To revenue operations leaders, HubSpot and Pardot (or Marketing Cloud Account Engagement) are what broomsticks are to Harry Potter. They offer magical powers to take businesses to new heights, win over potential leads, and delight customers the way they were never delighted before.
But the question remains, which one will serve your needs better?
About HubSpot
Established in 2005, HubSpot now has 194,000+ customers in 120+ countries. Needless to say, it has grown from strength to strength.
HubSpot is like a roof that brings under its head different pillars of an organization, like, sales, marketing, content management, customer service, operations, and commerce. Each one of these is connected to the underlying respective databases, which enhance the overall Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
Source: YouTube
About Pardot
Pardot, which is now known as the Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (MCAE), is a vital cog in the wheel of the overall Salesforce ecosystem.
It particularly enables the marketing and sales teams, to take customer relationship management (CRM) to the next level. It has the cushion of robust customer insights, crafted based on rich Artificial Intelligence-led predictive analytics.
Source: YouTube
Why Choose HubSpot
One-stop solution to your marketing needs:
HubSpot facilitates seamless coordination between the different departments of an organization. Its all-in-one built-in CRM tool makes marketing automation a cakewalk.
Cost-Effectiveness:
We can’t argue with Jessie J, when she sings, “We don't need your money, money, money, we just wanna make the world dance, forget about the price tag”, in the context of getting obsessed with money.
However, the cost-effectiveness does become a deal-breaker.
HubSpot makes a strong case with its US$18/mo “Marketing Hub starter, which comes with all the free versions of tools, Email reply tracking, basic Email health reporting, a mobile app, basic SEO recommendations, optimizations, etc.
Integration with many platforms:
HubSpot has 1500+ integrations to this date, proving that, it’s turning out to be that one friend of ours, who is the charm of all the different social gatherings. And guess what, Salesforce is one of these apps it also works with.
Suitable for top-of-the-funnel lead generation:
HubSpot nails inbound marketing. And it works especially well on the “first touch point”, where the customer interacts with you for the first time.
14-day Free trial
The free trial not only gives a glimpse of the services offered but also, builds trust and instills confidence when it says, “No credit card or commitment required”.
It includes SEO, blog tools, automated workflows, Email marketing tools, Smart CRM, pre-built or custom reports, etc.
The free version can be used forever:
The fact that the free version can be used forever makes a strong case for HubSpot, especially if your requirements are minimal at the moment.
As per HubSpot:
“Free content management system tools are 100% free forever.”
“HubSpot customers with CMS Hub see an increase in inbound leads 3 months (219%), 6 months (395%), 9 months (462%), and 12 months (482%) after purchase.”
User-friendly interface and dashboards:
Wish to utilize the coding features but coding isn’t your forte? Do you like the simplicity of dashboards? Or, is user-friendliness an important aspect for you?
If the answer to such questions is YES, then you can consider going for HubSpot. And not just the “use” aspect, even the “creation” part is easy, which can help you save hassle and time.
Ideal for small to mid-sized businesses:
All the reasons you have gone through thus far, make HubSpot ideal for growing small to mid-sized businesses. The cost-effectiveness, free-trial version, free basic features, all-in-one CRM platform, ease of use, etc., make it the sought-after CRM platform.
If what you have read so far about HubSpot has fascinated you, here is how to choose the right HubSpot experts to get it implemented right
Why Choose Pardot (or MCAE)
Ideal if using Salesforce as CRM:
As Pardot is Salesforce-owed, using them as a unit would not only make the workflow seamless but also, would reduce the cost of having both onboard together. The marketing and sales teams can use data from both platforms to identify and nurture qualified leads.
Predictive analytics and reporting:
AI-enabled predictive lead scoring is one of the defining features of Pardot. Although HubSpot offers similar features, Pardot has expertise when it comes to complex data handling and making the most out of it. Advanced dashboards also facilitate in-depth reporting.
Customer lifecycle management:
In B2B marketing, where each prospect holds a lot of significance, an individual-centric approach becomes crucial for effective lead nurturing. This is where Pardot cashes in with its lifecycle stages approach.
In this, you can have customized solutions for different customers depending on their respective stages in the funnel. Thus, you can come up with targeted marketing campaigns.
Source: Salesforce
Ideal for larger organizations:
If the needs of your organization tend to be complex, Pardot can be your first choice as it is known to have answers to such complex problems. Also, the larger the organization is, the larger the resource pool to sustain a relatively expensive tool like Pardot, whose subscription price starts from $1250 per month.
Conclusion:
Choosing between HubSpot and Pardot is certainly one of the challenging tasks.
Cost-effectiveness, ease of use, and built-in CRM can make you prefer HubSpot.
However, factors like the complexity of data, predictive analytics, efficient lead scoring, Pardot-Salesforce ecosystem, etc. can make Pardot the answer you are searching for.
If you need help analyzing the capabilities of both platforms in-depth and figuring out which one is the right fit for your business, you are at the right place. Our RevOps experts at Fractional CMO would be delighted to help you decide by understanding your business, followed by implementation assistance.
