HubSpot vs IBM Marketing Cloud

HubSpot and IBM Marketing Cloud are two of the most popular marketing platforms. Both offer companies a wealth of marketing tools, sales process software, email solutions, and more. But which platform is best for your business? HubSpot or IBM Marketing Cloud? Let's see how these companies compare side-by-side and find out which platform can help your business succeed with effective marketing solutions.

What Companies Are Best Suited For HubSpot

HubSpot is a powerful CRM and marketing automation platform that's great for businesses of all sizes, but particularly well-suited for B2B companies in the SMB to mid-market space. It's also good for growing companies who want to start with a free CRM, then grow into their marketing automation and CMS needs.

Companies that are focused on growing through lead generation should look at HubSpot as a potential solution. Its software makes it easy to manage your contacts, monitor your sales pipeline, and build landing pages for marketing campaigns. It also makes tracking marketing campaign ROI simple with its analytics tool.

Whether you're just starting out or you're already generating millions in revenue, HubSpot has price plans that are right for your business.

Overview Of IBM Marketing Cloud

IBM Marketing Cloud is a marketing platform. It offers a variety of features that let users create personalized marketing campaigns. These features help companies reach potential customers across multiple channels.

It also includes flexible scheduling options so users can automate their marketing activities according to their preferred schedules and timelines. In addition, the software lets users create customized reports and dashboards to monitor campaign performance and track leads throughout the sales cycle.

However, in 2017 IBM sold their marketing cloud to Centerbridge Partners which is today known as Acoustic. Moreover, they've sold multiple marketing divisions to other organizations over the past few years. The reason for selling off is likely due to the difficulty they face in competing against large-scale competitors.

Feature Comparison

Both platforms offer some powerful features that you can use to improve your marketing strategy and grow your business further. So, it’s important that you know how they compare in terms of features. Let’s take a look:

	HubSpot	IBM Marketing Cloud
Typical Customers	Small-Business, Mid-Market, Enterprise	Small-Business, Mid-Market, Enterprise
Free Demo	Yes	No
Free Trial	Yes	No
Starting Price	$0/mo	Not Available
Phone	Yes	Yes
Live chat	Yes	Yes
Mail	Yes	Yes
Knowledge Base	Yes	Yes
24/7 support	Yes	Yes
Campaign Management	Yes	No
Data Quality Management	Yes	Yes
Lead Management	Yes	Yes
Lead Nurturing	Yes	No
Marketing Lead Database	Yes	Yes
Online Behavior Tracking	Yes	No
Reporting & Analytics	Yes	Yes
Sales Force Automation	Yes	No
Segmentation	Yes	Yes
Task / Activity Management	Yes	No
Territory & Quota Management	Yes	No

IBM Marketing Cloud is not as versatile as HubSpot. HubSpot has many features that IBM Marketing Cloud lacks. One such example is the lead generation tactics offered by HubSpot, which include lead nurturing and online behavior tracking. HubSpot also offers more in-depth marketing and tracking, so it may be a better option for businesses that need tracking information on a deeper level.

Pricing Comparison

HubSpot offers a free plan, which can provide you with almost all the basic marketing tools you need to grow your business. There are also paid tiers that offer more advanced features and support as your business grows. Besides the free plan, HubSpot's pricing plans start at $45 per month and go up to $3,200 per month. This makes HubSpot a much more reasonable option for all types of businesses.

HubSpot has a lot of features, but what it comes down to is if they are the right fit for you and your company. A great way to figure that out is to take advantage of the free plan to see what value you can derive before making a commitment.

On the other hand, pricing for IBM Marketing Cloud products is not publicly available but it provides quotes to interested parties. It can differ from customer to customer. If you would like to try their free trial or demo, you may not. There is no information on their website about free trial or demo options of their solutions.

Onboarding And Training

Whether you’re looking for a new online solution, it’s important to choose a tool that can be easily adopted and offers resources to help your team get up fast.

HubSpot has made great strides in providing its users with onboarding and training options. They include short, informative videos that teach you the basics. HubSpot Academy offers free courses to help you learn the different aspects of the platform.

HubSpot provides one-on-one consulting to help you onboard faster and with greater success. You can work also with an agency partner like No Bounds Digital who can set up your account, implement the best practices for sales and marketing.

IBM Marketing Cloud does have a series of free resources on different aspects of the software, but it doesn't offer one-on-one training or setup services as HubSpot does.

Migration Options

When you're migrating from one platform to another, it is a kind of hassle to do the manual transfer of your data. This takes a long time and causes errors and technical issues. However, HubSpot offers various migration options and tools that make it easy to migrate your data.

HubSpot has its own set of built-in migration tools to help you move your data. It also offers paid migration services through its professional services team. These migrations are handled by experienced consultants with specialized knowledge in migrating data into HubSpot.

If you don't want to go through the process of migrating yourself. You can work with an agency partner like No Bounds Digital who has a lot of experience in migrating data in HubSpot.

Customer Service Experience

HubSpot’s customer support is available via phone, email, and chat in multiple languages. It also provides 24/7 live phone and chats support to users at pro or higher plan users. You don’t have to pay extra for their support. It’s Included in your subscription plan.

It also offers live training courses around the world, self-paced training, and certifications. It provides a handy search bar on its support page for users to quickly find answers to common questions. It also has a dedicated support team that can help users set up their platform and onboard employees.

On the other hand, IBM Marketing Cloud also offers a similar support option. But HubSpot does a better job in their customer service than IBM Marketing Cloud, making it easy for you to get in touch with experts if you're experiencing any problems with their software. The support teams are very responsive in chat and email and are quick to respond to even minor issues. Its knowledge base is also more extensive than IBM Marketing Cloud.

Conclusion: HubSpot Vs IBM Marketing Cloud

In the end, both of these products are excellent tools for marketing. However, HubSpot just seems to offer more. It has more in-depth means of marketing that should help you generate more leads with less time and effort. It has a number of free resources available, so first-timers might find it a better starting point. Its interface, customer support, onboarding, and additional features make it the better choice for any business.