HubSpot is pretty famous these days. Well, maybe not as famous as the Beatles or bicycles. But HubSpot is as famous amongst marketers as let's say... One Direction is amongst teenage girls. Just like teenage girls and One Direction, there are different levels of fandom. Please don't ask me to explain what would make someone go gaga over these pubescent boys. But, maybe it's just that not every teenager gets to see One Direction live, up close and personal. I don't know. Probably taking this analogy too far. But, when my wife and I walked by them performing at a mall once, I saw firsthand how much their fans adore them. Most of the concerts I attended were in the 90s. So, it was new thing for me to observe. Anyway, the marketers who use HubSpot effectively are kind of like that. You can see it in the case studies. We get gushing notes every day from customers about how we've changed their fortunes and their lives, and helped them change the lives of their customers. 

So, why is it? There's a reason, I think. Why do we have these gushing fans? Most companies would say that their fans are fabs because "of a lot of little things all wrapped up into one". That's true for HubSpot in two major ways. Yes, we pride ourselves on caring about our customers; providing support that backs that up, we focus on educating the market and especially our customers and partners; our software team is brilliant at UI and usability. There are lots of reasons. But, these are secondary to the one big one. 

The big one is integration.  Yes, integration is a cheesy over-used marketing word. Totally. We prefer 1+1 = 3. It's the same thing, though. The important thing is that our founders were ballsy enough to say from the beginning, "We want to be the only marketing software that a business needs!". And we did it. We'll never be done, of course. But, we're as done at this goal as anyone else is. Especially companies that don't innovate from within and have to acquire to try and keep up. The claim was certainly was more hyperbole in the beginning. We started with search engine optimization (SEO) tools and small businesses (SMBs) and a shitty content management system (CMS). But, we've broadened that big time beyond SEO tools-- all while serving many different types and sizes of businesses. The claim is true now.

So, why is 1+1=3 so important to our customers? Two words: Efficiency and Effectiveness. Yes. Also over-used and cheesy sales words. Let's get beyond the cheese. Let's start talking about cheese and crackers. Maybe a bit of PB&J? Or how about screw drives and screws?

HubSpot has integrated things together in ways that no other marketing software company has. We've done it in a way that our customers can't imagine living without. A grass lawn with no lawn mower? A garden without a shovel? Cars without wheels? Ha? What are you crazy? You can't take this stuff apart? 

The thing we don't talk about enough is that long list of things that make 1+1=3 equations. We're not talking about just 2 things that make three. We're talking about a whole lotta math equations that just don't make any sense. There are a handful of 1+1=5 equations in there and even one equation that goes something like 2+2=12. 

Here are a few of my favorites: 

1. Web analytics + contact database = lead intelligence 
2. CMS + Analytics = Smart CTAs
3. Social Media Monitoring + contact database = social prospecting 
4. Email marketing + website analytics = marketing automation
5. SEO + Web analytics = you still do manual SEO reporting, you fool?
6. CRM + HubSpot = closed loop marketing
7. Blogging software + CTAs =  lead generation
8. Landing pages + analytics = lead tracking