Last Friday I wrote a blog post entitled “5 Things I do Every Friday.” In fact, I did 6 things last Friday. The last was a BIG decision and one I didn’t take lightly. Our agency, CX3 Digital became a SharpSpring premium partner. What? But Gary, you’re a Hubspot guy. Correction, I WAS a Hubspot Guy.
I’m a researcher. No matter what the “thing” is…I research the heck out of it. New car, new computer, new phone…research, research and more research. This was no different. Price was about the same. Well, not new car price, at least initially, but not a decision to be made willy nilly.
So what prompted the switch? Glad you asked…you did ask right? First of all, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Hubspot. For our agency though, there was just more right about SharpSpring.
Hubspot is one of the giants in the relatively new inbound marketing and marketing automation fields.
Marketo is a close competitor and plays at the same level, mid-to large size companies are their sweet spot.
I’ve used Hubspot and in fact hold three certifications (valid a few more months anyway – they require annual re-certification). It’s a solid platform chock full of tools to help you manage inbound campaigns, and all that goes with them, for you or your clients. This isn’t going to be a Hubspot sales pitch though, this is about last Friday.
After much research, demos, trials, discussions, more research and some soul searching…we partnered with SharpSpring. Ultimately it came down to one thing. Simplicity. SharpSpring simply does all that inbound marketing and marketing automation is truly about, and nothing else.
Don’t misunderstand though. SharpSpring is a very deep and functional platform that incorporates everything an inbound marketing agency or client will need. Marketing automation, email campaigns, very functional CRM, Visitor ID tracking etc. It does not contain fluff, does not contain anything you really don’t need, does not try to be a Landing Page creator, CMS, social media manager or an inbound university.
SharpSpring was our choice. Ultimately it allows us as an inbound agency to focus on inbound, attract, convert, close and
delight. It allows us to do this at an attractive price point with no up sells along the way. Straightforward and to the point. What you see is what you get, who doesn’t love that?
So last Friday was an exciting day! I did 6 things.
We joined the burgeoning SharpSpring army and couldn’t be happier with our choice.
We’d love to talk to you about marketing automation as we employ SharpSpring and other tools that can truly automate your small business or non-profit.
