Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Hubspot: Which is Best For You?
Salesforce is largely used for customer relationship management (CRM). Its emphasis is on managing and automating procedures related to sales, marketing, and customer care. Features like lead management, opportunity monitoring, sales forecasting, and customer data analysis are among the things it provides.
Whereas, attracting, involving, and satisfying customers is the main goal of HubSpot. It is an inbound marketing and sales platform. Features like lead capture forms, email marketing, social media management, content production, and marketing automation are all included.
Let’s take a look at how HubSpot vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud differ from each other.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Hubspot: Key Highlights
- Features: Salesforce Marketing Cloud has many advanced features and customization options, great for large companies. HubSpot is easier to use and has basic tools, which works well for smaller businesses.
- Integration: Salesforce works well with its own CRM and can be highly customized. HubSpot connects with many apps but offers less customization.
- Pricing: Salesforce Marketing Cloud is more expensive and might need extra support costs. HubSpot is cheaper but has fixed pricing plans.
- Ease of Use: Salesforce Marketing Cloud can be hard to learn, while HubSpot is simpler and better for beginners.
What is Salesforce Marketing Cloud?
The phrase Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) refers to a collection of products within the Salesforce cloud that are used for customer engagement and marketing automation. Salesforce Marketing Cloud has different tiers of features and tools for B2B vs B2C marketing capabilities.
Today’s marketers rely on Marketing Cloud for a wide range of tasks, including creating customer journeys, running multichannel campaigns, segmenting and building contact lists, posting and advertising on social media, and analytics.
What is HubSpot Marketing Hub?
When we are talking about HubSpot Marketing Hub vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud, we need to clarify the former one in detail. With HubSpot Marketing Hub, marketers can create customized customer experiences, use tools to convert leads into customers, automate lead nurturing, and track analytics that link activities to return on investment. The platform unifies all of your marketing tools and data in one location.
Every product in Marketing Hub has a direct connection to the HubSpot CRM, which holds information about your deals, contacts, and businesses. You may obtain a wealth of information about how leads are interacting with your marketing materials, such as web pages, blog posts, emails, forms, and other assets, as soon as they convert on your website.
For a deeper comparison between HubSpot and Salesforce, you can check out our detailed analysis in the Salesforce vs HubSpot blog.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Hubspot: Comparison of Features
The two most favored marketing automation platforms are Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs HubSpot marketing. Both of them offer a suite of tools for companies to reach their target audience and drive sales. However, both differ so immensely in terms of features, design, security, customer support, and customization options.
Email Marketing
Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides top-of-the-line email marketing with drag-and-drop email builders, A/B testing, and dynamic content. In addition, one can use customer data from the platform in email campaigns.
HubSpot does have an email marketing platform with drag-and-drop email builders, A/B testing, and email scheduling. In the process, HubSpot gets analytics and reporting tools to trace the performance of these emails.
SMS Marketing
Salesforce Marketing Cloud has strong SMS marketing activities like bulk SMS messaging, SMS automation, and SMS analytics. Since it is integrated with other channels of communication, running campaigns across channels is possible.
HubSpot provides some of the typical bundle features of SMS marketing, like mass SMS messaging and SMS analytics. In comparison with Salesforce Marketing Cloud, however, this may be a little short in the realm of SMS.
Social Media Marketing
Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides social media marketing features, including social listening, publishing, and analytics, all in one place by integrating various social media sites.
HubSpot provides a fully developed social media marketing platform that includes social listening, publishing, and analytics. Besides, HubSpot makes a device available to monitor social media, allowing businesses to observe brand mentions or engagement.
Marketing Automation
Salesforce Marketing Cloud offers sophisticated marketing automation with lead scoring, journey builders, and predictive analytics. It is also very good at integrating with Salesforce CRM for customized marketing automation workflows.
HubSpot has an excellent marketing automation platform that includes lead scoring, workflow automation, and reporting. HubSpot touts its marketing automation tools as very easy to use.
Analytics and Reporting
Salesforce Marketing Cloud is an analytics and reporting enterprise-class platform. It allows users to create integrated custom reports and dashboards, use data-visualizing methods, and embed them into any web application. It integrates directly with Salesforce CRM for one combined view of marketing and sales performance across the enterprise.
HubSpot has an end-to-end analytics and reporting platform with features for custom reporting, dashboards, and data visualization. HubSpot reporting tools are built to be very intuitive and easy to use.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Hubspot: Design Comparison
User Interface
In Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Hubspot user interface, Salesforce Marketing Cloud has a complex, feature-rich, and enterprise-oriented design. This brings advanced customizing options but may overwhelm the new user in marketing automation. On the other hand, HubSpot’s interface is user-friendly due to the clean and intuitive layout. That makes it very good for businesses that really value ease of use and simplicity.
Design Aesthetic
In Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Hubspot design aesthetic, HubSpot has a modern design that is very easy on the eyes. The interface is designed to be clean and minimalistic, which means it is actually fun to work with. Unlike HubSpot with its appealing design, Salesforce Marketing Cloud does not really flash in its design, but it does have a very consistent design in the interface of its various modules, allowing users to more easily get around within the system.
Customization
Even though Salesforce Marketing Cloud allows for customization to a certain extent, in that respect, it would have much more advanced features. On one side, this would mean that businesses with complex marketing requirements would benefit. On the other, however, this would also come with a lot more setup and management time.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Hubspot: Pricing
When we talked about HubSpot Marketing vs Salesforce Marketing Cloud, majority of Salesforce users said that the features were overly complicated, particularly if you had unique needs. Additionally, the company charges an additional nearly $200 per month for “Premium Support,” which several customers felt was required in order to receive any service at all. Some users point out that in order to use the platform effectively, you must first work with an consultant CRM Salesforce Marketing Cloud or agency.
It starts at $4,800 per month. Salesforce CDP Corporate is $12,500 per month, but it is billed annually. Enterprise is $50,000 per month (billed annually). Enterprise Plus is $65,000 per month (billed annually). For more detailed information on Salesforce pricing plans, refer to our Salesforce Pricing Plans blog.
Users of HubSpot complained that the pricing was too fixed as you went up in size. Their automation features are only available with the Professional and Enterprise versions (the Pro version starts at $800 per month), and it requires a non-cancellable annual commitment.
Marketing Hub is free. Marketing Hub Starter costs $50 per month, Marketing Hub Professional costs $800 per month, and Marketing Hub Enterprise costs $3,200 per month.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Hubspot: Security
Security is the number one priority for any business, more so in handling customer data. Salesforce Marketing Cloud and HubSpot are secure platforms, although with slight differences in their safety settings.
Within the regions themselves, Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides the capability to store your data; this feature can be quite helpful for businesses that need to adhere to any data privacy regulations. Besides, Salesforce has certification for a variety of standards related to security, like ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, and GDPR. It continues keeping its platforms updated against any new threats, making sure that customers’ data is always safe.
HubSpot is interested in the protection of users’ data and has brought forward different measures for privacy protection. HubSpot is certified by standards of security like ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II. The security features in safeguarding the customer’s data are enhanced or updated on a regular basis by HubSpot.
Although both platforms are very secure, the choice may come down to how robust the data residency options within Salesforce are, or how deep specific security certifications may run for businesses with stringent security requirements.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Hubspot: Customer Support
If you’re dealing with something as complicated as a marketing automation platform, then customer support will become pretty important. With regards to this, both Salesforce Marketing Cloud and HubSpot offer some form of tiered customer support.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud will provide you with an all-rounded customer support package, a number of support channels, a knowledge base, and Success Plans. Salesforce’s support can be contacted via phone, email, or online chat, while the knowledge base includes articles and tutorials—and also FAQs—through which you are able to solve problems independently. Besides, Salesforce has Success Plans that entail dedicated support and guidance.
While HubSpot does have customer support available, the execution is very much more via self-help resources. You’ll find details in the knowledge base, academy, and community forums. And if you want personalized support, then you will want to purchase a paid support plan.
In terms of customer support, Salesforce Marketing Cloud has many more in its overall package, including dedicated support plans. On the other hand, businesses that do love fending for themselves may find all they need at the self-help resources from HubSpot.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Hubspot: Customization Options
Customization is important because professional automation tools ensure that the tool selected is tailor-made to meet the requirements at hand. On the other hand, both Salesforce Marketing Cloud and HubSpot offer more than one way to configure.
The thing I liked most about Salesforce Marketing Cloud is how much you can really personalize the platform. You have the capability of creating custom fields, workflows, and reports. In addition, the platform allows you to integrate with other apps through its API. More so, Salesforce AppExchange provides several apps through which you can extend one’s platform functionality.
On the other hand, HubSpot has custom fields, custom workflows, and custom reports. It works with a large number of third-party applications, and in the HubSpot Marketplace, there is an app for just about anything you can think of to fill out the application.
Customization is prevalent in both Salesforce Marketing Cloud and HubSpot, but the very elaborate and wide customization features in Salesforce and its AppExchange can make it befitting with companies having advanced marketing requirements.
What Do People Love About Salesforce Marketing Cloud?
Many people love Salesforce Marketing Cloud due to its great abilities in automation and data-driven insights, not to mention the perfect integration with Salesforce CRM. Its automation features can make your marketing processes smoother, while its data-driven insights help optimize your marketing campaigns. Furthermore, if you’re already using Salesforce CRM, it will work seamlessly with the Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
What Do People Like About HubSpot Marketing Hub?
The reason behind the popularity of HubSpot lies in an easy-to-use interface, an elaborate set of tools, and cost-effective pricing. Actually, it was very easy to learn and use, so it really works for companies that are very green in marketing automation. Also, it has various tools in the marketing aspect: email marketing, content marketing, and social media management; additionally, the pricing plans it has are suitable for different budgets.
What Do People Dislike About Salesforce Marketing Cloud?
Though Salesforce Marketing Cloud comes with a plethora of advantages, it is still too difficult to learn and use for some users. Besides, it can get costlier than some other tools for marketing automation.
What Do People Dislike About Hubspot?
While most users love HubSpot, some of them have a general feeling that it does not offer similar customization capabilities compared to Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Others sometimes point out that some advanced features are absent in HubSpot which they really want to make use of.
Conclusion
Let’s conclude the debate on Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Hubspot. Salesforce is known for its effective email marketing and user journey monitoring. Although it is robust and adaptable, it is also infamous for having a high learning curve, poor support, and being more appropriate for large B2C businesses.
HubSpot receives great scores for its integrations, automation, tracking of the customer journey, and prompt customer service. Although it provides small businesses with a number of affordable solutions, they frequently receive online complaints regarding their rigid price structure.
FAQs
Salesforce Marketing Cloud is good for marketing activities, personalized customer experience, and sales. It's mainly appropriate for large enterprises with complex marketing needs.
In Salesforce Marketing Cloud vs Hubspot most of the features of HubSpot's product are easier to use and less expensive.
Although there are next-level customizations in Salesforce Marketing Cloud that might require experience in coding, it still has a user-friendly interface through which most of the work could be done without coding.
Yes, Salesforce Marketing Cloud can send SMS. It offers features for bulk messaging, automation, and SMS analytics.
Navaid Ahmed
Director Of Engineering at Folio3 Software | Head of Product Management
Navaid Ahmed is a Seasoned Salesforce CRM expert, who brings a wealth of experience in optimizing sales processes, enhancing customer relationships, and driving business growth. With a deep understanding of Salesforce's capabilities, Navaid specialize in crafting tailored solutions that empower organizations to streamline operations, boost productivity, and achieve their sales objectives.
