Guide to Using HubSpot Business Units : Multi-Brand Management

Managing multiple brands under one umbrella can be a challenging task for organizations with diverse products, services, or regional markets. HubSpot Business Units offer an efficient solution to streamline brand management, allowing businesses to maintain distinct brand identities while leveraging the power of a shared HubSpot portal.

In this article, we’ll explore how to set up, customize, and maximize HubSpot Business Units to organize marketing assets, manage business unit dashboards, and execute targeted campaigns effectively.

Key Takeaways

• HubSpot Business Units allow seamless organization of marketing assets, campaigns, and contacts for multiple brands within a single portal, ensuring clarity and efficiency.
• Tailor brand kits, subscription preferences, and campaigns to maintain distinct brand identities and deliver personalized marketing for specific audiences.
• Utilize custom dashboards and the business units property to track performance, optimize campaigns, and make data-driven decisions for each brand.

Manage Multiple Brands with HubSpot Business Units

At its core, HubSpot Business Units enable companies to manage multiple brands within a single HubSpot account. This feature is ideal for organizations with diverse offerings or global reach, allowing each brand to maintain its identity while benefiting from centralized management tools.

With business units, you can create brand-specific experiences, streamline campaigns, and manage assets like landing pages and email subscriptions. This ensures that your brands remain distinct while avoiding the hassle of juggling multiple accounts.

Key Features Include:

• Customization: Design unique brand kits with tailored logos, colors, and branding elements.
• Segmentation: Use the business units property to organize contacts and assets by brand.
• Campaign Management: Assign campaigns, landing pages, and workflows to specific business units for clarity and efficiency.
• Advanced Reporting: Analyze campaign performance with dashboards and custom reports specific to each business unit.

HubSpot Business Units are not just a tool—they’re a strategy to bring clarity, organization, and personalization to multi-brand management.

Setting Up Your First Business Unit

Getting started with HubSpot Business Units is straightforward but requires careful planning. To access this feature, you’ll need a Marketing Hub Enterprise subscription and the Business Units Add-On, which unlocks the ability to create and manage multiple business units.

Good to know : Only Super Admins can create and edit business units.

Steps to Create a New Business Unit:

1. Log in to your HubSpot account and go to Settings.
2. In the Left Sidebar Menu, select Business Units.
3. Click Create New Business Unit in the top-right corner.
4. Enter a name for your business unit.
5. Finalize by clicking Create.

Once set up, your new business unit is ready to be customized, allowing you to align it with the brand’s identity and goals.

Customizing Brand Kits for Business Units

In today’s competitive market, brand consistency is essential. HubSpot simplifies this by offering brand kits, which allow you to define logos, colors, and other branding elements unique to each business unit. These kits ensure your campaigns reflect the right identity, regardless of the number of brands you manage.

Steps to Customize Brand Kits:

1. Navigate to the Business Units section in your HubSpot portal.
2. Click Manage Brand Kits under the Branding section.
3. Select the specific business unit you wish to customize.
4. Upload a logo, favicon, and set primary colors to create a cohesive brand identity.

Tip: Use the Current View dropdown menu to seamlessly switch between different business units for better organization and control.

Customizing brand kits is not just about aesthetics—it reinforces each brand’s individuality, helping you connect with audiences more effectively.

Organizing Marketing Assets by Business Unit

Managing marketing assets across multiple brands can be chaotic, but HubSpot Business Units eliminate this confusion by allowing you to assign assets to specific business units. From landing pages to email subscription preferences, every asset can be clearly categorized and easily accessed.

Why This Matters:

• Assigning assets to business units ensures campaigns are targeted and aligned with brand objectives.
• It simplifies campaign management, reducing duplication and confusion.
• Accurate asset categorization improves team collaboration and efficiency.

By organizing your assets effectively, you ensure that each business unit’s marketing efforts remain on-brand and impactful.

Managing Contacts Across Business Units

Contact management is at the heart of effective marketing. HubSpot’s Business Units Property allows you to segment and organize contacts based on their affiliation with specific business units. This segmentation ensures that every contact receives tailored communication relevant to their preferences.

How It Works:

• The Business Units Property is automatically created when you set up a new business unit, enabling segmentation by brand.
• Use Contact Properties to refine segmentation further, incorporating details like location, lifecycle stage, or interaction history.
• Filter contacts by business unit and additional contact properties to create targeted workflows and highly relevant email campaigns.

This integration of business unit and contact properties not only simplifies contact management but also ensures more personalized and impactful interactions, helping to build stronger, trust-based relationships with your audience.

Advanced Reporting and Analytics

Tracking the performance of multiple brands is crucial for making informed decisions. HubSpot’s custom dashboards and reports let you analyze business units individually, providing insights into campaign success and areas for improvement.

How to Create a Business Unit Dashboard:

1. Navigate to Reports > Dashboards in your HubSpot account.
2. Under Create a Dashboard, select the Business Unit Overview Template or create a custom dashboard.
3. Use the Business Units Property to filter reports for specific business units.
4. Save and display your dashboard.

Good to Know: Assigning unique tracking codes to each business unit enhances your ability to monitor campaign performance across multiple domains, offering granular insights into what’s working and where to improve.

Integrating LinkedIn for Smarter Campaigns

Combining HubSpot Business Units with LinkedIn integrations enhances your ability to manage campaigns across multiple brands. By using LinkedIn Sales Navigator or tools like Hublead, you can enrich business unit-specific campaigns with LinkedIn data, creating deeper audience connections.

Key benefits include:

• Streamlined Contacts: Import LinkedIn data—such as shared connections and job titles—into specific business units for better segmentation.

• Enhanced Targeting: Align LinkedIn audience tools with your business unit campaigns to boost personalization and engagement.
• Optimized Strategy: Sync LinkedIn ads and insights with your business unit dashboards to track and refine performance.

Tip: LinkedIn integrations work seamlessly with HubSpot’s Business Units Property, helping you keep leads organized by brand for precise reporting and targeting.

Benefits of HubSpot Business Units

Improved Brand Management

Tailor branding for each business unit with custom logos, colors, and assets, ensuring every brand maintains a cohesive and distinct identity across all customer touchpoints.

Simplified Operations

Centralize the management of multiple domains, marketing assets, and campaigns within a single HubSpot portal, streamlining workflows and enhancing collaboration across teams.

Targeted Marketing

Segment audiences by business unit to deliver personalized campaigns tailored to specific customer needs or regions, boosting engagement and improving marketing ROI.

Best Practices for Using HubSpot Business Units

By adopting some practices, you can enhance brand management, customer engagement, and operational efficiency across all your business units. Here are a few recommendations :

• Audit Regularly : Regularly review and audit marketing assets, contact segmentation, and data to ensure accuracy and alignment with business objectives. Identify and update outdated assets for optimal efficiency.
• Use Custom Reports : Utilize HubSpot’s custom report builder to analyze campaign performance and brand metrics for each business unit. Tailor insights to drive data-driven decisions and improve results.
• Streamline Subscription Preferences : Define distinct subscription types for each business unit to respect customer preferences, reduce opt-outs, and enhance engagement.

• Optimize Campaigns : Plan sell and upsell campaigns strategically, using workflows and segmentation to target overlapping customers effectively and boost conversions.

Conclusion

HubSpot Business Units empower organizations to manage multiple brands efficiently, ensuring each maintains its unique identity while benefiting from centralized tools. From organizing marketing assets to analyzing business unit performance, this feature simplifies the complexities of managing multiple accounts.

Start leveraging HubSpot Business Units today to elevate your brand management and campaign strategies.