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).

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.

Image 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.