Free Assessment: How does your inbound marketing measure up?

Get Started
Close

Free Assessment:

How does your inbound marketing measure up?
Take this free, 5-minute assessment and learn what you can start doing today to boost traffic, leads, and sales.
Get Started
inbound-marketing-strategy-playbook-cover

Free Assessment:

HubSpot's Ads Is The Missing Link in Your PPC Strategy (& It's Now Free!)

By Dakota Hersey

HubSpot's Ads Is The Missing Link in Your PPC Strategy (& It's Now Free!)

About a month ago, HubSpot announced that their Ads Add-On (say that five times fast) would be added to the core Marketing Hub for all Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise users -- for free.

While this update may have crossed right past you, I’m here to tell you this is HUGE for anyone using paid advertising as part of their marketing strategy.

If you’re struggling with determining if a paid strategy can help your inbound efforts, here’s our take on it.

A few years ago when PPC was just starting to get traction with inbound marketers, I constantly struggled between clients and the PPC experts...even when we were all working towards the same goal.

What it came down to was communication and reporting (no surprise there).

There was such a lack of alignment between what the paid advertising strategists were seeing in their platforms and what was being shown in the marketer’s platforms (in this case, HubSpot).

For example, there were conversions happening in AdWords but it was nearly impossible to see who the contacts were in HubSpot.

If we can’t see the exact contacts, we can't tell if they are qualified. If we can’t tell the quality of the conversions, then we can’t confidently make strategic changes.

All of this “shooting in the dark” caused a lot of frustration and inability to really make changes based on what was working.

I mean, how can you make data-driven decisions when all of your data is disjointed and living in separate platforms?

Enter HubSpot Ads Add-On

Y’all, when I discovered HubSpot's Ad tool, I LOVED IT.

It provided everything I needed from a client management perspective to make sure everyone on the account (marketers and PPC specialists alike) were looking at the same data.

The tension immediately subsided and we could operate as one team again without running into all of these potholes.

Finally, there was something that provided quick access to reporting in a format that everyone understood AND could allow us to see exactly how the ads were performing from a contact standpoint.

The only issue was the price point of the add-on wasn’t always something companies could justify, so many of my clients pushed onward with the data they had, plus a bunch of roundabout ways I found of piecing together the data (because I don’t take no for an answer!).

Now the HubSpot Ads Add-On is Free!

Now there is nothing holding us back from unlimited data alignment for combining paid ads and inbound strategies!!

I am one happy camper (and also unable to control my excitement in Slack).

Screen Shot 2018-12-18 at 3.06.03 PM

If you haven’t connected your AdWords and Facebook Ads account to HubSpot, do it. Today.

It will start collecting data in HubSpot once it’s connected (not retroactively, unfortunately), so it’s best to go ahead and connect it so in a few days you have enough data to actually see the value of using it.

Top Highlights of Using the Ads Add-On

Okay, you get it’s awesome...but what does the HubSpot Ads Add-On actually do?

There's actually a lot. Here are my highlights. 

 

1. See All Contacts From Paid Advertising

This is by far the most important reason to use this add-on. After connecting your accounts, you can actually see the exact contacts who were generated by PPC campaigns...down to the ad copy!

Why does this matter?

By being able to quickly click into the contact record for the leads generated, you have a world of context that you didn’t previously have. You can see the highest generating ad groups, ad copy, and keywords. You can also determine quickly which of the contacts were qualified and shift more budget to the higher performers.

This alone is worth its weight in gold (or at least the 2 minutes it takes to set up).

2. Get The Real ROI From Your PPC Efforts


Marketing strategies today are complex. It’s not a new concept that takes multiple touchpoints before a contact will convert.

PPC is likely a very critical piece of your lead generation strategy...but it isn’t the only element.

The HubSpot Ads Add-On now makes it much easier to see the influence of your PPC efforts throughout the buyer’s journey. You have the option to choose from multiple attribution models for your reporting, including first web session, first form submission, all form submissions, and re-engagement.

Why Does This Matter?

With being able to see how contacts are influenced, you can now better advocate for budgets for PPC (if it’s working for you, of course). If you connect your sales data, you can actually see the amount of revenue that is being produced from paid advertising campaigns.

Hallelujah.

3. Align Your Ads With The Rest Of Your Marketing

The ins and outs of the platform are awesome, but the real win comes from solving that initial pain point I was feeling with my team –– lack of alignment between PPC and inbound.

You have the ability to create and manage ads right within HubSpot, notify your team to follow up, and move them into nurturing workflows automatically. You can also associate your ad groups with campaigns to understand how the campaign is performing from a full picture view.

HubSpot Ads Add-OnImage Source: HubSpot

Why Does This Matter?

Whether you are dedicated to managing your own paid campaigns or it’s another task on your to-do list (looking at you one-man-band, marketers), this tool provides so much clarity and alignment between ads and other marketing efforts.

That is invaluable, and will hopefully give you the peace and clarity you’re currently lacking.

Getting Started With The HubSpot Ads Add-On


“Alright, Dakota, I’m sold!” YAY! Let’s do this.

To get started, it’s really just as simple as connecting your AdWords and Facebook paid advertising accounts.

Here’s the HubSpot article explaining all of the steps for getting connected.

Once you’re connected, you can start building, collecting data, and analyzing. Here is a helpful article explaining all of the ways you can analyze your campaigns.

As always, if you need help with getting your Ads Add-On set up in HubSpot or need some strategic direction for how to take your PPC and inbound efforts to the next level, IMPACT is here to help.

Free Assessment:

How does your inbound marketing measure up?
Take this free, 5-minute assessment and learn what you can start doing today to boost traffic, leads, and sales.

Topics:

HubSpot
Facebook Marketing
Paid Media
Published on December 18, 2018

Recent Articles

HubSpot Pricing: Your Guide to Everything HubSpot Costs for 2023
November 20, 2022 • 13 min read
Track These 5 Inbound Marketing Metrics to See Better Results
October 31, 2022 • 7 min read
Measuring the Invisible: How To Track Your 'Trust Index' [+ Template]
September 7, 2022 • 8 min read
Can HubSpot Help My Retail Business Grow?
July 31, 2022 • 4 min read
Get More Out of HubSpot Reporting With a Third-party Tool
July 9, 2022 • 5 min read
4 Keys To An Effective HubSpot Strategy in 2022
April 22, 2022 • 6 min read
Using They Ask, You Answer in Customer Service
April 1, 2022 • 5 min read
Is The HubSpot Free CRM Actually Free?
February 18, 2022 • 6 min read
Ultimate List of HubSpot Pros and Cons
January 8, 2022 • 20 min read
How To Optimize Your Marketing Automation Workflows With HubSpot (Tips)
November 12, 2021 • 11 min read
Top 13 Inbound Marketing & HubSpot Solutions Partner Program Agencies for 2022
October 29, 2021 • 8 min read
HubSpot Sales Hub: 18 Things Every Sales Rep Should Know How to Do (+ Videos)
October 28, 2021 • 5 min read
INBOUND 2021 Recap: Takeaways, Speakers, and Lessons Learned
October 25, 2021 • 7 min read
Need a HubSpot Admin? Here’s How to Find and Hire the Right Candidate
October 22, 2021 • 5 min read
How to Get Sales Reps to Use the HubSpot CRM
October 18, 2021 • 4 min read
HubSpot and Data Privacy: How to Collect Contacts the Right Way
October 4, 2021 • 4 min read
INBOUND is Fast Approaching, Google Leads are Syncing, and Workflow Actions are Placeholding [Hubcast 275]
September 23, 2021 • 4 min read
How to Know When You’ve Outgrown HubSpot Sales Hub Starter
September 23, 2021 • 4 min read
How to Get the Most Out of Your 2-Week HubSpot Free Trial
September 13, 2021 • 5 min read
CMS Hub Starter, business unit add-on, and Stephanie does email validation on a giant database [Hubcast ep. 274]
August 27, 2021 • 3 min read
How much HubSpot do I need?
August 17, 2021 • 4 min read
New HubSpot CMS Hub Starter Tier Released for Growing Businesses
August 6, 2021 • 4 min read
HubSpot CRM review (updated for 2022)
July 27, 2021 • 8 min read
5 HubSpot Sales Hub Tips for Assignment Selling
July 23, 2021 • 7 min read
Custom email nurture reporting, a map hack, and are pop-up forms a thing of the past? [Hubcast 273]
July 22, 2021 • 3 min read