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HubSpot Agency Guide: Working With A HubSpot Partner Agency

 

Choosing the right HubSpot Agency partner to manage your marketing is a big decision, and there are tons of factors to consider. We’ve written this guide to help you navigate the process, and to give you full confidence in making the right choice.

In this guide, we’ll outline everything you need to know about working with a HubSpot Agency, including the HubSpot services offered, the partner tiers, the requirements for working together, and more. 

Here’s what we’ll cover:

Working With A HubSpot Agency

When it comes to working with a HubSpot Agency, there are two main options: HubSpot Solutions Partners and HubSpot Providers. Before we delve in, let’s clarify what each means:

    • A HubSpot Solutions Partner is described by HubSpot as “the partner your clients can’t live without,” part of “an ecosystem of businesses that offer marketing, sales, web design, and CRM implementation services, among others.” Partners align with your business to provide continuous support on defining and executing your growth strategy. We're a proud Platinum Solutions Partner Agency!

    • A HubSpot Provider is essentially a reseller of the HubSpot product and is less committed to the end result and marketing outcomes.

Working With A HubSpot Agency

HubSpot Agency vs Digital Agency - Which Is The Best for My Business?

While both HubSpot Agencies and Digital Agencies can deliver a wealth of benefits to a business, there are certain circumstances where specialist HubSpot Agencies take clear precedence.

Here are some situations where the value provided by a HubSpot Agency will be indispensable:

You operate in the B2B arena

HubSpot’s tools are geared towards B2B businesses more so than eCommerce or other methodologies. 

You operate in tech, recruitment, SaaS, or managed professional services

While HubSpot is great for a wealth of other industries, the four outlined above stand to see huge gains. Take a look at our case studies to see some examples.

You want to get more from your current HubSpot setup

If you’re already using HubSpot but don’t feel like you’re getting much from it, a specialist agency can help.

Our no-cost, no-obligation HubSpot Portal Review can give you a roadmap to unlocking HubSpot’s full potential.

You want to upgrade your HubSpot membership

Maybe you’ve been using the free tools and are keen to see what the higher-level subscriptions can do, but you’re unsure how to move forward.

You want custom integrations and/or CRM migrations

Leveraging HubSpot’s full potential often involves custom integrations with other platforms and software and migrating existing site configurations: a specialist agency can advise on and implement recommended improvements.

You’re especially keen on Inbound Marketing

Inbound Marketing is HubSpot’s raison d'être, and its entire platform is built around delivering inbound success. 

Inbound at the front and centre

You’re focused on Lead Generation

A fundamental aspect of Inbound Marketing is attracting the right type of leads and successfully converting them. HubSpot’s platform offers unparalleled features and functionality for doing this.

You want access to top-tier HubSpot expertise

As a sprawling collection of tools and tiers, HubSpot can be a daunting prospect to the uninitiated. Specialist agencies have the expertise and experience required to guide you toward the myriad benefits waiting for you at the heart of the maze.

HubSpot Agency vs Digital Agency

 

HubSpot Partner Tiers: Platinum vs Diamond vs Elite

When researching HubSpot Agencies, you’ll come across different tiers to distinguish the top HubSpot names in the field. Let’s take a look at what this means for your business.

HubSpot evaluates their partners twice a year to ensure they’re still delivering on things like:

    • Client retention: higher tier partners retain clients for longer suggesting reliability and consistency.
    • Portal engagement: higher tier partners have more, and more frequent, logins from their customers.
    • Campaign success: HubSpot rewards partners who deliver excellent results for their clients. 

We’re a proud Platinum partner, meaning that we’ve delivered demonstrable value for our clients, many of whom are SMEs.

Gauging which HubSpot Agency is right for you depends on a few factors:

    • Are they affordable? Every organisation is working to a budget.
    • Do they work on a project or retainer basis, and does this align with your needs?  
    • Do they specialise in relevant industries to you?
    • Have they achieved certifications and accreditations? (Here are ours 😉 )
    • Do they offer the other services you need? For example, if you want to supplement your organic marketing with PPC, not all agencies offer it.

HubSpot Partner Tiers: Platinum vs Diamond vs Elite

 

Requirements For Working With A HubSpot Agency

You don’t need to have the HubSpot CRM to work with a HubSpot Agency, nor does your site need to be built on the HubSpot CMS. There are no prerequisites, it's purely a choice of what's most closely aligned to help you achieve business success.

It is possible for a site to have a HubSpot frontend with a different CRM  (Salesforce, for example), or vice versa, like a WordPress frontend with HubSpot CRM.

While moving to HubSpot will unlock additional benefits when working with a HubSpot Agency, strategic work can be done independently of a decision of whether to migrate to HubSpot: for example, auditing your site and seeing where the software would be a good fit.

Benefits and Advantages of Using a HubSpot Agency 

Now you know a little bit about HubSpot Agencies, let’s explore some of the benefits of working with one:

  1. Improved quantity & quality of customers

With expert guidance, you'll be able to attract more - and better - customers. Then, when they're on board, you'll know them in greater detail than ever before thanks to HubSpot's powerful profiling tools.

And as it costs up to 7x more to attract a new customer than it does to retain an existing one, the potential savings here are huge.

  1. More valuable data

We mentioned getting to know your customers better than ever before: this is just one example of how data can be leveraged in HubSpot. Then you can monitor this data and analyse it for insights through powerful, and completely customisable, dashboards. (And guess what: as experts, we can set up and interpret these reports for you).

What’s more: HubSpot’s suite of built-in tools removes the need for subscriptions to other services - more money saved! 

  1. Tap into technical expertise

Working with a HubSpot Solutions Partner means working with an agency that has demonstrated an ability to achieve results that corroborate their expertise with the platform. Working with such a partner gives you full and immediate access to this expertise, with the peace of mind that HubSpot's twice-yearly vetting process keeps it up to date.

Solutions Partners are privy to new developments in the way of new products and hot off-the-press updates, too, giving you a competitive advantage when those products become publicly available.

  1. More savings

When you onboard with a HubSpot Solutions Partner you won’t pay HubSpot’s onboarding fee, as long as the agency proves they are providing the service. This equates to more savings.

  1. HubSpot services

A specialist agency can help you to skill up your team, to power up your HubSpot with custom integrations, to migrate your current configuration across to the platform, all while delivering content, SEO, CRO, and more.

    6. All the stuff you’d expect from a digital agency

On top of these five HubSpot-specific benefits, solutions partners deliver all the results and improvements you’d expect from a traditional digital agency, including better rankings, reach and visibility, increased leads, better conversions and, most importantly, more sales.

Advantages of Using a HubSpot Agency 

What HubSpot Agency Services Are Available? 

We are a Platinum HubSpot Agency Partner, meaning we offer a suite of HubSpot agency services alongside traditional marketing disciplines. Here’s a taste of what we can do:

HubSpot Design Agency

First up, our web development and design services. This refers to the initial creation and ongoing maintenance of your website, including everything from technical development, web engineering, user experience (UX), user interface (UI), and more.

HubSpot Certified Inbound Marketing Agency

Our HubSpot Platinum certification means acknowledgement of our ability to achieve results through our integrated inbound marketing services. The inbound methodology utilises various types of digital marketing to create and distribute content, which then attracts website visitors and converts them into customers.

Inbound is non-disruptive and effective, and when deployed as part of a holistic strategy including content marketing, SEO, PPC, and CRO, delivers incredible gains.

Marketing Automation Agency HubSpot 

On this foundation, we use marketing automation to streamline marketing activities, qualify leads, and ultimately increase spend and ROI. 

There are myriad types of marketing automation, meaning that the right solution for your business will be a bespoke mix of things. In the onboarding process, we’ll work with you to determine what this blend looks like, then we’ll design and implement it.

HubSpot Agency Services

HubSpot Agency Pricing

Businesses often baulk at the potential costs of working with a HubSpot Solutions Partner, without actually researching those costs. 

Because guess what?

The truth is that you’ll pay no more or less than a standard digital marketing agency: the price you pay will reflect the tailored solution that’s right for your business.

We find that our customers gain a lot from initial conversations and consultations, both of which you can book here. This dialogue will help to ensure that you understand potential spend and that you can get as much bang for your buck as possible once the campaign is in progress.

One thing we always recommend - whether working with us or another agency - is to request a breakdown of line items that comprise their costing. Transparency is an important part of any agency relationship, and this breakdown will give you further clarity on where your money is going.

HubSpot Agency Pricing

Why Choose Digital Media Stream as Your HubSpot Agency?

Good question. And the answer is simple: HubSpot is what we E-A-T and B-R-E-A-T-H-E:

    • We all know Google's core values are Expertise, Authority, and Trust - and we share those values closely. In fact, Trust is one of our three core values here at DMS - along with Tenacity and Transparency

And when it comes to what we breathe:

    • B2B is our expertise.
    • Reliability is a cornerstone of our service: project managed end-to-end, with trackers and milestones to ensure smooth progress.
    • Ethical practices only: no black hat SEO, paid links or fluff metrics here.
    • Accountability and adaptability. As strategic partners, we are committed to your success as much as you are.
    • Training and technical adeptness keep our team at the very top of their game.
    • HubSpot Platinum Partners in Manchester: that’s us!
    • Endorsements by industry heavyweights demonstrate our credentials: we’re Google Partners, Facebook Partners, and HubSpot Partners.

 

Digital Media Stream as Your HubSpot Agency

HubSpot Agency FAQs

Here are answers to some common questions we get asked in consultations and onboarding with our customers:

Should you choose a HubSpot Agency if you use WordPress?

HubSpot and WordPress: two of the world’s most powerful CMS’.

If you use WordPress, our range of core digital marketing services is just as beneficial. There is no explicit need to be using the HubSpot CMS to benefit from our services.

If your site is built on WordPress, it's entirely your choice whether you remain or migrate over. We’ve guided multiple clients through this process and seen success each time, and believe our offering is more powerful when our clients have access to all of HubSpot's powerful tools.

Do I need the HubSpot CMS if I want to use a HubSpot Agency?

No. There is no explicit need to have a website built on HubSpot CMS to take advantage of our digital marketing services.

Is a HubSpot Agency More Expensive?

HubSpot Agency pricing is dependent on what you need, and our services are no more or less expensive than traditional marketing agencies. 

How do we Know Whether Your Credentials are up to Date?

Saying we’re a HubSpot Platinum Partner is all well and good, but you rightly need to know that this credential is still valid. HubSpot appraises their partners twice a year, so you can rest assured that as long as we’re listed as Platinum partners on the HubSpot solutions directory, it’s accurate.

There You Have It!

We hope this guide has clarified your understanding of HubSpot Agencies and the benefits they offer.

Finding the right agency partner can be a daunting process, but with guidance, it’s possible to navigate the maze and find an agency that integrates smoothly with your business.

And once you’ve got this, the sky’s the limit!

We’d love to talk you through how our HubSpot services can revolutionise your marketing efforts.

Why not book a chat with us? Or request a free, no-obligation HubSpot portal review?

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