BrandGhost can help turn website traffic into leads by capturing visitor email addresses and sending them directly into HubSpot.
By connecting HubSpot to BrandGhost, new leads collected through BrandGhost can automatically be added to your HubSpot contact list, so your team can follow up using the CRM and workflows you already use.
This guide walks through how to connect HubSpot to BrandGhost for lead capture.
What the HubSpot integration does
The HubSpot integration connects BrandGhost lead capture with your HubSpot contact database.
When a visitor submits their email address through a BrandGhost lead capture experience, BrandGhost can send that contact information directly to HubSpot.
This helps you:
- keep new leads in one central CRM
- avoid manually copying contact information between tools
- follow up using HubSpot email, sales, or marketing workflows
- keep your BrandGhost lead generation connected to your existing sales process
At this stage, the integration is focused on capturing and syncing contacts into HubSpot.
Before you connect HubSpot
Before getting started, make sure you have:
- an active BrandGhost account
- access to the HubSpot account you want to connect
- permission in HubSpot to create and manage Service Keys
HubSpot Service Keys provide secure, scoped access to your HubSpot account for system-to-system integrations like BrandGhost.
For this integration, BrandGhost only needs permission to read and write CRM contacts.
Step 1: Create a Service Key in HubSpot
BrandGhost connects to HubSpot using a Service Key.
Service Keys are HubSpot's current method for giving external systems scoped API access to an individual HubSpot account without requiring a traditional app installation.
In HubSpot:
- Click the Settings icon, typically shown as a gear in the top right.
- Expand Integrations.
- Click Service Keys.
- Click Create a service key.
- Give the key a recognizable name, such as BrandGhost.
Depending on your HubSpot account, you may also be able to access Service Keys through:
Development → Keys → Service Keys
Tip: Naming the key “BrandGhost” makes it easier to identify, monitor, rotate, or revoke the integration later.
Step 2: Grant BrandGhost access to contacts
When creating the Service Key, HubSpot will ask which scopes the key should have access to.
BrandGhost needs access to your CRM contacts so it can check whether a captured lead already exists and create or update the contact.
Enable these two scopes:
crm.objects.contacts.write
crm.objects.contacts.read
These permissions allow BrandGhost to:
- look up existing HubSpot contacts
- create new contacts
- update an existing contact when appropriate
BrandGhost does not need access to deals, tickets, companies, or other CRM objects for lead capture.
Once both scopes have been selected, finish creating the Service Key.
Step 3: Copy your HubSpot Service Key
After creating the key, HubSpot will provide the Service Key value.
Copy the key and store it securely.
Treat your Service Key like a password. Anyone with access to the key can perform the HubSpot actions permitted by its scopes.
Do not post it publicly, include it in documentation, or share it with anyone who does not need access.
If you believe your Service Key has been exposed, rotate it from your HubSpot Service Keys settings and update the credential in BrandGhost.
Step 4: Add the Service Key to BrandGhost
In BrandGhost, navigate to Integrations from your profile menu in the top right.
Find HubSpot under CRM Integrations and click Connect.
Paste the Service Key you copied from HubSpot into the HubSpot credential field.
You can then choose how BrandGhost should handle duplicate contacts.
Create or update existing contact
This allows BrandGhost to use the submitted email address to determine whether a contact already exists instead of creating unnecessary duplicates.
Make sure Automatically sync captured leads is enabled if you want new BrandGhost leads to be sent to HubSpot automatically.
Click Connect.
Step 5: Confirm HubSpot is connected
Once the connection succeeds, HubSpot should appear as connected inside BrandGhost.
From this point forward, leads captured through BrandGhost can automatically be sent to your HubSpot contact database.
You can test the integration by submitting a lead through one of your BrandGhost lead capture forms and confirming that the email address appears under Contacts in HubSpot.
What happens when BrandGhost captures a lead?
When a visitor submits their email address through BrandGhost, BrandGhost sends that contact information to the connected HubSpot account.
The contact can then appear alongside the rest of your CRM contacts.
From HubSpot, your team can use its existing tools to manage the lead, including:
- contact records
- lists
- marketing emails
- sales follow-up
- workflows and automation
This lets BrandGhost handle the lead capture while HubSpot remains your system for managing and following up with contacts.
Why connect BrandGhost to HubSpot?
Without an integration, a lead captured by one platform can easily end up sitting in a separate database or requiring manual entry.
Connecting HubSpot removes that extra step.
Instead of:
Visitor submits email → lead stays in a separate tool → team manually moves it into the CRM
you can create a simpler flow:
Visitor submits email → BrandGhost captures the lead → contact is added to HubSpot
That makes it easier for your sales and marketing teams to respond quickly and keep lead information organized.
Using HubSpot workflows with BrandGhost leads
Once a BrandGhost lead appears in HubSpot, you can use HubSpot's existing automation tools to decide what happens next.
For example, you could add the contact to:
- a welcome email sequence
- a sales follow-up workflow
- a nurture campaign
- a newsletter list
- a lead notification workflow
The exact workflow is managed inside HubSpot, giving your team flexibility over how BrandGhost leads are handled after capture.
Troubleshooting the HubSpot integration
I can't find Service Keys in HubSpot
Service Keys are managed under Settings → Integrations → Service Keys.
Depending on your account configuration, they may also be available under Development → Keys → Service Keys.
If you do not see Service Keys, confirm that your HubSpot user has the necessary Developer Tools or administrative access.
BrandGhost says my Service Key is invalid
Make sure you copied the complete Service Key from HubSpot and that no extra spaces were included when you pasted it into BrandGhost.
Also confirm that the key has not been deleted, revoked, or rotated in HubSpot.
BrandGhost says required permissions are missing
Open the Service Key in HubSpot and confirm that it has both required scopes:
crm.objects.contacts.read
crm.objects.contacts.write
BrandGhost needs read access to check for existing contacts and write access to create or update them.
A captured lead isn't appearing in HubSpot
First, confirm that HubSpot still appears as connected inside BrandGhost.
Then check that:
- Automatically sync captured leads is enabled
- the lead submitted a valid email address
- the submission was successfully captured by BrandGhost
- your Service Key still has both required contact scopes
You can also submit a test lead to verify that the connection is working.
The contact already exists in HubSpot
If you selected Create or update existing contact, BrandGhost uses the submitted email address to identify an existing HubSpot contact and update it rather than creating an unnecessary duplicate.
I rotated my HubSpot Service Key
HubSpot allows Service Keys to be rotated if you need to replace an existing credential.
If you rotate the Service Key used by BrandGhost, copy the new credential and update your HubSpot integration in BrandGhost.
Make sure the new connection is working before the previous credential expires.
Send BrandGhost leads directly to HubSpot
Lead capture works best when new contacts flow directly into the tools your team already uses.
Connecting HubSpot to BrandGhost lets you automatically send captured leads into your HubSpot contact database, reducing manual work and making it easier to follow up.
Connect HubSpot to BrandGhost and keep your leads flowing directly into your CRM.