Several news outlets recently reported that Google may be trying to buy HubSpot to shore up its customer relationship management offerings. The move would help Google compete better with Microsoft by offering additional cloud-based applications.
By acquiring HubSpot, the tech giant gains additional information it can use to market to its business owner audience.
Google also committed to no longer using cookie tracking in 2024. By removing them from Chrome, Google must gain access to first-party details or fall behind its competitors. Buying HubSpot gives them access to sales leads in their target market.
How Would an Acquisition Affect You?
Although some of HubSpot’s clients are cutting budgets, the company still saw a 23% increase in revenue during Q1. Putting the idea-generating power of the Googleplex behind HubSpot could innovate the customer relationship management (CRM) industry.
Google acquiring the brand would likely bring about exciting and beneficial changes.
1. Better Integration
If acquired, it is likely that HubSpot will integrate better with Google’s business services—including tools like Google Search Console. Enterprises could advertise, gather analytics and change scheduled social media posts from a single dashboard.
Google thrives in AI and machine learning skills. Add HubSpot’s easy interface and you have an excellent combination that benefits users and could drive CRM software to a new level. Combining HubSpot’s marketing intelligence with Google’s advertising offers advantages for users.
2. Gain In-Depth User Insights
>In February 2024, Reddit struck a deal with Google to feed the AI models content for training purposes. As Reddit is one of the best places for marketers to find how users think and feel about products and services, adding HubSpot into the mix could mean brand owners and marketing professionals gain additional insight into their target audiences beyond simple demographics.
As AI learns from users’ conversations, the platform could either become more intuitive for subscribers—or it could go off the rails and become racist, sexist and incorrect as has happened with the Microsoft Tay chatbot and Google’s Gemini model.
While additional data can be useful, it’s important to confirm everything presented by AI tools to ensure it aligns with your company’s values.
3. Improve Content
Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) generator Gemini could help make workflows more intuitive. This, when combined with the AI tools that HubSpot is already implementing, could help to brainstorm ideas, improve phrasing, generate editorial calendars and compare analytics to efforts.
The outcome is results-driven content that people most want to see. Imagine answering the questions they most want to know about. Your brand would quickly stand out from others in your field.
Ask Gemini how to improve a page’s content and it will spit out answers based on best SEO practices and by scouring the internet to see competitor’s websites and their approaches.
4. Lower Prices
Google’s corporate services tend to be on the lower end of the price spectrum. If it still provides the same services but integrates HubSpot’s features to offer more bang for your buck, it will be an affordable tool for small business owners looking to grow their audience without spending too much money.
Currently, HubSpot offers several packages, including a free CRM platform. Google will likely keep the same pricing structure but add more value.
5. Support Your Sales Team
An excellent CRM system improves processes for your sales department by putting customer information in front of salespeople. The models HubSpot has in place can help small firms attend to the needs of their current clients and reduce churn.
Any first-party data from HubSpot will be available to Google and could help drive innovation in CRM software and help enterprises better cater to target audiences.
6. Make the Competition Work Harder
Using tools from HubSpot and Google will put small companies ahead of the competition. Other brands must work harder to keep up or risk falling behind.
Some advantages of Google adding to its suite of tools are driving innovation in the market and improving machine learning and AI so the software takes on repetitive tasks for entrepreneurs.
Would Google Buying HubSpot Be a Good Thing?
People have mixed feelings about the two tech giants potentially merging. Some HubSpot users expressed concerns on places such as Reddit about Google providing fewer services than they were used to.
For example, one commenter on Reddit even said Google would “ruin” HubSpot. Google could face an antitrust lawsuit for merging similar companies and taking over even more digital small business marketing and management.
It already has a considerable market share, so adding more customers through the acquisition could put it into antitrust territory. Should the event occur, it will make waves in the business tech industry and change things for both firms’ customers.
This acquisition is not set in stone. However, it makes for an interesting thought experiment to consider how such an acquisition might affect HubSpot and all the companies that use it.
Eleanor Hecks
Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. She was the creative director at a prominent digital marketing agency prior to becoming a full-time freelance designer. Eleanor lives in Philadelphia with her husband and pup, Bear.