Quick Start Guide for Small Businesses

HubSpot CRM has always been a game-changer with its free offerings that provide tremendous value to businesses. Since the introduction of the Starter edition, HubSpot has taken this value to a new level. Imagine having access to a robust suite of tools for CRM, marketing, sales, service, operations, CMS, and content creation starting at just $15/month. At Cactix we still remember when the most affordable HubSpot plan was $200/month. Now, this incredible value is accessible to all businesses, new or established, making HubSpot a must-have tool for business growth.

Quick Guide to Maximising Your HubSpot Starter Edition

1. Set Up Your HubSpot Portal: Before diving into HubSpot’s features, it’s essential to set up your portal correctly. This ensures you get the most out of the platform from day one.
   • Connect your Domain: Link your domain to HubSpot to manage your website and content through the platform seamlessly, and send authenticated emails using HubSpot.
   • Install the Tracking Code: Add the HubSpot tracking code to your website to start tracking visitors and collecting analytics data. If your website is built on WordPress, this plugin from HubSpot should get you sorted. Another easy and efficient way to add the code is using Google Tag Manager.
   • Set Up Users and Permissions: Add users to your portal and assign appropriate permissions to control access and functionality.
   • Configure Portal Settings: Set your portal’s time zone, currency, and address and other basics to ensure accurate data tracking and reporting.
   • Add Company Branding: Customise your portal with your company’s branding, including logos and colours, to maintain a consistent brand identity.
   • Connect Mailboxes and Calendars: Guide users on connecting their mailboxes and calendars to HubSpot to streamline communication and scheduling.
2. Centralise Everything in Your CRM: Keep all your customer data and interactions in HubSpot CRM. This gives you complete visibility on the lifecycle of your clients and prospects and ensures no lead is ever missed.
   • HubSpot Forms on Your Website: Capture all leads using HubSpot forms, ensuring no potential customer slips through the cracks.
   • Live Chat Integration: Implement HubSpot live chat to engage with website visitors in real-time, providing instant support and capturing leads.
   • Connect Messaging Apps: Integrate Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and more into a single inbox linked to your CRM for streamlined communication.
   • Team Emails: Connect your team and group emails to capture all conversations and leads into HubSpot.
3. Leverage Powerful Email Marketing Tools: Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to nurture leads and engage customers. With HubSpot Starter, you can create, send, and analyse email campaigns effortlessly.
   • Create Engaging Emails: Use HubSpot’s intuitive drag-and-drop email editor to design professional-looking emails.
   • Segmentation and Personalisation: Segment your email using HubSpot’s lists to target specific groups and personalise your emails based on contact properties, ensuring relevant content reaches the right audience.
   • Analytics and Reporting: Track your email performance with detailed analytics, including open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates, to continually refine your strategy.
4. Tailor Your CRM to Your Needs: Make your CRM work for you by customising it to fit your business’s unique needs. Take advantage of custom properties to gather the data that matters most to you.
   • Custom Properties: Leverage up to 1,000 custom properties to tailor your CRM precisely to your business needs. This is one of the key advantages in Starter compared to the free version.
   • Segmentation: Use data properties, both standard and custom, to segment your database for effective marketing. Check out our segmentation guide for more on this.
5. Supercharge Your Lead Generation Efforts: Optimise your ad campaigns, landing pages, and audience targeting to convert more leads.
   • Ads Tool: Optimise your ad campaigns with HubSpot’s powerful Ads tool, focusing on business conversions rather than just form submissions. Connect your Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads and Facebook Ads accounts and manage all your campaigns from one place.
   • Landing Pages: Create and optimise landing pages to improve conversion rates and capture more leads.
   • Audience Targeting: Use the Audiences feature in the Ads tool to create matched audiences for targeted LinkedIn Ads, perfect for Account-Based Marketing (ABM).
6. Empower Your Sales Team: Equip your sales team with the tools they need to succeed. HubSpot Sales Starter offers features that streamline sales processes and improve efficiency.
   • Document Sharing: Share presentations and documents as trackable links, gaining insights into how recipients interact with your content.
   • Meeting Scheduling Tool: Simplify scheduling with the HubSpot meetings tool and integrate it with your videoconferencing platform.
   • Email Templates and Snippets: Enhance productivity with reusable email templates and snippets, ensuring consistent communication.
   • Mobile App: Keep your team connected with HubSpot’s mobile app and take advantage of the app’s business card scanner to capture leads on the move.
7. Automate Follow-ups: Save time and ensure timely communication by automating follow-ups. HubSpot Starter’s automation features help you stay on top of your leads and customers.
   • Simple Automations: Automate up to 10 actions with the Starter edition to manage ad campaigns and contact form responses, saving time and ensuring prompt follow-ups.
8. Integrate Your Other Tools: Enhance your HubSpot experience by integrating other tools you use. The HubSpot App Marketplace offers numerous integrations to streamline your operations.
9. Clean Up Your Data: Maintain a clean and organised database. HubSpot’s data management tools help you keep your CRM data accurate and reliable.
   • Duplicate Management Tool: Keep your CRM data clean and organised by using the duplicate management tool to identify and merge duplicate records.
   • Operations Hub Data Clean-up Tool: Utilise the data clean-up tools in the Operations Hub to ensure data accuracy and integrity.
10. Control Your Costs: Keep your HubSpot costs in check by managing seats wisely and maintaining a clean contact list. This ensures you’re getting the most value without overspending.
    • Seat Management: Use view-only seats for management and keep paid seats for active users. If you’re working with a HubSpot partner, assign them partner seats. This helps control costs and optimise usage.
    • Manage Marketing Contacts: Regularly clean out unengaged contacts and remove bounced emails. Control who you set as marketing and non-marketing contacts. This keeps your contact list efficient and cost-effective.