HubSpot for Senior Living: What Is It, Anyway?
One of the products we often recommend to clients is HubSpot, thanks to its strong marketing automation software. But that’s not all HubSpot can do. In this article, we’re going to provide an overview of HubSpot for senior living—and what you should do next if you’re interested in using it.
What is HubSpot?
HubSpot was founded in 2006 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by two MIT graduate students: Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah. HubSpot helped develop and spread the concept of inbound marketing.
Over the years, HubSpot has gone through many iterations. In its earliest incarnation, it was a CMS (content management system). Simply put, a CMS allows people without technical experience to create and manage content on a website.
Today, HubSpot describes itself as an internet marketing company that’s in the “growth business.” It offers a powerful CRM platform that “makes it easy for your entire company to work together — from marketing, to sales, to customer service. Each hub is powerful alone, but they’re even better together.”
These “hubs” include the following:
- Marketing Hub
- Sales Hub
- Service Hub
- CMS Hub
- Operations Hub
Numerous extensions and integrations are also available.
How should communities approach HubSpot for senior living?
We talk a lot about marketing automation when it comes to HubSpot, so here’s a quick refresher . . .
Marketing automation enables you to deliver the right message (think emails) to the right person at the right time. As its name suggests, with marketing automation, everything happens automatically once you set it up. You’ll also have access to real-time results: Which prospect opened the email, who is most engaged with your content, which content seems to convert best, and so forth.
While we often use the terms “HubSpot” and “marketing automation” interchangeably for simplicity’s sake, marketing automation is only one small piece of HubSpot. In fact, if you were to browse the various “hubs” on HubSpot’s website, it might take a while to find out which hub offers marketing automation (you’ll find it in the Professional and Enterprise levels of the Marketing Hub).
OK, so which “hubs” should a senior living community use?
Ah, this is where it gets complicated. Not every senior living community is going to have the same needs. A small, independent community might have one set of requirements while an operator with ten locations across the country will have another set.
For example, if you already have an effective website on WordPress, you won’t need the full suite of CMS capabilities. If you’re happy with your current senior living CRM, you won’t use HubSpot’s.
Bottom line: Not every senior living community needs HubSpot. We’re also fans of ActiveDEMAND, which has a specific senior living package that’s hyper-focused on marketing automation.
This is why it’s a smart idea to work with a consultant or agency that understands the senior living industry and what products are best suited for the industry. A good consultant/agency can guide you on what makes the most sense for your community and your budget. (That said, you can read more about why we’re such big fans of HubSpot.)
Are you leaning towards HubSpot for senior living? Let us help.
If you’re hot for HubSpot, we can help you figure out which level you need, how to implement it properly, and how to maximize HubSpot so that you get the biggest bang for your marketing buck.
It’s worth noting that Senior Living SMART has achieved the Platinum tier in HubSpot’s Solutions Partner Program. According to HubSpot’s website, the Partner Tier program is designed “to acknowledge those solutions partners who have not only brought the inbound message to the most clients, but also those who executed inbound marketing services to the highest standards.”
Get in touch and let’s discuss HubSpot!
