Every company has a story to tell. Here at EngageBay, our story began with the need to address the marketing challenges faced by small businesses.
In spite of knowing that there are already over 5,000 marketing technology companies in existence as of 2017, we decided to build a new, affordable, all-in-one marketing platform for small businesses.
Let me explain why.
It’s an ocean out there
It’s extremely daunting and sometimes overwhelming to look at the current marketing technology landscape. Have a look at this graphic below:
The single biggest takeaway from this image is clearly the fast-growing demand and value of marketing technology products and how important it is for businesses of any size to adopt them today.
Every business, small or large, has the same common goals:
- more revenue
- bigger customer reach
- high number of conversions
- higher business efficiency
These needs across various segments, business sizes, verticals and the ever-changing business models have created an opportunity for thousands of marketing companies to come up with interesting product offerings.
The inception of new customer engagement channels like social media has further added to this demand.
Marketing has branched out into a slew of categories such as email marketing, marketing automation, social media marketing, SEO, referral marketing and more.
Each of these categories has created opportunities for companies offering compelling products of varying functionalities and price points. For pretty much any marketing need, there’s a high likelihood that there’s a software tool out there that can help.
While marketers today have access to more technology and tools than ever before and lots of options to choose from, it’s quickly becoming counterproductive.
The net result is ‘multi-tool chaos’.
Do you know how many marketing tools an average business uses?
According to this survey, “marketers are on average using more than 12 different tools, and some are using more than 31 tools to manage campaigns and data.”
Isn’t that far too many?
Ironically, with so many tools, the marketing in itself is not getting any simpler.
Disadvantages of using multiple marketing systems
Use of multiple marketing systems may sound like enrichment your marketing efforts. There are several ways in which it can be detrimental to your marketing operations too:
- The cost of all the software tools, when combined, can add up to several hundreds of dollars every month.
- Businesses tend to incur significant integration efforts and maintenance overheads. Also, many integrations require a lot of technical know-how.
- Most businesses end up using only 30-35% features of each tool while paying the full price for each software.
- Measuring return on investment (ROI) and efficiency of the marketing programs is challenging as data is scattered across systems.
- Getting a 360-degree view of the customer and tracking complete engagement gets complicated.
- Duplication of data and inconsistencies between systems are becoming commonplace.
- Learning to use multiple user interfaces is time-consuming.
- Managing multiple logins and bouncing from one program to the other all day is a huge strain on time.
- If you need to contact customer support or a billing representative, you could be juggling several of these reps at once.
Consequently, a lot of businesses are slowly beginning to realize the intensity of these problems. What if you had one tool for all marketing efforts?
In an interview, Marketo CEO Steve Lucas said: “Most CMOs express frustration with their inability to have a single, holistic view of their customer or buyer”.
What if you had one tool for all marketing efforts?
The need for an affordable alternative:
If you have deep pockets and are ready to shell out hundreds of dollars every month, you could always opt for an all-in-one software solution like HubSpot.
HubSpot costs approximately $10,000 a year to run. For a company to spend that much money for marketing software, they ought to be doing reasonably well, perhaps with a few million dollars in revenue.
For reference’s sake, let’s call them Fortune 5,000 or Fortune 10,000 companies.
But what about the other Fortune 1 Million companies? There are millions of hardworking entrepreneurs out there, relentlessly trying to build their brand to get a foothold in the industry.
They’re not generating millions of dollars yet, but they’re hopeful they will someday.
To put it in perspective, consider small businesses such as realtors, online businesses, bloggers, restaurants, agencies, and freelancers. Can they afford to spend so much on marketing software? Are there any small business marketing solutions?
Where does that leave these budding entrepreneurs? Their companies won’t survive today without marketing, so they have to use some software. They often pay for several comparable programs then, maybe three or more, that offer all the services found in say, HubSpot. These tools are centered around SEO, social media, email campaigns automation, and more.
Many SaaS companies such as Zendesk, Hotjar, Intercom, MailChimp, Groove, etc. have disrupted markets and made advanced, but niche, specialized technologies affordable for small businesses, with some at less than $50 a month.
But isn’t it time someone built an all-in-one marketing solution that is extremely affordable for startups and small businesses? One that combines the technologies offered by the specialized companies, but in a single, comprehensive platform?
That led me to the idea of creating an integrated marketing suite that was power-packed, yet affordable, costing no more than $50 to $100 per user per month.
That idea, as you can probably guess, is what became the impetus for EngageBay.
What Is EngageBay?
Engagebay is an all-in-one marketing platform that was designed to be the best Hubspot alternative and other expensive marketing software suites. Included are all the same features you’d come to expect from the latter, but at only a fraction of the cost.
Being entrepreneurs ourselves, we wanted EngageBay to appeal to small business owners and startups that are in the beginning stages of their businesses.
Let’s delve into the many features you get when you sign up with EngageBay. We’ll also discuss pricing, in a bit.
Features
Once you have a look at the features we offer at EngageBay, you’ll understand why we call ourselves a comprehensive, all-in-one marketing suite.
These features are:
- First, there’s our SEO toolkit, one of our most important features. We’ll teach you everything you need to know about SEO with this handy toolkit, such as backlink tracking and website auditing.
- A content management system that tracks engagement metrics and data so you can find your most high-performing content and market it properly. Our content management system also allows you to update content, review analytics, and collaborate with others on your team across multiple devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and more.
- Built-in automation software, which includes several systems to optimize and simplify your email marketing. You can see which users have subscribed (or unsubscribed), sync data, and automate duties you just don’t have the time for. You can also make automated email sequences and email triggers to drive more leads and retain engagement among your customers.
- A landing page designer that takes only two minutes to design stunning landing pages of your own. You can also browse our considerable number of templates to find a landing page you like, customizing it until it’s perfectly aligned with your company’s message.
- Web forms that can be completely customized to boost your subscriber list and increase conversions. Our web forms are meant to blend into your website’s theme and style.
- Email marketing suite that’s made to be easy-to use. You only have to press a few buttons to initiate your own email marketing campaigns. Not only that, but you can review campaign engagement, check performance metrics, and get more views while increasing your click-through rate.
- Social media is at the heart of marketing today, which is why our platform lets you use multiple social platforms at once. You can watch for brand name mentions on Twitter with EngageBay’s social media functionality. We will add support for Facebook, LinkedIn and other channels in next few months.
Why EngageBay?
The better question is, why not EngageBay? This is doubly true if you’re the owner of a small business or startup.
We’re entrepreneurs just like you, so we remember those exhilarating yet scary first few months. You’re finally setting out on your own to achieve your dreams. You’re running your own business your way.
Yet there are so many responsibilities that come with that. You have to sell products, gain new customers, buy all the necessities to run a business, and pay your employees. Money will be terrifyingly tight, so any investments you make must be wise.
With EngageBay, you’re making a smart choice for your business. Not only are we a more affordable solution, but because we’re all-in-one, we’re easier to use and implement.
For a moment, imagine all the good things our all-in-one system can bring to your business:
- A single software for all your marketing needs
- One simple and consistent user interface to run your marketing campaigns
- An integrated, easy reporting system across all your marketing data
- One customer context which gives a holistic, 360-degree view
- One company to call for customer support
And most importantly, it doesn’t burn a hole in your pocket
Pricing
If you were to compare EngageBay to other all-in-one marketing tool, how much do you think you’d pay for our services? $200 per user per month? $500? $1,000? Well, here’s a sneak peek at what some of the biggies are charging for their offerings:
Sure, those are the prices the other guys charge, but not us. Remember, we’re made to help you; the small business or startup owner with a limited budget.
And the great news is: For a limited time, we’re excited to announce that EngageBay is free to use. We’re going to be in beta mode for a short while more, and while we are, we’re welcoming anyone to use our system at no cost to them.
This is a no-strings-attached offer. You don’t have to input your credit card so you won’t be automatically charged later. And you’re not just getting limited access to EngageBay’s features; you can use everything.
Once we move out of the beta mode, you’ll still find EngageBay is an affordable option for all your marketing needs. Our prices are roughly $1 per day and no more than $5 per day.
If you’re ready to kickstart your marketing and give your small business the best chance at success, you can sign up for EngageBay’s beta today. Just click here and you’ll be instructed to enter your email address.
Once you’re confirmed, you can start using EngageBay’s features right away. That’s all there is to it! No gimmicks and no strings attached, just a quality marketing solution for small business owners on a budget.
Happy Marketing, folks!
