Inbound marketing is the golden child of the marketing world and for good reason - it is a proactive and fundamental shift that matches the way consumers want to learn about products and interact with businesses.

For more insight into this shift, check out our exploration of inbound vs. outbound marketing.

In short, inbound marketing is the idea of using your web presence and unique content to organically and efficiently generate leads and convert them into customers. The term inbound marketing was coined by none other than Brian Halligan, co-founder of HubSpot.

So, you are probably asking, "what is HubSpot?"

What is HubSpot?

Most companies have embraced the digital age and over the years many of those - out of necessity - have created what we refer to as "frankensystems" for their marketing.

This is essentially the idea of cobbling together a "complete" marketing system by getting one platform for web hosting, one for managing social media, one for SEO, one for email marketing, one for customer relationship management and so on.

HubSpot is an all-in-one marketing program, or hub, that alleviates the need for a "frankensystem" by integrating and streamlining all of these various marketing functions in one spot. Below, I will walk you through a super-concise list of all HubSpot features in their very basic form.

If you prefer video, here is a great 30-minute video tour of HubSpot.

A Laundry List of HubSpot Features

Social Media Management

HubSpot allows you to connect your main social profiles, schedule messages, monitor your feed, and analyze results all from the tool.

Content Optimization System

Used to create all pages and emails. The COS, previously "CMS", is built on Twitter's bootstrap framework to make designing responsive content easy for the average marketer who doesn't have coding knowledge.

Site Pages

Host your website on HubSpot and easily build new pages using the COS.

Landing/Thank You Pages

Create landing and thank you pages to capture and nurture leads using the COS.

Email Marketing System

All the bells and whistles of a standard marketing email system with the ability to incorporate personalization and workflows.

Personas

A cornerstone of inbound marketing. HubSpot's integrated persona tool allows you to continuously gain intelligence around your customer base and customize content for different customer segments.

Editorial Calendar

The central hub for scheduling content. Whether it is a blog post, a social media update, a landing page, or email, the drag-and-drop calendar houses them all and sends alerts to keep your content distribution organized.

Campaign Creation and Measurement

Set measurable goals for each marketing initiative and designate campaigns for every tactic used in order to have intelligent data around the ROI of your efforts.

Smart Content

The ability to customize content and provide tailored experiences based on persona and previous actions.

Integrated CRM

Recently unveiled in 2014, HubSpot now features its own CRM which pulls in customer data from your website, email, phone calls, social media, and more.

Calls-to-Action

Easily create compelling links, buttons and images to use across your digital assets and drive conversions.

Forms

Build forms designed to capture lead data and configure them to intelligently ask new questions to returning visitors.

A/B Testing

Available to Enterprise clients, A/B testing allows you to strategically test variations of email, calls-to-action, landing pages, etc., for continuous improvement.

SEO

HubSpot builds SEO features and recommendations directly into content tools to give you "as-you-type" advice and improve your ability to be found via search.

Reports and Analytics

Built in to virtually every aspect of HubSpot, the system gives easy-to-digest insights on each facet of your inbound marketing program.

Keyword Tool

View monthly searches, difficulty scores, and current rankings for keywords and use HubSpot's keyword suggestion tool to find new opportunities.

Competitor Tracking

By no means comprehensive, but with HubSpot's competitor tracking you can compare marketing grades, traffic, linking domains, social followers, MozRank, and more.

Contacts

HubSpot has an extensive contact database that pulls data in from all lead touchpoints and incorporates lead scoring and segmentation.

Workflows

Design automated actions/drip campaigns that are triggered once a visitor takes a particular action.

Open API

HubSpot uses an open API to allow for data and application integrations with virtually endless possibilities.

Training

Not the sexiest feature of HubSpot but certainly one of the most helpful. They have an extensive library of training to take you from an inbound beginner to an expert COS designer.

3rd-Party Integrations

HubSpot has a dedicated team for designing seamless 3rd-party integrations using their open API. Stay tuned for an upcoming blog post on some of the most new and exciting integration partners.

And there you have it - a description of each primary HubSpot feature. While this is a great snapshot, I would encourage you to explore the HubSpot site and blog for deeper information about the system and its capabilities.

Check out some of our other posts for more information about HubSpot pricing and how HubSpot pricing compares to alternative systems.