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Managing Your HubSpot Integration Budget? Here Are 5 Smart Ways to Spend Your Money Effectively

HubSpot is a popular sales and marketing platform that redefines content marketing strategies for businesses to get more leads. In 2021, significant growth and increased revenue were observed within the company. Their software had 113,925 paying subscribers in March 2021, an increase from 103,994 subscriptions in 2020. Lastly, HubSpot had generated 61.8% of its revenue from US-based customers with total revenue of $173.87 million (Backlinko). 

Companies find the HubSpot platform and HubSpot integration helpful towards implementing and managing their inbound marketing approach. It gives them adequate tools for nurturing a prospect, especially during a long sales cycle. HubSpot also integrates with a number of applications which makes it a versatile tool for salespeople. As someone who organizes the integration in the HubSpot platform, maximizing the HubSpot integration budget to its full potential is critical to the business. 

But before you proceed with how you can get the most value out of your subscription, you need to take a look at these HubSpot practices that may be wasting your HubSpot integration budget. 

If you’re doing these, you’d be wasting your HubSpot Integration Budget

1. Relying too much on HubSpot

Technology alleviates human efforts but does not replace them. The same goes with HubSpot technology; you should not be hoping the platform will solve everything once you subscribe to them. If you have a poor inbound marketing strategy to begin with, you should not expect HubSpot to deliver the best results you were hoping for. 

Instead, you must first look into revamping your marketing strategy and identify what aspects of the HubSpot platform can work best for you. HubSpot is a tool to use correctly. Do not expect a hammer to pin down your screws in a toolshed because that is not what hammers are made for. 

  1. Not having an in-house HubSpot specialist

Everyone has their way of using specific tools, whether a simple photocopy machine or a coffee maker. You can never get wrong in using it. HubSpot is just like a coffee maker if everyone is using them according to their preference it might malfunction one way or another. But who would be accountable?

Having an in-house HubSpot specialist in your team would benefit a company for various reasons. They can set regular use and protocols for every HubSpot functionality. They can train new and current employees about the updates and changes that may affect their workflows. They can immediately pull up support without waiting on an external specialist or a HubSpot agency. 

  1. Not consulting with a HubSpot agency

It does not mean that if you have an in-house HubSpot specialist in your team, you should not consult for backup support from a HubSpot agency anymore. These agencies partnered with HubSpot are usually composed of marketing agencies that have been using the platform for quite a long time. They specialize in using HubSpot, focusing solely on the inbound marketing methodology. 

These agencies can be a great help if you run into trouble testing, implementing, and executing the tool after buy-in. They can also help you customize your marketing plan that suits well with your target audience. This way, you can get the most out of the support provided by HubSpot and get all your money’s worth in investing in them. 

  1. Still using the traditional approach with modern methodology

No matter how new and expensive your tool is, if your business is stuck with its traditional approach, then you would not expect any notable results anytime soon. It only means that you should innovate your approach along with your tools. One good example is the intelligent use of cross-platform integration in HubSpot. 

Make use of free online HubSpot academy training and certification. Educate yourself with new ideas that can top your competitors. Read and research what works with other industries that may work for your business. Get inspiration from countless successful startup stories and relevant data from big companies. 

What is the ideal HubSpot Integration budget?

Before you spend your budget on HubSpot integrations, you need to know the ideal budget for the platform, depending on your business size. In the United States, the Small Business Administration (SBA) classifies businesses into three categories: small, medium, and large companies. Each size class has its parameters and ideal revenue. 

For small businesses with annual revenue of less than $38.5 million and no more than 1,500 employees, the needed integration should establish communication channels. They should include email marketing channels, phone integration, and a customer support platform. The email and phone integration will improve communication, while the customer support integration will retain and extract more value from the existing customers. In estimate, the HubSpot integration cost annually for small businesses would be:

Recurring cost: HubSpot subscription $ 162.00 for Basic plan

Additional cost: Email Marketing $     0.00 included in HubSpot Basic plan

Customer Support $   30.00 escalation and ticketing system

Phone Integration $ 250.00 unlimited inbound calling

Total estimated cost: $ 442.00 annual integration budget for small businesses

For medium-sized businesses with annual revenues between $38.5 million and $1 billion having 1,500 to 2,000 employees, the needed integration should focus on automating the business process, organizing data, and streamlining the mode of communication. These are the additional required integrations: proposal integration to scale up customized proposal; task management application to manage employee, project, and designated tasks; and sales and marketing automation for a steady stream of leads. In estimate, the HubSpot integration cost annually for Medium businesses would be:

Recurring cost: HubSpot subscription $ 10,700.00 for Professional plan

Additional cost: Email marketing $      350.00 for email automation and campaign

Customer support $   2,300.00 for escalation and ticketing system

Phone integration $      800.00 for inbound/outbound phone system

Proposal integration $      400.00 for cloud file storage 

Task management $      300.00 for project and task automation

Sales and marketing $          0.00 included in the HubSpot Pro plan

Total estimated cost: $ 14,850.00 annual integration budget for Medium-sized businesses

The large-sized business has over $1 billion in revenue and has more than 2,000 workers. The needed integration would be email marketing integration with automation; comprehensive customer support ticketing system; contact center solution with sales automation and dialer; file management system integration; business process management automation; and data and analytics. 

Recurring cost: HubSpot subscription $ 40.000.00 for Enterprise plan

Additional cost: Email marketing $   1,500.00

Customer support $   5,000.00

Contact center solution $   7.500.00

File management system $   1,200.00

Task management $   2.500.00

Data and analytics $   3,500.00

Total estimated cost: $ 61.200.00 annual integration budget for Large-sized businesses

Discretion: The above are estimated average price plans based on the HubSpot Marketplace and relevant integrated applications available in its ecosystem. Price and plan may vary from time to time. 

5 Smart Ways to Spend Your Money on HubSpot Integration

To optimize the return of investment in HubSpot, you have to take advantage of the trial period, choose essential integrations, including omnichannel communication, add a lead nurturing application, and gradually integrate data management tools. 

  1. Utilize integration trial period before buy-in

Many HubSpot subscribers would blunder on not talking to a sales representative before buying and not getting the best trial offer of the integration. Although most integration plans are listed in the marketplace and come with a 7-14 day trial period, they only come with a basic free plan. That is why it is best to sign-up for a trial first and integrate to test the waters. 

Most subscriptions can be canceled within the trial period or even within the first month of service, but that is not money spent well. The trial period is the best time for you and your team to evaluate the integration before fully subscribing. You must test its functionality and ease of integration via API if applicable. 

  1. Choose only the integration plan that you need

One of the problems many businesses face is spending too much on assets that are not generating revenue effectively. You must identify specific business operations that require integration. Do not opt into a lead nurturing application knowing that you do not have a specialist or a team to handle it. 

For example, small businesses are usually startups with a small network of people and audiences to reach out to market. It is too early for them to use phone and email as sales channels. A great alternative would include HubSpot texting to start their SMS/MMS marketing. Start with something simple to determine the adequate integration and its corresponding cost to avoid unnecessary expenses. 

  1. Boost omnichannel communication integrations

Enterprise businesses are already implementing multi-channel communication. Omnichannel communication is doable through integration. Since there is no one application fits all communication, integration solely exists to ease that burden. Identify your most robust communication medium and check whether it integrates into HubSpot CRM. 

HubSpot CRM is an excellent tool in giving a clear context of communication from a customer and sales perspective. It gives you the timeline and touchpoints of a customer, from where they initially signed up to where they are currently at or what communication channel they are using. An excellent omnichannel integration starter package consists of phone, email, and HubSpot SMS integration

  1. Invest in lead nurturing integrations

Not all companies indeed utilize lead nurturing campaigns. But for those who started early with their lead nurturing campaigns can reap the benefits sooner than expected. HubSpot platform specializes in delivering content marketing strategies for lead nurturing. You can begin lead nurturing through task automation dedicated to guiding prospects. 

You can maintain a steady stream of leads with a good lead nurturing and lead generation campaign. HubSpot integrations help trigger options that automatically choose what happens to the lead for optimal conversion. It can also help you track and monitor your information and strategically position your sales pitch in the lead’s buying journey. 

  1. Slowly integrate data management tools

As you have noticed in the previous section, data management integrations are in large-sized businesses. When a company begins to grow, they need to scale up their operations, including adding data management tools. It is more than just cloud data storage to put your files online. Data management tools tie up your data together, update them simultaneously, and ensure everything is accurate.

Data and analytics integrations are necessary when there is enough data to analyze in an organization. You may find this fancy when you come across software subscriptions, but this is not needed yet in the early stage for small businesses. Gradually add this feature to your integration if you need a sound decision based on data and information. 

Wrapping the budget altogether

No matter what size your business is, overspending on the software you are underutilizing becomes a liability for your business. Allocating a decent budget for a software product is not optional anymore. As someone responsible for a HubSpot integration budget, you must determine your business size and who can take on the role of doing HubSpot integration. You can also check your estimated ROI with a HubSpot calculator to get the most out of your money from HubSpot Integration. 

 

Ethan

Ethan is the founder, owner, and CEO of EntrepreneursBreak, a leading online resource for entrepreneurs and small business owners. With over a decade of experience in business and entrepreneurship, Ethan is passionate about helping others achieve their goals and reach their full potential.

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