Managing multiple divisions and brands under one company can be a complex task, especially when you need to keep your marketing and sales activities distinct for each brand.
That’s where HubSpot Business Units come in.
With this feature, you can streamline your operations by managing different brands, product lines, or regional divisions all from a single HubSpot account.
In this blog, we’ll explore how HubSpot Business Units can help you efficiently manage multiple brands, keeping everything organised while maintaining distinct strategies for each segment.
HubSpot Business Units is a feature within HubSpot’s platform that lets you manage multiple brands or segments from a single HubSpot account.
This is useful if you operate different product lines, services, or regional brands under one umbrella and need to keep your marketing and sales activities specific for each unit.
In HubSpot, multiple domains let you manage more than one website domain from a single HubSpot account.
This feature is ideal if you own multiple domains or subdomains and want to handle marketing, website content, and campaigns for all of them from one central HubSpot portal.
Multiple domains allow you to manage content across different websites from a single portal.
This enables leads to be generated from multiple websites but requires you to use a single brand pack. Business Units however help you manage distinct marketing, sales, and branding strategies for various business segments using separate asset bases and branding.
With multiple domains, your assets are shared across domains but can be customised as needed. In contrast, HubSpot Business Units keep marketing assets, audiences and reporting completely separate.
Business Units enable you to have entirely separate branding, whereas multiple domains generally maintain consistent branding across different websites, with options to adapt per domain.
Finally, multiple domains are useful if you’ve several websites and want to manage them from a central point. Business Units are better suited for companies with multiple brands or product lines that require distinct marketing and sales strategies.
Aspect |
Multiple Portals |
HubSpot Business Units |
| Account Structure |
Completely separate HubSpot accounts/portals |
Managed within a single HubSpot account |
| Data Sharing |
No data sharing between portals |
Data’s centralised but can be segmented by business unit |
| Assets |
No shared assets—everything is separate |
Assets can be separated by business unit but still managed centrally |
| Cost |
Requires separate subscriptions for each portal |
A single subscription for one account with multiple units |
| Reporting |
Separate reporting dashboards for each portal |
Combined or separated reporting across business units |
| Flexibility |
Complete flexibility in configuration for each portal |
Limited by shared portal configurations, though assets and branding are distinct per unit |
| Management |
Requires management of each portal individually |
Managed centrally with distinct areas for business units |
Before deciding whether you need multiple HubSpot Business Units, it's essential to evaluate your business structure and requirements.
HubSpot provides a helpful checklist to guide you through this decision, outlining key questions to determine whether multiple domains or business units are the best fit for your organisation.
The first thing to consider is how your business operates. If you run a conglomerate or have multiple brands that require separate reporting, customer partitioning, and distinct marketing assets, multiple business units can be a valuable solution.
This setup allows you to manage and report on each brand or division independently while keeping everything organised within a single HubSpot account.
On the other hand, if your goal is to manage the business as a unified entity where teams have open access to shared customer data, multiple business units may not be necessary. In this case, using multiple domains to manage distinct brands while keeping customer data accessible across the business might be a more efficient approach.
One thing to be cautious about is that multiple business units are often oversold. While they offer clear benefits like partitioning marketing assets and reporting, you can achieve similar results by using other HubSpot features like user permissions, and teams, or simply by assigning properties to contacts and companies to keep data organised.
Moreover, HubSpot Business Units can become costly, so it’s important to assess whether the feature is truly necessary.
For example, a case involving an insurance group that acquired various companies shows how they initially believed they needed a new business unit for each brand.
Over time, they realised they could consolidate several brands into a single business unit by using multiple domains, significantly reducing costs while still maintaining separate reporting and brand management.
While multiple HubSpot Business Units offer significant advantages for businesses with complex, distinct operations, they may not always be required.
Careful consideration of your structure, objectives, and the associated costs will help you determine if this feature’s the best solution for your business.
Determining when to implement multiple HubSpot Business Units can significantly improve the management of your company’s operations.
Here are three use cases where this feature can be beneficial:
If your business operates as a conglomerate with distinct divisions, each having separate processes, websites, marketing assets, and brands, multiple HubSpot Business Units can help. This setup allows you to manage each division independently while keeping their data, marketing, and sales activities separate.
For example, if each division within your conglomerate functions independently and needs specific reporting and customer management, using separate business units helps maintain clear boundaries and tailored strategies for each.
For companies that run multiple brands under one umbrella but don’t need to separate processes extensively, multiple business units can still offer significant benefits.
If your brands need separate marketing approaches and distinct customer databases, using multiple business units allows you to organise and manage these elements efficiently.
This helps you keep marketing efforts and customer interactions separate for each brand while maintaining overall control from a single HubSpot account.
If your organisation has separate marketing needs across different segments, even if they’re not distinct brands or divisions, multiple business units can be beneficial.
For example, if your company manages multiple websites targeting different customer groups or regions, business units allow you to partition marketing assets and customer data effectively.
This ensures that each segment’s marketing efforts are focused and managed separately, improving the relevance and effectiveness of your campaigns.
While multiple HubSpot Business Units aren’t always essential, they provide valuable functionality for businesses with clear divisions, multiple brands, or distinct marketing needs, helping to streamline and manage complex organisational structures more effectively.
Setting up HubSpot Business Units involves a series of steps to ensure that each unit’s correctly configured and tailored to meet your business's specific needs.
Here's a step-by-step guide based on the setup process:
The first step is to conduct a discovery phase to understand the requirements for your business units.
Determine which business units need to be created and clearly define their scope. This includes understanding how each unit will operate and what specific needs they have.
Once you’ve defined the requirements, you can start setting up the business units within HubSpot.
Navigate to the appropriate section in the HubSpot portal where you can define and create business units. This step is straightforward but crucial for ensuring that all subsequent configurations are accurate.
A significant portion of the setup involves assigning marketing assets to each business unit. This includes:
You’ll need to assign CRM data, such as contacts, companies, deals, and tickets, to the appropriate business units.
This can be done through automation or manually, depending on your setup. Ensure that data’s classified correctly to reflect the business unit it pertains to.
Establish processes that are specific to each business unit. This may include:
Finally, set up reporting tailored to each business unit. You can create:
By following these steps, you can set up HubSpot Business Units effectively, allowing you to manage your business’s operations efficiently.
HubSpot Business Units can transform the way you manage multiple brands, product lines, or regional operations.
By understanding when and how to use this feature, you can streamline your marketing, sales, and customer service efforts, ensuring that each unit operates efficiently and effectively.
Whether you’re a conglomerate with distinct divisions, a company managing various brands, or an organisation with diverse marketing needs, HubSpot Business Units provide the flexibility and separation required to optimise your operations.
As you consider whether HubSpot Business Units are the right solution for your business, it’s crucial to have a clear strategy for successful CRM implementation.
Read our guide, ‘The 5 Stages of a Successful CRM Implementation’, to understand the complexities of CRM setup and ensure you make the most out of your HubSpot Business Units, driving growth and efficiency across your organisation.