Do Small Businesses Still Need HubSpot?

Do Small Businesses Still Need HubSpot?

From 21 Hats Podcast by 21 Hats

April 21, 2026 · 52 min · Episode 290

About this episode

William Vanderbloemen discusses the evolving role of HubSpot for small businesses in the age of AI.

Early on, William Vanderbloemen’s search firm was exactly the kind of business HubSpot, the marketing platform, was built to help. William had a highly specialized audience, his team produced content that his audience needed, and HubSpot helped make sure the right people found it. Back then, he tells Kate Morgan and Jaci Russo, HubSpot’s promise was that it could help a David compete with a Goliath, and that’s what it did for Vanderbloemen Search. But that was almost 20 years ago, long before AI began reshaping how people discover information. Now, William contends, the rules are changing. If you create strong content for a specific audience, large language models can do more and more of the work of connecting that content to the people looking for it. Which raises a question: If that’s where marketing is headed, do small businesses still need a sophisticated platform like HubSpot? In this week’s episode, William shares his doubts. Along the way, the three owners also discuss why Kate changed her mind about selling her business, whether companies really need to pay attention to their Glassdoor reviews, and what a plumber should tell an SEO agency that wants a monthly retainer of…

People in this episode

Hosts: Kate Morgan, Jaci Russo

Guest: William Vanderbloemen

Topics covered

  • small business marketing
  • HubSpot
  • AI in marketing
  • content creation
  • business strategy

Keywords

  • small business
  • HubSpot
  • AI
  • content marketing
  • Glassdoor reviews
  • SEO agency

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: HubSpot, Vanderbloemen Search, Glassdoor

Products: AI, SEO

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