How to Choose my Marketing Automation Software?

Marketing automation software has gained so much attention in the last decade as a result of the evolution of digital marketing strategy from the internet only to an omnichannel strategy. Marketing automation platforms help organizations to structure their digital marketing initiatives across different platforms and ensure that their efforts are getting paid off. State of Marketing Automation Survey by Ascent 2 states that over 46% of marketing influencers consider generating ROI as the primary objective of marketing automation and about 84% find it successful after implementation of a marketing automation system¹. They help in scheduling updates, getting ideas about consumer trends, engaging customers in real-time, and delivering rich insights about marketing initiatives. Hubspot and Marketo are two of the significant players in this market. Let's compare them in detail.

Overview

Hubspot² is an inbound marketing software that helps organizations in leveraging content marketing to generate inbound leads. Hubspot focuses mainly on the content and engagement front. Marketo³ is claimed as an engagement marketing platform that delivers targeted reach and rich insights about audience engagement on different platforms. Marketo focuses mainly on the advertising, social, email, and engagement front.

Product Offering

Hubspot provides all necessary tools as a package. This includes a marketing automation tool, a CRM, a blog creation engine, etc. But for Marketo, the product is offered in different bundles. This provides users some freedom to choose the kind of services they need. Bundles include Lead management, Email marketing, Consumer marketing, Customer base marketing, and Mobile marketing.

Who Should Use

Hubspot is a platform that's crafted for SMEs. It is for this reason, the subscription costs are on the lower side. On the other hand, Marketo is ideal for medium to large enterprises, who need a great product but can't afford a platform like Eloqua. Subscription costs are on a higher side compared to Hubspot and it needs a technical team to handle operations of Marketo.

User Experience

Hubspot provides a pretty cool, easy-to-use interface. Even non-technical users can handle this marketing tool with ease. Though Marketo provides an intuitive user interface, it's quite difficult to master it.

Integration With Other Systems

Both Hubspot and Marketo provides integration with different systems like Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, etc.

Target Audience

HubSpot can mainly be used when you are targeting a B2C audience. Marketo can be used for a B2B audience.

Support and Training

Hubspot offers a great deal of support through different channels like chat, phone, email, website, etc. Their knowledge base is among the best available now. Marketo is a bit reserved on that front. Even though they provide us a reasonably good knowledge base, their support is not top-notch as compared to Hubspot.

Zyxware Technologies being a web solution provider for more than a decade has integrated these tools for various client projects. We can also help you in finding the best marketing automation solution that best suits your business needs. To get in touch with us click here!

Sources: 1. State of Marketing Automation Survey, Ascend 2 and Research Partners, PDF ebook, pages [2,4] April 2017, Ascend2.com accessed April 2017 2. Hubspot accessed April 2017 3. Marketo accessed April 2017 4. Aleks Peterson, Hubspot vs. Marketo: A Side-by-Side Comparison, Technology Advice accessed April 2017 5. Bob Ruffolo, HubSpot vs. Marketo: A Head to Head Comparison, Impact, accessed April 2017