Hubspot vs. ClickDimensions

Marketing Software Comparison – When CRM Is Not Enough
The decision to invest in a marketing automation tool is critical to your organization’s marketing success. We recently took some time to evaluate and compare two very popular marketing solutions. First we looked at HubSpot, an “all-in-one marketing software” with a major focus on driving inbound marketing. The second product we evaluated was ClickDimensions, a Microsoft certified email marketing and marketing automation solution built for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Then we identified two pros and two cons for each solution.

HubSpot

Pros
1. Search Engine Optimization
What truly makes HubSpot a great inbound marketing application is because of its SEO tools. HubSpot includes a built-in keyword analysis tool that enables you to find and track your most effective keywords. Another powerful SEO tool offered by HubSpot is their Page Grader, this allows you to diagnose and fix poorly ranking pages by providing specific tips and suggestions.
2. Lead Management
Many companies struggle with converting website visitors into prospects, luckily HubSpot has a tool that can help. This solution offers a very robust lead management application that enables you to track lead activity on your website allowing you to see what companies are visiting your site and what pages they viewed. This is great information for you to provide your inside sales team!

Cons
1. Blogging and Social Media
HubSpot actually has a great blogging/social media/website platform, but the reason we consider this a con is because most companies already have a website/blog platform. Actually, it can negatively affect your organization’s SEO by moving to new website or blog platform. If you are choosing to move to a new website/blog provider you probably are doing so because you don’t have great SEO, but if you have been building your SEO for some time, you may want to reconsider before “jumping ship” to a new platform.
2. CRM Integration
HubSpot considers itself an “all-in-one marketing software,” but the single most critical sale/marketing software is a robust CRM system. The problem with HubSpot is that it doesn’t include a CRM solution and the integration may not be what you had in mind. HubSpot offers users an open API, this means that they provide you with some code that you can use to integrate HubSpot to you CRM system. What this really means is that you may end up spending more on the integration than the actual product itself. Something to consider before making a major decision that will not affect only your marketing department, but also your sales department as well.

ClickDimensions

Pros
1. Native Microsoft Dynamics CRM Integration
ClickDimensions offers Microsoft Dynamics CRM users enhanced marketing automation tools. As you may already know, the Microsoft’s out-of-the-box marketing functionality is fairly limited, but with ClickDimensions you gain email marketing abilities, web tracking, lead scoring, social discovery, and survey tools. Since this product is designed specifically for Microsoft Dynamics CRM it only takes a few minutes to integrate this application to your CRM system, enabling you to view a contact’s website visits, email marketing interactions, social media presence and lead score all within their CRM contact file.
2. Surveys and Forms
ClickDimensions makes it easy to create web forms and surveys with their drag and drop designer. So when a visitor completes a form on your website, his or her email address is checked against all email addresses in CRM to avoid duplicate data. Lead or Contact records can be automatically created for visitors who are not already in your CRM and all the data the visitor submits on the form is linked to their CRM record. This is a great tool if you have documents or events on your website that require a visitor to submit their contact information before they can gain access to a video or document online, thus eliminating the need to manually input this data.

Cons
1. SEO Tools
Unlike HubSpot, ClickDimensions doesn’t offer any specific SEO tools. This is one of the major differentiators between ClickDimensions and HubSpot. Since ClickDimensions is primarily a marketing automation software, most organizations are not expecting to find an SEO tool. Although if an SEO tool is what you are after, below are a few that look like they may be worth a try:
WordsTREAM Keyword Research Suite
SEOMOZ
SEOtool
2. Only Available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM
At this time ClickDimensions is only available for Microsoft Dynamics CRM users. So if you are not interested in considering Dynamics CRM, ClickDimensions unfortunately won’t be a good fit for you. On the brightside, if you are impressed by the marketing automation and functionality of ClickDimensions, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is very affordable at the low price of just $44.00/user per month. Contact FMT Consultants for more details or register for a FREE 30-day trial of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online here.

In conclusion, both products offer great marketing automation benefits and depending on your organizations specific needs you can determine which product is the best fit for your business. If you are a Dynamics CRM Customer or considering a new CRM solution, we recommend you take a look at ClickDimensions. This is a very robust solution that will seamlessly integrate into you Dynamics CRM system and provide you with enhanced marketing automation. If you are looking for a strong SEO tool and can afford to invest in a custom CRM integration visit HubSpot’s website.
For more information on ClickDimensions, register today for a demo by contacting FMT Consultants at (760) 930-6400 or via email at info@fmtconsultants.com.

Written by:
Nicole Kirkpatrick
Marketing Coordinator
FMT Consultants