Don’t get me wrong. I love Hubspot. Wonderful people. Great software. A fine company to work for. Heck, I was even a special guest on HubspotTV. And they just raised a boatload of cash. They have a very bright future.
They also produce a ton of great content – blog posts, articles, tips, slide presentations. They have great tools like Grader.com and similar offerings. They are growing incredibly fast. Want even more? Check out Why I believe in Hubspot.
That said, I’m shocked that almost no one has a bad word to say about them. Do some searching online and everyone spouts the party line.
I think Hubspot is like an annoying know-it-all.
Here are 3 reasons they are the worst marketing company on Earth.
The incessant nagging is tiresome
- If you have a smartphone, get ready for non-stop buzzing. It never ends. 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Eventually you have to say “Enough already!”
- They repeat themselves endlessly
How many times can you hear about Tivo, Caller ID and CAN-SPAM? They are a broken record. Their CMO, Mike Volpe has used the same slides over and over. - They never remember who I am
See some great content from Hubspot? Click the link. You are taken to a form to complete. Even if you’ve filled out dozens of forms, you have to do it again. In my mind, remembering who I am is basic business process. Heck, even Find New Customers, a small and thinly capitalized firm doesn’t do this. We remember you.
But don’t take my word for it. This article on Hubspot SEO and Social Media lessons takes them to task too. Or check out articles like “8 Ways to Instantly Improve Landing Page Quality.” I’m sorry Hubspot, but “instantly” is pure hyperbole. We all know that nothing in software is instant. And it is nothing like instant coffee.
Hubspot is, in my mind, a pretty young lady who looks very impressive. And she is intelligent and articulate. But ask you get to know her, you realize she is full of herself and won’t stop talking.
That’s HubSpot.
Disclosure:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzNmwdhjd9Y]
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I agree with your assessment. I owe Hubspot so much – really they were my inspiration to offer social media training. For me, the biggest issue is cost. My clients are mom and pops. They don’t need the majority of Hubspot tools, and certainly can’t afford the monthly fees. So Hubspot is the source of a lot of my learning, but I then recommend different, more affordable, solutions. It would be great if they’d talk to smaller businesses and break away from the corporate mentality behind their services and pricing structure.
Hey Chuck! Great comment. I think a lot of us work in this manner.
I think the reason they “talk” so much is because they understand that the more they talk, the more they demonstrate their expertise, build trust with their readers, spread their message, and the more reach, leads, sales they get.
This is the basic lesson of inbound marketing (and content marketing), and it’s the lesson they’re always trying to teach everyone else: keep “talking” out there, which actually means “keep producing tons of great content”. Every piece of content you write is another opportunity for others to find you.
I don’t see them talking so much about how great they are, but rather, I see them pumping out tons of solid educational material that many people rely on to stay in the know when it comes to cutting edge marketing techniques.
What better way for them to demonstrate the full power of inbound marketing, and of their own tool, then to actually use it to it’s fullest potential.
As you can see, I’m a fellow Hubspot believer.
I agree. Hubspot shares a LOT of great educational content. My problem is that they never stop talking. They wear me down. My smartphone buzzed all day, all night and all weekend.
The incessant flow is not a knock on the quality of content, but only how frequent it is.
Jeff
Jeff –
All the numbers show that our inbound marketing does work… really well. We’re by far the largest and fastest growing marketing software company, and I attribute most of that success to our marketing (and yes, I am clearly biased :).
But… we are not perfect and I think the points you raise are valid. We have been thinking about them a lot. I can’t tell you what we are working on exactly, but we have some ideas about how to solve some of these problems. For instance, I do think that for our longtime readers we don’t do a great job of enabling you to filter the content that is most relevant to you, as compared to someone new to inbound marketing who might need or want different content. This type of thing is a long way off, but as we have grown, I think we have increasingly felt the things you mentioned and are thinking more about how to address them.
Thanks for the open dialog and feedback!
Hubspot reminds me of pyramid marketing. Every mention of them online is drowned in shill posts that aim to boost their impression. Way too sales heavy.
What to these shills and affiliates stand to gain? Oh maybe it’s desiners becoming resell partners. Or do they just have boners over the VC money?