Why running your ads is best done in platform.
I love tech and tools. But at the end of the day, I'm not in business to sell these tools. I like to keep it straight with people. Especially, when I see tools claim you can "do it all" in platform.
Don't get me wrong, I love HubSpot. But building ads inside the platform is doing you a disservice. The reality is, it's costing you a significant amount of wasted spend and ad platforms are so robust, you're missing key settings and optimizations that are not available in HubSpot.
Let’s dive into the reasons why HubSpot’s Ads Tool might not be the right fit for your business.
1. Limited Ad Platform Integrations
The HubSpot Ads Tool currently supports integrations with Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, and LinkedIn Ads. While these are some of the major platforms, they are far from comprehensive. If you’re running campaigns on other ad networks like Twitter, TikTok, Microsoft Advertising, or even Amazon Ads, you’re out of luck.
For businesses running ads across multiple channels or seeking to expand their reach, HubSpot’s limited integrations mean you’ll need to juggle different platforms and reporting tools outside of HubSpot.
Why this matters:
Without the ability to manage all your ads in one place, you’ll lose the efficiency and convenience that HubSpot promises.
You may end up using multiple tools to track performance, which can lead to inconsistent reporting and a lack of cohesive data.
2. Basic Reporting and Lack of Granular Insights
When it comes to advertising, data is king. However, HubSpot’s Ads Tool offers only basic reporting features. You’ll get an overview of metrics like clicks, impressions, cost per click (CPC), and conversions, but that’s about it. If you’re used to the level of detail you get from Google Ads Manager or Facebook Ads Manager, you’ll find HubSpot’s reporting to be underwhelming.
Key limitations:
No access to more granular data such as ad placement performance, keyword-level reporting, or audience segmentation metrics.
A lack of detailed insights into important metrics like quality score, relevance score, or ad engagement across different ad sets.
Why this matters: To optimize ad campaigns effectively, you need granular data to understand which parts of your campaigns are driving results and which need adjustment. HubSpot’s Ads Tool doesn’t give you that level of insight, making it harder to fine-tune your campaigns for maximum ROI.
3. Automation Features Are Minimal
One of HubSpot’s strong points is automation, but surprisingly, the Ads Tool doesn’t fully capitalize on this strength. Sure, you can sync leads from your ads into your CRM and set up basic workflows, but beyond that, the automation features are quite limited.
Compared to what you can do with tools like Google Ads Scripts, Facebook Automated Rules, or third-party platforms like AdEspresso, HubSpot’s ad automation is fairly basic. You can’t automatically adjust bids, pause underperforming ads, or dynamically shift budgets based on performance metrics.
Why this matters:
Without robust automation, you’ll need to manually adjust your ad campaigns, which can be time-consuming and prone to error.
For businesses running large-scale campaigns, especially across multiple platforms, the lack of automation is a major drawback that can limit campaign success.
4. No Native A/B Testing for Ads
Testing is an essential part of any successful ad campaign. Platforms like Facebook Ads Manager and Google Ads provide built-in A/B testing features that allow you to test different ad creatives, audience segments, and placements to optimize performance. HubSpot’s Ads Tool, however, doesn’t offer native A/B testing functionality.
While you can technically create separate campaigns or ad sets and run them in parallel to mimic A/B testing, this requires more manual effort and isn’t nearly as seamless as the native features you’ll find on other platforms.
Why this matters: Without easy access to A/B testing, it’s much harder to optimize your ad campaigns. Testing variations in your creative, targeting, and bids is key to improving ROI, and HubSpot’s lack of support for this can hold your campaigns back.
5. Higher Cost Per Click (CPC) and Less Control
One of the less-discussed drawbacks of managing ads through HubSpot is the lack of granular control over bid strategies. Unlike native ad platforms where you can precisely set your CPC or CPA goals, HubSpot doesn’t give you as much flexibility. As a result, businesses often see higher costs per click when managing campaigns via HubSpot, compared to when they use the native ad managers directly.
This limitation is particularly problematic if you’re working with a tight ad budget or running high-volume campaigns where even slight CPC increases can have a significant impact on your overall ad spend.
Why this matters: Without full control over your bidding strategy, it’s harder to keep costs down and optimize ad spend. Over time, this can eat into your ROI and make your campaigns less profitable than they would be if managed directly on platforms like Google or Facebook.
6. Not Built for Large-Scale Ad Campaigns
For small businesses or startups running a few ad campaigns, HubSpot’s Ads Tool might seem sufficient. But if your business is running large-scale campaigns with multiple ad sets, audiences, and creatives, you’ll quickly outgrow HubSpot’s capabilities.
Common issues for larger campaigns:
The interface becomes clunky when managing multiple campaigns, making it difficult to track performance across different ad sets.
HubSpot doesn’t offer the same level of campaign segmentation, creative testing, or budget flexibility as you would find in dedicated ad management platforms.
The inability to set complex attribution models or implement advanced bidding strategies limits your ability to scale effectively.
Why this matters: If you’re serious about advertising as a major growth channel, HubSpot’s Ads Tool can quickly become a bottleneck. Larger campaigns require more flexibility, better data, and stronger automation, none of which HubSpot delivers effectively for advertising at scale.
7. Better Alternatives Are Available
Let’s be honest—there are simply better alternatives out there for ad management. Tools like Google Ads Manager, Facebook Ads Manager, and even third-party platforms like AdEspresso, WordStream, and Hootsuite offer far more advanced features for creating, optimizing, and reporting on ad campaigns.
Why this matters: With more advanced options that offer better integrations, deeper insights, and more robust automation, businesses can get better results from their ad spend. HubSpot’s Ads Tool, while convenient, just doesn’t compete when you’re looking for performance and control.
HubSpot Ads Tool Might Be Convenient, But It's Not the Best Choice
Getting the best ROI in your paid media campaigns comes from in platform structure and optimizations that aren't available in HubSpot. If you're setting up your campaigns, we recommend going into the platform and making sure you have structured your campaigns using best practices which includes, keyword and ad group structuring, audiences selections, exclusions and bidding.
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