When the big digital boom began, it was a slow and steady rise. Yet, since 2005, we have seen an explosion of sorts and exponential growth when it comes to the digital way of life. In fact, we have even coined a term for it – IoT or the Internet of Things. Accordingly, we have seen a rise in our dependence on the world of all things digital. Whether we are stocking up on groceries, or shopping for clothes, or even conducting our banking tasks – everything now happens online, and with great ease.
Therefore, it should come as no great surprise that business is also happening online. Whether we have an online store or offline store, the coordination between team members as well as the engagement with the core audience happens primarily online. Before we walkabout HubSpot and the various HubSpot competitors, let us look at the reasons why people are shifting their focus online like never before:
- A Widespread Audience: When we look at the worldwide web, we can see that there are many people spread out over various geographies, who would be easier to tap into than most people who are living locally to your business. This is why you need to be doing business online.
- More Opportunities: The worldwide web presents more opportunities than most. This is rather clear since you are able to have a two-way conversion at a far lesser cost (sometimes even free) with your core audience. This helps in pushing a larger number of conversions over a smaller period of time and with less effort.
- Remote Teams: This is the era of working with whatever talent you can find in whichever part of the globe. You will often find yourself working with people whom you may not have even met in real life. This is also where the HubSpot alternatives come into the picture for ease of collaboration and team building, as we will discuss later.
- Clients in Various Parts of the Globe: With these opportunities and a team that is well spread out, you could well be catering to audiences and customers who are spread out all over the globe. Again, this is where the right HubSpot competitor would be able to help you service these clients.
- Better Coordination: With all things digital, it has become quite possible to not only do business but to also coordinate all of the above in a rather seamless manner so that you are able to tap into opportunities and make the most of the same as and when they come to you, from any part of the globe, with a team that is spread out in various locations.
- Ease of Doing Business: Overall, one can easily say that the digital way of doing things has promoted ease of doing business in a way that helps us simplify things starting from reaching the right audience to building great teams that deliver results.
- Less Expensive than Traditional Media: The most important point is the one that we have saved for the last. One thing you will find is that the new age media or digital media is a space where you can broadcast your message and interact with your customers for free or for a very small cost as compared to print, radio, and TV ads that only allow one-way communication.
While all the benefits above show us clearly that we need to embrace all things digital, it also brings one very crucial word to the fore – competition. With the enhanced opportunities, the promise of exponential growth, and general ease of doing business, it may be seen that more and more people are moving online. This has brought about competition in every single niche out there.
So how do you tackle this competition and rise above the rest to capture the brand loyalty from your ideal audience? The answer is simple: HubSpot alternative.
HubSpot is a CRM or customer relationship management platform that started in the year 2006 in order to help achieve optimization, better coordination amongst team members, and lead generation with seamless conversions and effortless presence building online. Since its inception, HubSpot has become a brand name of sorts and a mascot for all things CRM and marketing automation. Yet, there has also been a rise in the number of HubSpot competitors who have come forth to offer even more varied services at a far lesser cost. Let us cast a glance on all these competitors to understand which one is the best suited for your business:
EngageBay: This would be the foremost HubSpot alternative since it offers a wider than a wide range of services within a super affordable cost that starts with a free plan for up to 1000 contacts and the management of the same. Further, EngageBay CRM has a track record of over 12,000 happy customers all over the world with numerous awards under its belt.
Sharp Spring: While this an upcoming HubSpot competitor, it is not the most affordable platform and it even has a limited range of users that you can add to it. You would also have to look at other resources for automation across various other channels since it mostly caters to email marketing.
Active Campaign: This platform is also a well-known HubSpot alternative, yet it does not offer a very wide range of integrations across other channels and platforms.
Act On: This CRM platform is a HubSpot competitor that has a wide range of functions yet it is quite expensive in the long run.
Hatchbuck: With this platform, you would be able to automate your functions at a lesser cost, but it does not offer much more than simple email and SMS marketing.
The above analysis shows that EngageBay CRM would be the absolute best bet considering the wide range of functions and benefits that you get across a number of channels for your business to grow to its optimum best digitally.
