email automation and personalization tools
- Social media automation tools
- A website CMS
- SEO tools
- A landing page builder
- A blogging platform
- Marketing analytics and reporting tools
HubSpot releases updates to its platform often and has a huge community of users providing feedback. One of its most recent updates added an SEO and content management tool:
(Source: HubSpot)
Meanwhile, the Sales Hub provides your salespeople with everything they need to close deals:
- Sales email tools
- Sales automation
- Live chat
- Meeting links
- Predictive lead scoring
- Call logging
- Sales reporting
The integration of the Marketing and Sales Hubs makes hand-off between the two departments frictionless.
(Source: HubSpot)
You can even create unique workflows that make the process effortless. If you prefer, the HubSpot Sales Hub also integrates with Salesforce, one of the highest-rated CRMs on the market.
Once a prospect becomes a customer, they can be engaged through the HubSpot Service Hub. This platform provides your business with tools to help you delight customers, retain them, and open new business opportunities.
Its features include:
- Customer conversations
- Customer feedback
- Support tickets
- Product and service knowledge base
- Customer service automation
- Live chat
- Conversational chatbots
- Service reporting
The Service Hub is the newest addition to the HubSpot platform.
(Source: HubSpot)
For some businesses, the combination of these three components is all they need to execute a great customer experience strategy. But solutions like Salesforce and Outreach.io can provide other capabilities.
Salesforce
Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM platform. It’s designed to increase productivity through automation and help your business score more sales wins.
(Source: Salesforce)
Originally billed as a sales solution, Salesforce now includes tools to help you streamline every aspect of your business, including:
- Marketing
- Sales
- Service
- eCommerce
- Customer engagement
- Integrated apps
- Analytics
- Team enablement
- Team collaboration
Salesforce now has AI integrated into its platform and operates as a mobile-first CRM. It works well for remote teams and teams on the move.
(Source: Salesforce)
Although it works as a stand-alone solution, Salesforce also integrates with HubSpot. Some businesses prefer to mix and match the two platforms’ features based on what they like about each. For example, you could build your website using HubSpot’s content management system and use HubSpot’s marketing features, but then rely on Salesforce to manage deals and sales.
It all depends on what works best for your business.
Outreach.io
Although Outreach is like Salesforce in that it includes sales automation, it is technically a sales engagement platform, not a CRM. The driving force behind Outreach is its ability to integrate with the rest of your sales tech stack and put your solutions all in one place.
For example, Outreach integrates with Salesforce. It also integrates with other apps that provide you with the following:
- CRM
- Sales intelligence
- Sales asset management
- Sales productivity
- Video
- Data privacy
- Chat
- Direct mail
Outreach can help you fine-tune your sales process with additional capabilities. Its features include:
- Sales sequences
- Sales email & tracking
- Sales rep workflows
- Sales intelligence
- Email & content templates
- Analytics & reporting
- Sales coaching tools
Outreach also has a robust set of APIs, allowing third parties to build their own integrations. The solution is highly scalable—ideal for growing businesses.
Build Your Sales and Marketing Technology Stack
Depending on your size and your need, your business could implement one solution or hundreds. Some small businesses do fine with a suite from a single solution provider, then add additional integrations as they grow. Others invest in an entire sequence of tools to perfect and optimize the customer experience from beginning to end.
Regardless of how you intend to scale, building your sales and marketing technology stack should take serious consideration. After all, it’s a big investment. Your software will be a key driver of your success down the road.
To learn more about these solutions and others, contact Aptitude 8. We’ll help you navigate the world of marketing and sales technology so you can choose the best solutions for your unique business.
