You Don't Need to Hire A HubSpot Partner Agency, Or Do You?

If you’re implementing one part of HubSpot, no problem. The CMS? It’s fabulous, a world class “WYSIWYG” tool that makes it simple to post a blog the moment you’re done writing. The email platform is exceptional, even equipped with bumper guards to make sure you don’t spam people. You say you like the free CRM? Of course you do, what’s not to like - it’s free and with the deal boards and tasks, you can forecast your revenue and make sure you stay on top of all your call backs. (Sure beats the old tickler file with 3x5 index cards, right?) The platform doesn’t end there. In fact, the CRM is only the tip of the iceberg.

Pro Tip: One of the biggest misconceptions we frequently come across when speaking with prospects is that people already using the HubSpot CRM assume that’s all there is to HubSpot. Quite the contrary – there’s a full breadth of capabilities the platform provides – from content marketing, traffic analytics, and customizable reporting dashboards.

As a hiring manager, there’s a good chance you can find someone with expertise in one or two of these capabilities. However, expertise in all of them? Good luck. Let’s face it, you’re looking for a content creator (CMS), email marketing pro, sales leader (CMS) and a marketing/data analytics expert. By the way, this is not to mention the service and operations hub that is also part of the platform and requires another set of skills. 

HubSpot has developed an incredibly user-friendly platform and they do an outstanding job of selling it - using Inbound Marketing to attract you and reel you in. However, what appears to be simple is often complex, and hiring one person to manage this entire tool is not realistic. If you bought HubSpot to use one part of it, then you should be able to find someone to learn that aspect of HubSpot and make it work. The downside is that you’ve now invested in a platform of which you’re using a fraction of the horsepower available.

While you’re writing that job description for a unicorn with inbound/digital/content/email marketing and design skills who has experience or expertise in HubSpot software, stop and ask yourself - is this realistic? What you’ll find is that HubSpot experts looking for work don’t grow on trees and if you find them - the really good ones - they’re going to cost you more than you expect. Even then, you’re hiring just one person for a platform that requires a team. Perhaps another approach to consider is to hire a marketing strategist who can work with a HubSpot partner to really maximize this powerful sales and marketing tool. Here is why hiring an agency may be a better move for your organization.

Hiring an agency will drive results faster

As an employer, you want to have your own team that you can manage and oversee and an agency may not actually understand your business. However, many organizations may not be clear about what they’re hiring for when building an inbound marketing team. The same old rules for hiring marketing people do not apply, and one digital marketer is not the same as another. That said, after hiring one or two seemingly capable people, expect a couple of years before the team really makes this platform hum. Keep in mind, in most cases you’re asking people to adapt to a new software platform and a new way of marketing - inbound marketing. The change management process alone can make a root canal look like a good afternoon out of the office. A seasoned marketing professional can apply what they know about calls-to-actions, landing pages and content offers to get an aspect of HubSpot working, but making the machine run from soup to nuts will require you lock the person in a room and make them work around the clock only to get a fraction of the work done that is needed.  

Find the right agency who either has experience in your industry or has a successful track record of working with a range of organizations and you will save time and money and also avoid extensive bruising on your forehead from banging it against a wall. The right agency is staffed with the people and expertise that will take you years to build. If you’re still in love with the idea of staffing a team on your own, hire an agency and learn from them. See who does what and over time, hire people to replace aspects of the agency’s work. Yes, it takes time and so does training your own team. This way you’ll learn best practices and make sure that each hire is well-suited for the required work.

Hiring and firing is simpler

One of the most challenging aspects of building an inbound marketing team is building an inbound marketing team. We know that it’s difficult to find top performers in any role, and marketing is no different. In fact, it’s even more difficult than hiring someone to run a machine in the shop, or to execute a common task in your business. The reason it’s so difficult is that for non-marketers, all marketers can look the same. They are excellent at marketing themselves on LinkedIn and make it seem like they can do everything marketing. However, they may not have proficiency in all aspects of marketing. Add to that a simple question - what background should the person have that will run your organization’s inbound marketing? Content? Design? Analytics? Again, it may depend on your greatest needs. 

Then, when your person doesn’t work out - they find another opportunity, they’re not the right fit, they were recruited by a headhunter - now what? You’re back in the hiring game and doing it all over again and training a new person about your business, HubSpot and inbound marketing. On the other hand, if you don’t like your agency or you don’t think they’re the right fit, give them their notice and let them go. HubSpot can help you find the right agency partner for your business and the start up time for a new agency will take a fraction of the time it takes to onboard a new employee. 

A Range of Capabilities and Expertise

Perhaps one of the most significant benefits of hiring an agency partner is that you can gain a range of capabilities and expertise. They can become an extension of your marketing team adding content capabilities like video and podcasting, or they can provide CRM support for your sales team, even integration support which expands your ability to interact with other platforms. Ask yourself, is it reasonable to think that your new marketing hire who has dabbled with iMovie can create content that your company can be proud of? Or can help the sales team onboard a new CRM? Probably not realistic.

Realize Inbound Marketing Success Takes Time

Since we launched our blog, our traffic has continued to grow. Like any investment, it just doesn’t happen overnight. Take a look at our agency's organic growth to see what I mean. 

Despite how simple HubSpot can make it sound, Inbound Marketing is not something you implement and all of a sudden sales leads pour in. Organizations implement inbound marketing because they realize cold calling and spam emails are intrusive and they’d prefer to not spend infinite marketing dollars on pay-per-click (PPC) ads to drive “rented” website traffic.

As a result, building content that is “owned” and drives tens of thousands of website sessions per month takes time. Remember what dad said: “Nothing worthwhile is easy.” He was right, and a good content strategy takes time to develop and a commitment to implement day after day. Plan a 5 year window and then look back and say, “Heck yeah, we did it!” You’ll know you’re succeeding when you’re ranking on page one on Google for your target keywords!